DJ, his wife Freda, and his 11 yr old daughter Dana hiked the hard half of the Chinnabee - Skyway - Pinhoti Loop.  

We had a great time on the Chinnabee/Pinhoti trail. Things didn't start off too well. We didn't arrive until about 3:00 pm at Turnipseed Camp and we decided to start down the Chinnabee towards the Pinhoti, hoping to make the top of the ridge before sunset. It proved much more difficult than we anticipated, and we ended up hiking in the dark, in the rain, for about an hour before we reached the top of the ridge. (ugghh) The rain stopped long enough for us to set up camp, fix dinner and bed down for the night. It rained all night, but by mid morning the weather cleared up and we broke camp and set out along the Pinhoti ridge. We spent most of the day hiking the ridge and then down towards Adam's Gap, enjoying the sunshine and beautiful view along the ridge. The way down was pretty difficult for my wife and daughter, but they endured fine and enjoyed themselves. We camped just below the rocky terrain before Adam's Gap until a starlight sky. On Saturday we hiked on to Adam's Gap and decided that the Skyway would take too long to finish in a day, so we hitched a ride back to Turnipseed Camp and camped there for the night. Next trip up we are looking forward to hiking the other half of the Chinnabee and the skyway trail.

Thanks for all your advice. If you find any other trails of interest within 5 hours of Pensacola, please let me know.

DJ, Freda & Dana

Lee's Note: This is the hardest portion of this 17 mile loop, and the hardest portion of the Pinhoti as well. It is easier I think to go up the Pinhoti and then down the Chinnabee. The Chinnabee is steeper and once you get to the top, the Pinhoti heading to Adam's Gap goes up and down and up and down the whole way, it is much harder than it looks on the map. Good job DJ, Freda, and Dana.

DJ's response to my inquiries:

Lee,

I believe you when you say it's the hardest part of the trail. Actually, as far as being brave, we didn't have much of a choice, there was no place to camp on the side of the mountain. :-) I did lose the trail a couple of times in the rain, fog and darkness, but it only took a minute or two to get back on. (I was very hesitant in bring my small lantern flashlight, but it turned out to be a lifesaver!).

As far as water was concerned, we did find an ample amount of water about 500 feet north of where the Chinabee runs into the Pinhoti, but it was hard to tell if it was just because of the rain from the previous night. Other than that, we only found water in three valleys along the Pinhoti before Adams Gap and only one of those was trickling. We seemed to find water exactly when we needed it. :-) PTL

For me the trail was not difficult to follow. (I'm an experienced tracker) However, when my wife led the way, she seemed to have a bit of trouble following it. It is well marked for most of the way, and somewhat beaten down in the non rocky portions. At one point when descending off the ridge the trail leads into an old access road. It was unclear which way to go, but after traveling down this road about a quarter mile, a trail sign affirmed our direction and took us back off the road onto the trail. (The trail map did not indicate this northward descent.)

By the way we only ran into two hiking groups in the three days we were up there.

DJ