On Labor Day Weekend, Mike Shelton (Tuscaloosa) and myself (Carrollton,GA) did part of Section7. We left Cheaha trailhead, headed south, and evidently walked past the connector trail to Cave Creek Trail. We continued our trek until we reached the big intersection (Turnipseed, Adam's Gap), and setup camp for the evening. The next morning we backtracked and finally found the connector trail. We climbed the rocks, staying on what we thought was the connector trail for what seemed like 2 miles, after that we were on some type of forest service road that seemed to run along the ridge of the mountain, maybe parallel to Cave Creek, I don't know? Anyway, we made it back to the trailhead only to find out that we were never, to my knowledge, on Cave Creek Trail. What trail might we have been on after we climbed up and thru the rocks from the connector trail? At that point we had hoped to get on cave creek, but never saw the trail sign, only turkey foot markings.

NOTE: The rocks along this section are BRUTAL !! October 28th we plan to do section 3.

[Jeff's reply to my questions about the views and water:]

The views were great! I really liked the view at McDill the best, but there were 4 or 5 opportunities to see a full range of the surrounding "peaks". I even saw a sleeping bag in the top of a tree at one point, at one of the overlooks. However, I couldn't get to it without rope and ascenders.

No, I didn't see the first bit of water. Didn't see any wildlife either, not even birds around our camp area. Maybe the shortage of water had them migrating to different locales?

Jeff