My time in Alabama was mostly filled with humid, rain-soaked days, so the few hours when the skies weren’t spilling felt precious. And time was of the essence since I only had two days to explore Bankhead National Forest, one of Alabama's four national forests that covers 180,000 acres in the northwestern part of the state.

I set my sights on the Sipsey Wilderness area, home to two significant notables:

• the Sipsey Fork, Alabama’s only National Wild and Scenic River, and 
• the ‘Big Tree,’ a Yellow Poplar approximately 150 feet tall with a 26.8 feet circumference.
  

Known as the “Land of 1000 Waterfalls,” the wilderness is shaped in part to multiple limestone and sandstone layers set in a rugged landscape with stands of hemlock, oak, hickory, beech, and yellow poplar. And though it’s the most frequently visited wilderness area in Alabama, I came across very few people that lent an almost eerie ambience while hiking.

Randolph Wild Trail to the Waterfall

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Turkey and Mize Mills Falls