Hiking to The Narrows & Lick Banch Falls, Sipsey Wilderness, Alabama

This video includes hikes to two rarely visited parts of the Sipsey Wilderness of North Alabama: the Narrows and the Lick Branch Falls. The first hike is to the Narrows. The Narrows is right along the eastern edge of the Sipsey Wilderness just off of Forest Service Road 208 (a.k.a. Northwest Rd). The Narrows is a very narrow ridge between two small mountains that makes a natural causeway. The trail is an easy to follow though unmaintained and rarely traveled old road, but it is only about 0.70 miles (1.1 km) to the Narrows from FS 208. So, as long as you do this in the late fall or winter, when the brush has died back, it is not hard and well worth a visit. The second hike is to the Lick Branch Falls. Lick Branch falls is a beautiful and fairly tall waterfall only a 0.5 mile (0.8 km) from the Gum Pond parking area in the Sipsey Wilderness. However, there is no trail to it. I had stumbled onto this waterfall on a backpacking trip with Jonathan (see link to that video below) in the fall when it was dried up and I wanted to come back. But finding a way down into the canyon that the falls goes into has been a challenge. For this hike, I detoured around to the north and down a side drainage hoping to find an easy way in -- it wasn't that easy. It was doable, but not easy. So, I then took a completely different way out and that was less doable -- and a bit dangerous. I'm determined to find an accessible route to this beautiful waterfall someday. The Sipsey Wilderness (#sipseywilderness) lies within the Bankhead National Forest in northwestern Alabama. Sipsey was the first designated wilderness area in Alabama in 1975 and now encompasses about 24,922 acres (10,086 ha). Rivers and streams have carved canyons and valleys in the limestone and sandstone of the local plateau resulting in a wide range of micro-climates in a short hiking distance, some amazing natural features, a few historic sites, as well as endless nooks and crannies to explore. Wilderness camping, building campfires, hunting, and fishing are permitted. Drones are not allowed. Sipsey is a "Leave no Trace" area (https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/) with, despite appearances, no designated fire rings, camp sites or facilities. Unfortunately, there are many traces of the hundreds who hike and camp here every year. Please be considerate and do not add to the already extensive damage in this special place. Map of the Narrows route: https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=14.6... Map of the Lick Branch route: https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=13.5... My custom maps of the Sipsey Wilderness: https://drive.google.com/drive/folder... Video where Jonathan and I first saw Lick Branch falls:    • Lick Branch to Thompson Creek Backpacking ...   My other videos of the Sipsey Wilderness:    • Sipsey Wilderness   Equipment: Camera: GoPro Hero12 Black: https://gopro.com/en/us/shop/cameras/... DJI Mini 4 Pro Drone: https://www.dji.com/mini-4-pro Title card music by Lobo-Loco: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lob... #hike #hiking #waterfall #cascades Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:25 The Narrows 10:45 Lick Branch Falls