Beech Creek

Beech Creek is a tiny tributary to Brushy Creek in Bankhead National Forest. Beech Creek can be canoed from the bridge crossing on Forest Service Road 245 (Mount Olive Rd) to the confluence with Brushy Creek. A trip down Beech will require an additional 6 mile trip down Brushy. The first mile below the put-in bridge is rather flat and most of the adjacent shoreline is on private property. The last mile before the junction with Brushy Creek is a narrow canyon with bluffs separated from the shoreline with hemlocks. A small waterfall from a sidestream on the right will signal the approach to Brushy. See the Brushy Creek trip description for the remainder of this run.

Information for this trip description acquired from the Bankhead Monitor, "Canoeing Brushy Creek" (Murray Carroll)

The Shuttle is a semi-educated guess.

Beech and Brushy with Bankhead Bob

By Murray Carroll

Heavy rains during the third week of February pushed all of our local streams outside their banks. On Sunday levels had moderated and we headed to Bankhead National Forest. The Sipsey River gage was near 4.0' which meant good levels on the forests creeks. The water level was high enough to put-in on Beech Creek, a small tributary of Brushy Creek. The trip down Beech Creek canyon featured close bluff walls and several downed trees. About two miles below the put-in we intersected Brushy Creek. Brushy was much higher than the last time I floated it, it reminded me of Whites Creek on the Cumberland Plateau. Several small rapids required some maneuvering to negotiate. The water was green tinted clear even during this period of heavy run-off. During our lunch stop at Coal Mine Branch we hiked to a beautiful waterfall, 100 yards upstream. Further downstream we hiked up another feeder stream to view the majestic Sougahondee Falls. Many thanks to our guide, "Bankhead Bob Barnett” for another great trip in the forest. The group included Brad Martin, Chuck Kittrell, Chris Parker, Ben Ferrill, Jeff Bowen, Bob Barnett, Murray and Kay Carroll.