Brushy Lake Recreation Area

Brushy Lake is a lovely spot in the beautiful Bankhead National Forest. The 33 acre lake is perfect for canoeing or kayaking. The fishing is excellent. There is a nice trail that goes from the campground along the lake that is paved. If pavements not your thing you can adventure a little farther off the beating path and traverse below the beautiful bluff trail. We visited in late January and experienced the beautiful songs of the birds. They were large and loud. That made not having cell service all the better. The water spickets are not operational at brushy lake during the winter. But, just a short 3.5 miles down the dirt road water can be obtained from the Owl Creek Horse Camp area. The horse camp also has 2 bars of Verizon 4G if you need to call out to check in, but still want to stay by the lake. Bike riding down the dirt roads was also an activity that we enjoyed while staying at Brushy Lake. Specifically we stay at site four which worked great for launching the canoe. Also, site 4 was prime because outside of the pad for the camper there was a great tent pad setup for our friends who visited during the weekend. Outside of all that, there were pit toilets, nice large metal picnic tables, metal fire rings and lantern post at each site.

Campground Review:

Located right outside of the core part of Sipsey wilderness (William Bankhead) this campground is a great place for people who want to be around other tent campers and want something a little more secluded. Many of the other sites in the are are packed with RVs and can get crowded during busy season but on a Wednesday night we had the whole place to ourselves. The sites are each pretty sizable and have a good bit of privacy. They also each have a picnic table that is bolted to the ground and a hook for hanging gear and trash. 

One of the great parts of this campground is its location relative to some amazing hiking. Only a 15 min drive away are several trailheads that get you deep into the magical waterfall filled forest of Sipsey. You can use this site as a basecamp for only $5 a night and have easy access. The sites also are on a first come first serve basis with no management at the site. There is a central water pump and bathrooms without showers. Though you can go down the road 30 seconds and get to the attached day use area that does have nice hot showers and large clean bathrooms.

The one big downside to this site is that there is no swimming access to the lake. With hot Alabama summers we were hoping to get in the water but it was too marshy to make that happen. If you are in to fishing there is a nice dock for that and tons of fish in the lake. 

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**Product Review:**

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products. At this campground, I tested the Primus Onja Stove. My wife and I have been using my parents car camping stove and this was a major upgrade.

After some serious dinner and breakfast cooking my favorite things about the stove are:

1. Portability: Since you can attach the gas canisters in advance and the whole stove packs up nice and tight it is really easy to carry to your site and quickly get it going. It would also be easy to get it to a picnic site or packed up for a boat trip. I really liked that I didn't have to worry about bringing the gas since I knew it was already set and ready to go.
2. Design and style: Wow! I have really never seen a stove that looks this cool. When you open it up the frame extends out giving an elevated surface to cook on making it easier to work with when you don't have a table to cook on. I especially loved that the wood top functioned as a separate cutting board. My only suggestion is that when you get the stove you treat the wood with cutting board oil since it got a little roughed up with all the veggies we cut up.
3. Flame control: Although I didn't perform a water boil test we were able to cook a variety of meals including grilled veggie sausages, chickpea couscous, grilled portobello, quinoa oatmeal, and coffee all at different temperatures. Everything came out perfect and it was one of the easiest cooking experiences I have had at a campsite. The flame is pretty sensitive to slight adjustments in the dial but we were able to get the heat we wanted and when opened fully it puts out a serious flame.