FEBRUARY 2, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Dayhike at Red Mountain Park in Birmingham
Details: Would it excite you to hear that Birmingham has
secured a recreational, public park space in excess of 1,400 acres—an area
twice as large as New York's Central Park? Could you, your friends and family find a use for more than 18
miles of new hiking and biking trails, open fields and picnic areas, all within
15 minutes of downtown Birmingham? This
is one of the largest city parks in the United States!
Have you ever hiked at Red
Mountain Park and left eager to know more about its history? The official Red Mountain Park Public Group
Hikes are just for you! These hikes like this one are led by Red Mountain Park
staff and volunteers and take you deep into the Park to learn more about the
Park’s history and forest.
Back by popular demand, these
exciting informative hikes will be on the first Saturday of each month at 9 AM
beginning October 6th. These hikes are free for Red Mountain Park
Members and $5 for non-Members.
On the February 2, 2019 hike we
will explore the park. Please come with
us for a 3-4 hour moderate guided tour on a walkable portion of this noteworthy
place. Learn about the plans for the park’s development and see
what the terrain has to offer. The hike
will be led by Red Mountain staff or park volunteers. This walk will be Southeastern Outings’ sixteenth or so hike in
Red Mountain Park. For considerably
more information about the park, please visit the park’s website: http://www.redmountainpark.org/contact-us#usermessagea.
Please note that there will be a $5.00 per person admission charged to Southeastern Outings people who are NOT currently members of Red Mountain Park and who participate in the Red Mountain Park-guided group dayhike on Saturday, February 2. This hike is an official Red Mountain Park-sanctioned and organized event.
Please bring plenty of water and
wear good walking shoes or boots. Dress
appropriately for the weather.
Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 7 and up welcome.
Please meet at 8:45 a.m. in front
of the Welcome Station, the small building at the top of the small,
grass-covered hill beside the cul-de-sac and right at the start of the trail. This is across Lyon Lane from the parking
lot for the park. The group plans to depart from there at 9:00 a.m.
FEBRUARY 9, SATURDAY
Dayhike, Sipsey Wilderness, Bankhead National Forest
Details: Moderately strenuous 4-mile hike in a highly
scenic location, Upper Quillan Creek Forest Area. Most of the hike is off trail, there are lots of ups and downs,
and several rock-hopping crossings are required across small creeks.
We’ll walk along two creeks and
old road. At a beautiful waterfall
we’ll visit the site of an old mill. On
this hike we’ll see several small waterfalls on side creeks and tributaries to
Quillan Creek. We will visit three very
pretty waterfalls on Quillan Creek itself along the way.
Please bring lunch and water for
the day. We expect to finish about 4:00
p.m. Optional dinner after. Well-behaved, properly supervised children
age 9 and over able to walk 4 miles off trail without complaining welcome.
Reservations Required: If you wish to participate in this
outing, you are required to call Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or email your
reservation to seoutings@bellsouth.net by 5:00
p.m. on Thursday, February 7. When you
contact Dan, please be sure you leave either your phone number or email
address. This outing is limited to 20
people, and we will break up into two separate groups of up to ten people each
with its own separate leader in order to comply with U.S. Forest Service
regulations. We hope the limitation
will not prove to be a problem. At a
later date leader will advise meeting time and place to those who have signed
up for this trip.
If you make a reservation with Dan to come on this trip and then for any
reason decide later to not come on this outing, please telephone Dan,
205/631-4680 right away. If we have 20
people signed up on the day of the hike and, say, we have two people on the
waiting list and then two people who signed up don’t show up for the hike,
those two no-show people have in effect deprived the two on the waiting list
from participating. Please don’t be a
no-show. If you aren’t coming after
making a reservation, please notify Dan.
FEBRUARY 10, SUNDAY, Meet 1:45 p.m.
Second Sunday Dayhike in Oak Mountain State Park
Details: Enjoy a moderate 4-mile walk in the woodlands near
Birmingham on a Sunday afternoon. This
is an excellent outing for introducing your friends to Southeastern Outings and
for making new friends who enjoy the outdoors.
Parts of this hike may be off the color-coded trails. There will be some ups and downs.
Well-behaved, properly supervised
children age eight and up able to walk the distance of about 4 miles and
complete the hike are welcome.
Share an adventure! Bring a friend.
Please meet at 1:45
p.m. in the Oak Mountain Park office parking lot. We plan to depart from there at 2:00 p.m.
Please bring $5/person ($2.00
seniors) park admission fee plus your drink.
Info: Bill Ennis, 205/405-4636
CANCELLED DUE TO PREDICTED RAIN
FEBRUARY
12, TUESDAY, 10:45 a.m.
Weekday Hike
Where: Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
Details:
Join SEO for a
moderate, approximately four-mile, big loop hike on the lovely, well-maintained
trails in the 1000+-acre Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve, one of the largest
in-city nature preserves in the country.
We’ll see
remnants of old iron ore mining operations which took place on the
mountain. We’ll stop by and visit three old iron ore crushers, stop by
the entrances to three, different types of iron ore mines, walk around the new
wetlands area, see a real artesian well which still emits copious amounts of
water, and view foundations for ore car hoists and various water tanks.
This trip
will involve some elevation gain hiking between the lowland sections of the
park to the top of Ruffner Mountain.
Please
bring your picnic lunch and drinking water with you.
Meet 10:45 a.m. at the Ruffner
Mountain Nature Center Pavilion. We plan to depart from there at 11:00
a.m.
FEBRUARY
16, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Dayhike
Where: Lake
Guntersville State Park
Details: The hiking
trails in Lake Guntersville State Park traverse moderate to difficult terrain
and cover over 36 miles of park property. They are multi-use trails, serving as
hiking, biking and horse trails. The trails are varied with some following
alongside the banks of the Tennessee River, others leading to seasonal
waterfalls and wildflowers, and some piquing your interest just by their name
alone such as the Old Still Path and the Moonshine Trail. Our hike February 16 will be moderate.
The trails we’ll hike differ in length from .5 miles to 3.5
miles yet connect with one another to form a loop of trails that add up to
about 5 miles. Pack a picnic lunch and
head out for a day exploring the ridges, waterfalls and river in beautiful Lake
Guntersville State Park.
Bring a friend or several if you wish. Well-behaved, carefully supervised children
age 8 and up welcome.
Optional restaurant dinner after. No charge for park admission.
Meet 9:45 a.m. at the Floor and Décor Store on Green Springs
Highway. We plan to depart from there
at 10:00 a.m.
Info: Randall
Adkins, 205/317-6969
CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER
FEBRUARY
17, SUNDAY, Meet 1:45 p.m.
Moderate Dayhike Along Buck Creek in Helena, AL
Details: Come explore the wilder side of Helena. Hike with SEO on a lovely creekside trail in
Helena in Shelby County. Total hiking
distance is less than four miles. Hike
rated moderately easy. We will be
walking briefly off trail and walking up some hills when the trail routes us
away from the creek. Well-behaved,
properly supervised children age eight and up welcome.
Meet at 1:45 p.m. in the parking lot for the Helena City
Park on AL Highway 261 in Helena. We
plan to depart from there at 2:00 p.m.
Directions
to Meeting Place: Take I-65 to Exit #247, the Shelby County Route 17,
Valleydale Road exit. Go to end of ramp
and turn right regardless of whether you come from the south or the north. Take Co. 17, which changes from Co. Route 17
to AL 261, all the way into Helena. You
will cross one railroad and then drive over a bridge with a dam and waterfall
on the left. Immediately past the
bridge, turn sharply back to the right just
before you cross a second
railroad and then drive into the parking lot for a city park right on the
shore of the creek. Distances on
Valleydale Road, (Shelby County Route 17) and then Alabama Route 261 from I-65
exit number 247 to driveway into Helena Park parking lot are 5.5 miles from
bottom end of southbound ramp and 5.9 miles from bottom end of northbound ramp.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680
CANCELLED FOR RAIN
FEBRUARY 19, TUESDAY,
10:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings
Weekday Hike
Where: Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
Details: We are pleased to inform you
that we have rescheduled our weekday hike at Ruffner Mountain. It was previously scheduled for February 12
and was cancelled due to heavy rains.
Now we have rescheduled it for Tuesday, February 19, same time, and same
place. We have slightly altered the hike
description, and the leader is different.
CANCELLED
FEBRUARY 23, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
River Ramble Barton’s Beach and Perry Lakes Park near Marion in Perry
County, Alabama
Details: Barton’s Beach.
The area is an extensive sand and gravel beach on the Lower Cahaba River
in Perry County near Marion, Alabama. The
river floodplain broadens and creates areas of bottomland hardwood forests,
oxbow lakes and extensive sand and gravel bars there.
The Perry Lakes Park and Wildlife
Sanctuary contains about 600 acres available to the public for outdoor
recreation, education, scientific research, and other activities. Interpretive
nature trails (fire lanes and primitive paths) make walking through the woods
fairly easy and fun.
Several trees in the park have
been designated as Alabama State Champion Trees. The park lakes support a large
heron rookery along with an abundance of songbirds. A 100-foot tall canopy birding tower allows for an exciting view
of the forest and oxbow swamps.
Hikes at Barton’s Beach and Perry
Lakes Park are easy since the terrain is level and the walks are all on
trails. The two properties adjoin each
other so we can walk readily back and forth between them.
Well-behaved, properly supervised
children age 7 and older welcome.
The very special, optional dinner
will begin at 5:00 p.m. It will be the
Low Country Shrimp Boil supper, an annual event in Marion that is perfect
following our day of hiking. The dinner will be held at the historic
Marion Female Seminary Building in Marion.
The function will be very
informal. The menu is boiled shrimp
(which you peel & eat), sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob, coleslaw,
bread, and your choice of a multitude of homemade desserts.
Musical entertainment will be
provided for your enjoyment at the upcoming shrimp boil February 23, 2019 after
our hike. Please plan to come!
Price for the meal is $20
flat charge to benefit the Perry County Historical and Preservation
Society. Only cash and checks are accepted forms of payment for the
dinner. NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED!
For more information concerning
the dinner, please call Kay Becket, president of the historical society, at
334-683-8250 or 334-292-0319.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the
McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart
from there at 10:00 a.m.
Info. on the hike: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or seoutings@bellsouth.net
FEBRAURY 24, SUNDAY, 1:45 p.m.
Easy Walk
Where: Vulcan Trail inside the City Limits of Birmingham
Details: Enjoy an easy walk in the woodlands overlooking
Birmingham. The trail is level, as it
is on an old mining railroad right of way just below the crest of Red
Mountain. A previous walk on this trail
drew one of the highest number of participants, 67, on any outing SEO has ever
sponsored. Don’t miss it!
Please meet at 1:45 p.m. in the Vulcan Park and
Museum Parking Lot where you would normally park to visit the statue and Vulcan
Park. We plan to depart from there at
2:00 p.m. Note that there is no charge
to park in the Vulcan Park parking lot!
We will walk from the big parking lot a short distance down some new
stairs to the trail head and then on the trail to Green Springs Highway and
back. The formerly undeveloped section
of the Vulcan Trail has recently been widened and resurfaced.
After the walk is completed, there
will be an optional dinner at Jim 'N Nick's 11th Avenue Grill at Five Points
South. Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older
able to walk 4 miles welcome.
Share an adventure. Bring a friend or friends.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680
