MARCH 2, SATURDAY, Meet 12:45 p.m.
Dayhike, Moss Rock Preserve
Details: Explore a section of a 350-acre
park forested in Hoover on a moderate 3 or so hour hike with some climbing up
and walking down hills on Shades Mountain. We’ll experience the preserve’s diverse
natural features which include longleaf pine forests, huge boulders, streams,
grassy areas, outstanding views and several beautiful streams and waterfalls
which will be running bountifully on Saturday.
Please bring water to drink. Well-behaved, properly
supervised children age seven and up able to walk the distance and
complete the hike without complaining are welcome.
Please meet 12:45 p.m. at the Moss Rock Preserve Dirt
Parking Lot off Preserve Parkway. We plan to depart from there promptly at 1:00
p.m.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age eight and
over welcome.
Note-To
view photos of what we will see on this trip, please click on this link:
Please be
sure to click on the link and view the photographs.
Info: Scott Myers, 393-5230, email myers.scottv@gmail.com
DIRECTIONS TO MEETING PLACE
Moss Rock Preserve Dirt Parking Lot Off Preserve Parkway-To get to
this meeting place from Hoover please drive to the Crest Cadillac dealership on
U.S. 31 in Hoover about ½ mile north of the U.S. 31 interchange with I-459 near
the Riverchase Galleria. At stop light directly across U.S. 31 from the
Cadillac dealer turn onto Patton Chapel
Road. Go 1.5 miles. See fire station on left at Preserve Parkway and turn left
onto Preserve Parkway at the traffic light for Preserve Parkway. Drive to
top of the mountain. See Village Green on the left. Drive just past
the paved parking spaces on the right of Preserve Parkway, drive past
the separate paved parking lot on the right across the Parkway from the
restaurant and row of businesses and finally please drive into the traffic
circle or roundabout just beyond the row of offices and businesses which
you’ll see on your left. Go ¼ of the way around the roundabout and then turn
right off the roundabout and go up the small hill into the dirt parking lot on
the right. See sign for Moss Rock Preserve Parking at start of this
drive. Park in that dirt parking lot and meet the hike leader
there. Total distance on Preserve Parkway is 7/10 miles.
MARCH 9,
SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Dayhike
Where: The new
Shoal Creek Park, Montevallo, Alabama
Details: Southeastern
Outings has planned an easy approximately 4.1-mile hike on the new Shoal Creek
Park in Montevallo. On October 30, 2018, ten people participated in an SEO
scouting trip there led by Shane Baugh, the Montevallo Parks and Recreation
Director, and we were delighted at what we found. We subsequently had a
highly successful hike for the entire group on December 22, 2018.
This
167-acre park has some new trails (2.1 miles and 1.6 miles) already constructed
and some less developed trails which we will also hike. One trail does follow
the creek a good ways. Total hike distance is about 4.1 miles.
The park
is located on both sides of Shoal Creek about 2 miles upstream from Orr Park
where we have begun our past hikes on the Montevallo Parks Trail.
For those
concerned about having to cross the slippery log over the creek, please be
advised that the trail now crosses the creek on a brand new, sturdy, concrete
bridge. Also please note that the restrooms in the park are now completely
constructed and open for your use.
The park
is located 1.1 miles south of American Village on AL Highway 119 in Montevallo.
Please
bring your picnic lunch, water, and a hiking pole or two with you.
The hike leader requires that each hiker bring a hiking stick. There are places where the trail is steep and/or slippery because of wet pine straw.
The hike leader requires that each hiker bring a hiking stick. There are places where the trail is steep and/or slippery because of wet pine straw.
Please meet at 9:45 a.m. in the parking
lot behind the McDonald’s on U.S. Highway 31 at the Riverchase Galleria.
We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older
able to walk 4 miles without complaining are welcome.
Admission to the park is free!
MARCH 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: Randall Adkins, 205/317-6969
MARCH 13,
WEDNEDSAY, Meet 12:45 p.m.
Moderate Weekday Hike Along Buck Creek in Helena, AL
Click for More Pictures
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.
Please meet at 12:45 p.m. in the parking lot for the Helena
City Park on AL Highway 261 in Helena.
We plan to depart from there at 1:00 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
MARCH 16, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Dayhike
Where: Horseshoe Bend National Military
Park
Details: On March 27, 1814,
Major General Andrew Jackson‘s army of 3,300 men attacked Chief Menawa’s 1,000
Red Stick Creek warriors fortified in a horseshoe- shaped bend of the
Tallapoosa River. Over 800 Red Sticks died that day. The battle
ended the Creek War, resulted in a land cession of 23,000,000 acres to the United
States and created a national hero of Andrew Jackson.
In March 1814, General Jackson's army left Fort Williams
on the Coosa River, cut a 52-mile trail through the forest in three days, and
on the 26th made camp six miles north of Horseshoe Bend. The next morning,
Jackson sent General John Coffee and 700 mounted infantry and 600 Cherokee and
Creek allies three miles down-stream to cross the Tallapoosa and surround the
bend. He took the rest of the army - about 2000 men, consisting of East and
West Tennessee militia and the Thirty-ninth U.S. Infantry - into the peninsula
and at 10:30 a.m. began an ineffectual two-hour artillery bombardment of the
Red Sticks' log barricade. At noon, Coffee's Cherokee allies crossed the river
and assaulted the Red Sticks from the rear. Jackson quickly ordered a frontal
bayonet charge, which poured over the barricade. Fighting ranged over the south
end of the peninsula throughout the afternoon. By dark at least 800 of Chief
Menawa's 1,000 Red Sticks were dead (557 slain on the field and 200-300 in the
river). Menawa himself, although severely wounded, managed to escape. Jackson's
losses in the battle were 49 killed and 154 wounded, many mortally.
Though the Red Sticks had been crushed at Tohopeka, remnants
of the war party held out for several months. In August 1814, a treaty between
the United States and the Creek Nation was signed at Fort Jackson near the
present day city of Wetumpka, Alabama. The Treaty of Fort Jackson ended the
conflict and required the Creeks to cede 23 million acres of land to the United
States. The state of Alabama was carved out of this domain and admitted to the
Union in 1819.
In 1828, partly as a result of his fame from the battles of
Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans, Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh
President of the United States.
We will have the opportunity to watch a short film and view
the exhibits before we begin our hike which is rated easy. Hike distance is 5.8 miles. Admission to the park is free.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age eight and
over welcome.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the Publix in The Village at Lee Branch in
Greystone. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.
Info: Randall Adkins, 205/317-6969
MARCH 17, SUNDAY, Meet 1:45 p.m.
Dayhike, Moss Rock
Preserve
Details: Explore the wilder side of Hoover on
a moderate 2-4 mile hike with some climbing up and walking down fairly steep
hills on Shades Mountain. We’ll experience
the preserve’s diverse natural features which include longleaf pine forests,
huge boulders, streams, grassy areas, outstanding views and, when it rains,
some beautiful waterfalls.
Please bring water to drink. Well-behaved, properly supervised children age seven and up able to walk the distance and complete
the hike without complaining are welcome.
Please meet 1:45 p.m. at the Simmons Middle School Parking Lot. The group will depart from there promptly at
2:00 p.m.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age eight and
over welcome.
Info on the hike: David Shepherd, email
davidshep2@yahoo.com or 205/240-4681
MARCH 23, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Dayhike, Bankhead
National Forest
Brushy Creek and Sougahoagdee Falls
Details: The hike will be 6 miles long and is
rated moderate. We will follow a
beautiful trail which runs from the Brushy Creek Bridge along the creek. We usually observe about nine waterfalls on
this route. We should also see lovely
cliffs, hemlock trees, canyons and perhaps some additional waterfalls. If we have time, we may also visit the
nearby natural bridge (not the one
at the town of Natural Bridge) in the Natural Bridge Recreation Area of the
Bankhead National Forest.
Carefully-supervised, well-behaved children age 10 and older
welcome. Bring a picnic lunch and
water. Optional dinner after at a
delightful Italian restaurant in Double Springs.
Please meet 8:45
a.m. at the Hayden/Corner Park and Ride. We plan to depart from there at
9:00 a.m. Or you may meet at 9:20 a.m.
at the Mile 300 Rest Area on I-65.
MARCH 24, SUNDAY, Meet 1:45 p.m.
Wildflower Walk in a Forest Preserve in Homewood
Details: The City of Homewood owns two forest
preserves on Shades Mountain adjacent to the Homewood High School. Come and spend a relaxing two hours walking
and admiring wildflowers with us in the lower preserve. Rated moderately easy. Well-behaved, carefully supervised children
age 6 and older welcome. Please meet
1:45 p.m. in the
Homewood High School east (nearest Brookwood Village Shopping Center) parking
lot, just off Lakeshore Drive in Homewood. We plan to depart from there at 2:00
p.m.
MARCH 26, TUESDAY, Meet 8:50 a.m.
Weekday hike to view multiple
waterfalls in the Bankhead National Forest
Details:This
hike offers one of the best kept secrets of the Bankhead National Forest, its
magnificent waterfalls.
This
is a trip you won’t want to miss! The waterfalls of the Bankhead National
Forest never disappoint. See several spectacular waterfalls during the high
water season in Alabama. We will do three short hikes off trail and deep
in the forest to gorgeous waterfalls with turquoise water that only a few
people ever have the opportunity to see. High falls, cascading falls,
split falls, and views of more than one waterfall at a time. The first
falls will be Holmes Chapel Falls, second will be Coal Mine Falls, and thirdly
we will be walking down to and along Key Mill Branch where the falls have no
formal names.
Note-To
view photos of what we will see on this trip, please click on this link:
Please
be sure to click on the link and view the photographs.
If
you are retired or not working on this particular Tuesday, you are encouraged
to participate in the Southeastern Outings’ group hike in this National
Forest. Come with us for a guided tour to get a feel for the beauty
of these waterfalls.
Please
note that there are over 100 waterfalls in the Bankhead National Forest.
Be assured that the waterfalls we will visit on March 26 are DIFFERENT from the
nine waterfalls we will see on our hike in that forest on Saturday, March 23!
This hike is for experienced hikers (off trail
means thru the woods stepping over deadfall and climbing up and down and
crossing creeks etc.). Our hike leader has extensive experience hiking in the
National Forest and has picked these fairly accessible waterfalls as some of
the prettiest. Excellent photo opportunities. Please bring your
camera if you wish. Also, please wear hiking boots. Bring a hiking stick,
lunch, and water.
Optional dinner at an Italian restaurant in
Double Springs after the hike.
Please meet 8:50 a.m. at
the Hayden/Corner Park and Ride. We plan to depart from there at 9:00
a.m. Or you may meet the group at 9:45 a.m. at the Jack’s on U.S. 278 in
Addison, Alabama.
Info:Doris Hatch, 205/901-8367
MARCH 30, SATURDAY, 10:00 a.m.
Dayhike Along the Locust Fork River from Swann Covered Bridge to Powell Falls
Details: A moderate 3-mile dayhike and picnic
along the lovely Locust Fork River in Blount County near Cleveland,
Alabama. We’ll view and drive through
the genuine and newly-restored wooden covered bridge. Then we’ll hike along the river from the bridge and have lunch
right beside Powell Falls. This
waterfall drops about eight feet and carries a substantial amount of water.
We’ll also view sheer cliffs rising over 60 feet right above the water. See a rushing river, covered bridge, high
rock bluffs and a large waterfall—all along a one and a half mile stretch of
river.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older
welcome.
Bring a friend or several if you wish. Please meet 9:45 a.m. at
the Cleveland Chevron. We plan to depart from there at 10:00
a.m.
Info: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680
