CANCELLED - LOW WATER LEVEL
AUGUST 3, 2019, Meet 10:15 a.m.
Tube Float
#2
Tallapoosa
River at Heflin
Details: Southeastern Outings is very pleased to once again offer the opportunity to go tube floating.
We just identified last summer a new tube floating outfitter
on the Tallapoosa River at Heflin.
Tallapoosa River Outfitters has rented kayaks to SEO for many years, and
now they also rent tubes.
Join friendly folks on a relaxing,
lazy summer day tube float. Everyone is
cordially invited on this real fun event.
The float will be on the Tallapoosa River near Heflin, Alabama.
We will eat our picnic lunches by the river when we arrive
at the outfitters. Then we will float
on the river for about two to three hours.
The outfitter will put us on the river upriver from his place, and you
will float down river and take out at the outfitter’s place. Then you can play in the river at the end of
the float if you wish, and/or just lie out and relax or get in your car and
leave after finishing the tube float.
Please bring picnic lunch, drink, sunscreen, towel and dry
clothes in the car to change into for the ride back home. Wear old shorts or a swim suit and
substantial, snug fitting footwear you don't mind getting wet and dirty. Old sneakers usually work well. Bare feet, flip-flops, slip-ons and
thin-soled “beach shoes” are not acceptable!
The usual charge for tube rentals is $15 per tube. However, if we bring ten or more people in
our group, the outfitter will charge us only $10 per tube, so please bring your
family and friends with you. Please
come on this outing yourself and bring others with you to help us have over ten
people in our group so that we are eligible for the discount.
Tube rental charge covers tube rental, transportation
upriver to put-in point, use of a life jacket and use of picnic area and
swimming area in river after lunch. All
participants are required to rent tubes from the outfitter for the tube float
itself, no exceptions. Please
do NOT bring your own tube!
Well-behaved, properly supervised
children age 7 and older able to handle themselves in a tube for two to three
hours on moving water are welcome and encouraged to come. Parents are advised of risks of wading and
swimming in sometimes deep water, and parents are responsible for all risks to
their children.
Please meet at the Leeds Highway 78 gravel
parking lot no later than 10:15 a.m.
We plan to depart promptly from there at 10:30 a.m. Arriving 15 minutes before departure time
will allow time to use the restrooms at the service station, hear announcements
concerning the day’s event, and form carpools from the parking lot. If you are not at the meeting place at the
designated departure time, you will be on your own at the tube float. Please
be on time ready to go at the meeting place!
Please eat breakfast before you arrive at the meeting place,
and come with a full tank of gas if you intend to drive.
After the tube float and depending
on the time we finish, we may go to a restaurant in Oxford for an optional
dinner. If you would like to wash up
and/or have dinner with us at the restaurant after the tube float, please bring
a change of clothes and a towel.
Outfitter has a Porta Potty where you can change. Better than that, hot showers are available
for $5.00 at a truck stop by Interstate 20.
If you would like to shower, wash up and/or have dinner with us at the
restaurant after the tube float, please bring a change of clothes and your
shower things.
Reservations Required: You must email seoutings@bellsouth.net or call
Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 if you plan to come on this outing. Please advise your name and telephone
number. You may leave a message on
Dan’s answering machine or voice mail if you wish. If you are also making a reservation for someone else coming with
you, please give the NAME of that person.
Don’t just say, “My daughter, my friend, my wife”.
If you have made a reservation to participate and then decide to cancel,
please be absolutely sure to call and notify the trip leader. Don’t just tell your friend if you intend to
cancel!!
Please do not just show up for this outing at the meeting place without
making advance reservations! And if you
decide to meet us at some place other than the meeting place specified in this
announcement, please notify Dan in advance and directly of this fact.
AUGUST 10, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
River Beach Party, Swim and Picnic at Barton’s Beach in Perry County,
Alabama
Details: Enjoy a beach party on a beautiful, fine-grained sand
beach in Alabama without having to endure the long drive to and from the Gulf
of Mexico. The area is an extensive
sand beach on the Lower Cahaba River in Perry County next to the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Laboratory (formerly
the Marion Fish Hatchery) and Perry Lakes Park near Marion, Alabama. The scenery is spectacular. The floodplain broadens and creates areas of
bottomland hardwood forests, oxbow lakes and extensive sand and gravel bars.
Please bring swimsuit, towel,
picnic lunch and drink with you. Wading
shoes with substantial soles are recommended.
You may bring whatever flotation device you wish or you may purchase
floats from Southeastern Outings when we arrive at Perry Lakes Park adjacent to
Barton’s Beach. See float note below
for information about acquiring floats.
Dan will bring float air pump.
Restrooms are available at Perry Lakes County Park where we’ll park our
cars. The hike to Barton’s Beach is
easy since the terrain is level and the walk is all on trails.
We will also offer an optional
opportunity to climb on stairs to the top of the Perry Lakes Park viewing
tower, a rebuilt fire tower with gorgeous views high above the tallest treetops
in the area.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised
children age 7 and older able to swim are welcome, but parents are responsible
for all risks to their children. All participants must be able to swim to come
on this outing!
Optional dinner following
our day of sunning and swimming.
Meet 8:45 a.m. at the McDonald’s
Galleria. We plan to depart from there
at 9:00 a.m.
Float Note
Substantial, fabric-covered, inflatable, vinyl, rectangular floats like you use to ride the waves at the Gulf work
really well on this outing. Trip leader
Dan Frederick has floats 60 inches long for $12 each for sale ONLY at the start of outings Dan
attends. We regret that at this time we
have been unable to find a source where we can buy more of the 72-inch
canvas-covered floats. Please pay
either with exact change or a
check made out to SEO. First come,
first served.
AUGUST 17, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Short Dayhike and Glorious Swim in the huge
pool at the bottom of the 102-foot-high DeSoto Falls in DeSoto State Park
Details: Strenuous walk through
the woods and down a short, but very steep hill in DeSoto State Park to the
huge pool which many of you have seen from above when at DeSoto Falls.
We’ll be swimming and playing for most of the day in this pool at the bottom of
the waterfall which is in the West Fork of Little River. You can also
walk and play in the section of the river that flows out from the pool.
It takes only 20 minutes to walk from where we’ll park our cars to the water.
All but the last 75 feet or so is simple walking on fairly level ground. BUT
the last 75 feet are quite strenuous, requiring some rock, root and rope
climbing. So we are rating the hiking portion of this outing as
strenuous. Please note that we will use a thick, very sturdy rope at two
places to go down to the waterfall and at the same two places going up,
also. Your feet will always be on the ground. You will not be
dangling from a rope without having your feet on the ground. But if you
are queasy about this aspect of the walk in and out, please do not come on this
trip.
You must be able to swim to participate in this outing! Well-behaved, properly supervised children age
8 and up welcome, but parents are responsible for all risks to their
children.
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.
After
our swim and float, we’ll walk less than one mile back to the cars and then go
for showers and an optional dinner.
Please
bring picnic lunch, water, swimsuit, river shoes and any kind of a flotation
device you wish. See float note below for information about acquiring
floats. You are required to carry your flotation devices deflated for the walk in and out from the
pool. Dan Frederick will bring his float pump to pump up and deflate
floats at the edge of the pool when we get there.
Hot
showers for $2.00 per person are available before dinner. Please bring
shower things and change of clothes if you wish to clean up and change for
dinner. Meet 8:45 a.m. at the Applebee’s Restaurant Trussville. We
plan to depart from there at 9:00 a.m., or you may meet the group at
10:30 a.m. in the lobby of the DeSoto Park Lodge where we will stop to use the
restrooms before we begin the short drive from there to the start point of our
walk. Please email me at seoutings@bellsouth.net if you would like me to email to you
driving directions to the Lodge.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680
Float Note
Substantial, fabric-covered, inflatable,
vinyl, rectangular floats like you use to ride the waves
at the Gulf work well on this outing. Trip leader Dan Frederick
has floats 60 inches long for $12 each for sale ONLY at the start of outings Dan
attends. We regret that we are no longer able to find the longer, 72-inch
floats for sale anywhere. Please pay either with exact change or a check made out to SEO.
First come, first served.
DIRECTIONS TO MEETING PLACE
Applebee’s Restaurant Trussville (coming from Birmingham)—4711 Norrell Drive,
Trussville, AL 35173. Take I-59 North to Exit #141 (Chalkville Mountain
Road Exit). Exit I-59 at Exit #141. Drive to traffic light at far
end of the I-59 interstate exit ramp. This is at intersection of the exit
ramp and Chalkville Mountain Road. Turn right at the traffic light at the far
end of exit ramp. Drive to first stoplight you come to on Chalkville
Mountain Road and turn left. Applebee’s Restaurant is on Norrell Drive
directly behind the McDonald’s (currently under renovation construction) which
faces Chalkville Mountain Road.
AUGUST 24, SATURDAY, Meet 8:15 a.m.
Moderately Strenuous Dayhike
and Creekwade in Collier Creek, Bankhead Forest
Details: This is one of the prettiest creeks in the Bankhead
Forest. There was even a special
magazine article about its beauty! We hope to see at least six waterfalls running on this
outing if we are lucky. Collier Creek
is located in a heavily forested area with lots of hemlock trees.
Participants on this hike will be
expected to be able and willing to walk at least 4 ½ miles off trail over
rugged terrain including wading 2 miles in two creeks, portions of which may
sometimes be knee deep, wear hiking
boots and long pants to hike through the woods to and from the creek, and
bring and wear old shorts or swim suit and wading shoes for the creek
wade. Sturdy foot protection you don’t mind getting wet and dirty
is required to wade in the creeks. Old
sneakers work well. Bare feet, flip-flops, loose slip-ons and
thin-soled “beach shoes” are not acceptable!
Also please do bring a large
plastic bag with twist tie or Ziploc in which to put your wet shoes and a hand
towel to dry your feet before putting your socks and hiking boots back on for
the walk out. You are strongly
encouraged to bring a hiking stick or hiking poles (preferably two of them)
with you on this outing for use when you are wading in the creek. The creek bottom is rocky and uneven. Poles help you keep your balance and aid in
preventing falls. Also please bring a
towel, your picnic lunch and at least
a quart of drinking water.
Please come only if you are willing to get wet!
Enjoy an adventure. Bring a friend. Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 9 and over
welcome. After the outing we are
planning to go to a restaurant for an optional dinner. You can shower and change clothes at a
campground a few miles from the restaurant.
If you would like to shower and/or clean up and have dinner with us at
the restaurant, please bring a change of clothes for dinner and your shower
things. No charge to use the campground
rest room just to wash up and change clothes.
If you wish to shower, please bring $2.00 exact change cash for shower
fee and be sure you give your shower fee
to the trip leader on August 24 to forward to the campground owner!.
Meet 8:15 at the Hayden/Corner
Park and Ride or at 9:00 a.m. at the Mile 300 Rest Area on I-65 just south of
Cullman, Alabama. We plan to depart
from the Park and Ride at 8:30 a.m. Please note that the group will NOT be meeting at Double
Springs at all on this outing. This
outing is in the eastern section of the Bankhead National Forest and not near
Double Springs or the Sipsey Wilderness.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680
We regret that we have had to cancel the Southeastern
Outings tube float on the Tallapoosa River at Heflin scheduled for this coming,
Saturday, August 31. The water level in the river is too low to
comfortably undertake this outing. Also the water level is below the
minimum required by the outfitter to put tubes on that river. However, I and probably many of you
receiving this notice want desperately to do something in the outdoors this
weekend which enables us to get wet in cool water.
Therefore we have decided to substitute a river float in the
Locust Fork River near the towns of County Line and Trafford relatively close
to Warrior instead of our originally-planned tube float.
Details of the river float on the Locust Fork from Vaughn’s
Bridge to the site of the former Dean’s Ferry Bridge are in the announcement
below.
Please note that the meeting time and place have
been changed. If you want to come with us to float on the Locust Fork on
Saturday, which we hope a great many of you do, please arrive at the
Hayden/Corner Park and Ride parking lot 8:45 a.m. this coming Saturday.
We plan to depart from there at 9:00 a.m.
AUGUST 31, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
River Float, Picnic, Swim on the Locust Fork River in Blount County near
County Line and Trafford
Details: Easy river float on the Locust Fork River. Have fun swimming and just sitting in the
pools in the river. We will be floating from Vaughn’s Bridge (also called
Blaylok Bridge) to the location of the previous Dean’s Ferry Bridge. Please bring a picnic lunch, drink, towel,
sunscreen and something to float on such as an inflatable vinyl float or air
mattress. Please see river float note
below for information about floats. You must be able to swim to participate in this outing!
Well-behaved, properly supervised
children age 7 and up welcome, but parents are responsible for all risks to
their children. Bring a friend or
several if you wish.
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.
Because parking at the take out is
available for only 3 or so vehicles, we want people to carpool as much as possible
from the meeting place in the morning.
Meet at 8:45 a.m. at the
Hayden/Corner Park and Ride. We plan to
depart from there at 9:00 a.m.
Float Note-Trip leader Dan
Frederick has 60-inch long floats for sale at $12 each ONLY at the start of outings Dan
attends. Please pay either with exact change or a check made out
to SEO. First come, first served.
We regret that at this time we
have been unable to find a source where we can buy more of the 72-inch
canvas-covered floats.
Please note that this is NOT a kayak and canoe trip. We are floating on the river on inflatable,
vinyl canvas surf riders. Substantial, fabric-covered, inflatable, vinyl, rectangular floats like you use to ride
the waves at the Gulf work best.
Here is an alternative to carrying
your lunches, water, towel and sunscreen in a pack on your back. You can
bring with you four 6-7 foot lengths of sturdy cord. Place your pack with
your things in it in the middle of the foot of your float. Lash the pack
to your float with two of the cords, one passing around the float and through
the top of the straps and the other passing around the float and through the
bottom of the straps of your pack. Pass the other two cords over the top
of your pack and under the float and tie them down tightly. Then lie on your float with the pack sort of
between your knees with your feet splayed out at the bottom corners of your
float. Using this method eliminates your having to float down the river
for several hours on your belly with a pack on your back, and it also gives you
the option of turning over and lying on your back in the slower-moving sections
of the river in order to change your body position and float more
comfortably. If you are an adult, this method of fastening your pack to
your float works only if you are using a 72-in long rectangular float. Either method of transporting your pack is
satisfactory and acceptable. But I learned that people like it when you
give them choices. In any case, your lunches, etc. should be double
bagged (or placed in a waterproof canoe bag) inside your pack.
DIRECTIONS TO MEETING PLACE
Hayden/Corner
Park and Ride—171 State Highway 160, Warrior, AL 35180.
Exit 284 off I-65 North, take right on AL 160 at end of exit ramp, immediate
right on U.S. 31 and then enter fenced parking lot on right.
