DECEMBER 1, 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 on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
The trail is level, as it is on an old mining railroad right of way just
below the crest of Red Mountain. This
walk is an ideal activity for those Thanksgiving guests who have been in your
house for several days and with whom you are looking for something to do to get
them out of the house. 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. 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 unpaved section of the Vulcan Trail has recently been
widened and resurfaced.
There is no charge to participate
in this hike and there is no charge for admission to either Vulcan Park or the
trail.
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
DECEMBER 5, THURSDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Weekday Hike in Red Mountain Park (RMP)
Details: Would it excite you to hear that
Birmingham has secured a recreational, public park space 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?
In March,
2012 The Red Mountain Park Commission opened the eastern section of this park
to the public, offering folks a chance to walk the property and get a feel for
the location and scale of the land.
This will be Southeastern Outings’
nineteenth hike in the Park. Please come with us for a 3-4 hour hike
on a walkable portion of this noteworthy place. Hike rated moderately
strenuous since it is a fairly long hike and there are some hills to
climb. This is one of the largest city parks in the United
States! For considerably more information about the park, please
visit the park’s website:
Please
bring your picnic lunch and plenty of water and wear good walking shoes or
boots. Dress appropriately for the weather.
Please meet at 9:45 a.m. in the large Red Mountain
Park parking lot on the right side of Lyon Lane immediately after you turn
right onto Lyon Lane off of the north end of Frankfurt Drive off Lakeshore
Parkway. We plan to depart from
there at 10:00 a.m.
Information: Scott Myers, 205/393-5230
DECEMBER 8, SUNDAY, Meet 12:45 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 12:45
p.m. in the Oak Mountain Park office parking lot. We plan to depart from there at 1:00 p.m.
Please bring $5/person ($2.00
seniors) park admission fee plus your drink.
Info: Randall Adkins, 205/317-6969
DECEMBER 14, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Moderately Strenuous Dayhike on the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail System
at Lake Martin, near Alexander City, Alabama
Details: Located on the banks of Lake Martin, Alabama’s
largest and allegedly most beautiful lake, the area offers linked loop
trails. Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trails are among the most scenic and diverse hiking
trails in Alabama. The trails skirt the shoreline of beautiful Lake
Martin, a 40,000-acre, 700-mile-shoreline lake. Other areas of the trails are high rocky ridges and bluffs, some
with vistas of 6 to 8 miles overlooking Kowaliga Bay, Chimney Rock, and others
along rocky shoal creeks, and rippling brooks. The trails are routed
through a variety of flora and fauna. There are high rocky ridges with
mountain long leaf pine, mountain laurel, low and high bush blueberry, and lush
hardwood forests that include redbud, sourwood, dogwood, native azalea,
umbrella and big leaf magnolia. Large thickets of Catawba Rhododendron
are numerous. Deer, turkey and numerous bird species, including bald
eagles, can be seen along the trail.
The trails are built to blend into nature, free of bicycles, motorized
vehicles, horses or other pack animals. All trails are built on Alabama
Power Company land that is set aside as naturally undeveloped.
The trails
are well-marked and maintained, the terrain is varied, and the scenery on a
clear day is spectacular. We will hike
about 4 miles. We will see longleaf
pine and mixed hardwood forests, open airy sections, and other trail sections
under fuller forest canopy. We also
will see pristine lake views, boats, birds, boulders and deer tracks.
Please
wear hiking boots! Please meet 8:45
a.m. at Publix in the Village at Lee Branch in Greystone. We plan to depart from there at 9:00
a.m.
Well-behaved,
carefully supervised children age ten and over welcome.
Optional
restaurant dinner after.
CANCELLED
DECEMBER
21, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern
Outings Dayhike
Where: Shoal
Creek Park
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 and another one on
March 9, 2019.
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.
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!
DECEMBER 26, Thursday, 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 on the day after Christmas.
The trail is level, as it is on an old mining railroad right of way just
below the crest of Red Mountain. This
walk is an ideal activity for those Christmas guests who have been in your
house for several days and with whom you are looking for something to do to get
them out of the house. 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. 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 unpaved section of the Vulcan
Trail has recently been widened and resurfaced.
There is
no charge to participate in this hike and there is no charge for admission to
either Vulcan Park or the trail.
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
DECEMBER
28, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Dayhike
Where: John B.
Scott Trail near Lake Martin
Details: The John
B. Scott Forever Wild Trail is a 4.7-mile loop trail at Yates Lake, just south
of the Lake Martin Dam. The trail features spectacular views of the Tallapoosa
River from Kudzu Bluff. Hikers along the trail also will see Yellowstone Creek
and a tulip poplar tree that is 16 feet in circumference, a focal point of the
trail.
The trail goes south along Yates Lake past Kudzu Bluff and
then down the old Double Bridges Ferry Road switchback. It then heads south along
the shore of Yates Lake to Yellowstone Creek.
The trail follows Yellowstone Creek to the Great Gorge. The
trail subsequently follows Yellowstone Creek further west for about one half
mile, then ascends Saddlerock Mountain, the highest elevation in Elmore County.
Hikers will have great views from Saddlerock Mountain.
The trail then descends Saddlerock Mountain into the
valley past a giant tulip poplar tree. The trail ultimately then goes down to
the north parking lot on Goldmine Road. The Trail is marked both ways with
2x4-inch white blazes on trees and rocks.
The Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association rates
this hike as a moderate trek.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 10
and older able to complete a moderate hike with some uphill climbs without
complaining welcome.
Please meet at 8:45 a.m. at the Publix in The
Village at Lee Branch in Greystone. We
plan to depart from there at 9:00 a.m.
