JANUARY 7, SATURDAY, Meet 7:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Picnic Lunch and Moderate Dayhike
Where: Turkey Foot and Borden Creeks, Sipsey Wilderness, Bankhead National Forest
Details: Enjoy an especially beautiful, moderate 3 ½ mile hike along Turkey Foot and Borden Creeks. We will see several waterfalls on this trip. There are always three fine waterfalls on the ¾ mile walk along Turkey Foot Creek and its tributary creek. Please note that to facilitate going up or down the possibly slippery bank beside one of the Turkey Foot Creek tributary waterfalls we will provide hikers with the opportunity to use an assist rope. You are not required to use the rope. You will not be climbing a vertical cliff on a rope. Your feet will always be on the ground. It is just that having the rope gives you something solid straight in front of you to hold on to instead of scattered rocks and roots as you go up or down the short, about 20-foot distance.
After we hike to the end of Turkey Foot Creek, we’ll then walk beside the Sipsey Fork River a short distance to Borden Creek. Our hiking route then follows Borden Creek where we will see additional waterfalls and admire the gorgeous cliffs. Along Borden Creek the trail runs through a short, but very dark tunnel. You can stand up through the entire length of the tunnel. Please bring a small, bright flashlight with you to light your way through the tunnel.
Optional dinner after. Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 7 and older able and willing to walk 3 ½ miles without complaining are 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 4:00 p.m. on Friday, January 6. When you contact Dan, please be sure you leave either your phone number or email address. This outing is currently limited to a total of 20 people. We expect to find a second leader to lead a second group on this same hike. We will add a second group and break up into two separate groups of up to a maximum of ten people each with its own separate leader in order to comply with U.S. Forest Service regulations. The second group will visit all the same sites as the first group, but Group Two will be walking in the opposite direction from the first group. In order to eliminate the need to take time to run two car shuttles at the start of the hike, the drivers from each group will exchange car keys when the two groups cross paths with each other on the trail. We hope the limitation will not prove to be a problem. People who sign up for this outing after the first twenty will be placed on a wait list.
At a later date principal leader (Dan Frederick) 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, you are required to telephone Dan, 205/631-4680 right away.
Information and Trip Leader of Group 1: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or email southeasternoutings@gmail.com
JANUARY 8, SUNDAY, Meet 12:45 p.m.
Southeastern Outings 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. Optional dinner after the hike.
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.
Information and Trip Leader: Randall Adkins, 205-317-6969
JANUARY 14, SATURDAY, Meet 9:00 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Dayhike, Smith Mountain Fire Tower Area near Lake Martin
Details: The Smith Mountain Alpine Trail at Lake Martin is some twenty miles north of the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail. The highest elevation around Lake Martin, Smith Mountain is a jagged peak mountain in the Sandy Creek area of the lake. The top of Smith Mountain is rugged. Jagged rock formations dissect the mountain top into a series of rough terraces that are for the most part disconnected. A house-sized crag consisting of numerous boulders stands out from and above the rest of the peak. Standing majestically atop Smith Mountain is the historic 90-foot fire lookout tower. Erected in 1939 as a cooperative agreement between Alabama Power Company, Tallapoosa County Forest Conservation Association, and the Alabama Forestry Commission, the tower was a sentinel for locating forest fires for 40 years. In November 2010, Smith Mountain was deeded to the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association (CRATA). Over a period of 18 months the tower has been restored and upgraded with new safety features and is now open to the public. Visiting time is daylight until 30 minutes after sunset, daily.
A trail begins at the base of Smith Mountain and ascends the northern and western slope for about 0.4 mile. The trail descends the southern and eastern slope of the mountain for about 0.6 mile back to the parking lot. The view from the tower is spectacular.
In addition to the Smith Mountain Fire Lookout Tower, there are 5 miles of hiking trails. The two main trails are the Lake Shore Trail and the Little Smith Mountain Trail. The Island Hop Trail is accessible only during winter months when the lake is down. The Lake Shore Trail is a two-mile trail that descends the western slope to the lake shore and follows the shoreline for most of the two miles. There is also the dramatic two-mile Little Smith Mountain Trail which has four resting benches with some spectacular views--one bench on a peninsula, two on the south face, and one on the top.
Your hike leader has selected a scenic 3-6-mile moderate hiking route for you to enjoy from this wide choice of trails.
Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 8 and over welcome. Optional dinner after the hike.
Please meet at 9:00 a.m. at the Publix in The Village at Lee Branch in Greystone. We plan to depart from there at 9:15 a.m.
Info. and Trip Leader: Doris Hatch, 205/901-8367
JANUARY 21, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Dayhike
Where: Brushy Creek and Sougahoagdee Falls, Bankhead National Forest
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 Brushy Creek. At the intersection of Brushy Creek and Sougahoagdee Creek, we turn and follow Sougahoagdee Creek less than ¼ mile upstream to Sougahoagdee Falls, one of the largest and most scenic waterfalls in the entire Bankhead National Forest.
We usually observe about nine waterfalls on this hike. 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 8 and older welcome.
Please 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 the group at 9:20 a.m. at the Mile 300 Rest Area on I-65.
Info: Dan Frederick, southeasternoutings@gmail.com or phone 205/631-4680
january 22, SUNDAY, 1:45 p.m.
Southeastern Outings Dayhike on the Montevallo Parks Trail
Details: Enjoy an easy 4-mile hike on a trail in Montevallo. The main trail is two miles one way and goes through parks, by two picturesque, flowing streams, and around a beautiful university-owned lake in a wooded park. Total hiking distance is about four miles.
This walk will be Southeastern Outings’ eleventh or so hike on the Montevallo Parks trail. Come with us for a guided tour of an easily walkable trail. Please bring plenty of water and wear good walking shoes or boots. Dress appropriately for the weather.
Please meet 1:45 p.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart from there at 2:00 p.m. or you may meet the group at 2:45 p.m. at the parking lot beside the larger bridge over Shoal Creek which is the wide creek that flows through Orr Park between the ball fields and the open recreational area in the park in Montevallo. The bridge is right beside the parking lot along the creek at the back of the ball fields. Please email Dan Frederick at the email address below if you would like driving directions from Hoover to Orr Park sent to you before the hike.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and over able to complete the hike welcome.
Admission to Trail and Park: Free
Information and Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, southeasternoutings@gmail.com or 205/631-4680
JANUARY 28, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Waterfowl Viewing Trip
Where: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (WNWR), Decatur, AL
Details Experience the thrilling sight of thousands of sandhill cranes, wild geese and ducks plus herons and other birds. The Refuge has the largest concentration of wintering cranes, geese and ducks in the entire state of Alabama! You don’t need to be a bird watcher to enjoy this outing! Experienced birders leading the trip will share their knowledge with all.
This 35,000-acre refuge attracts thousands of wintering waterfowl each year. WNWR is comprised of diverse habitat types including bottomland hardwoods, wetlands, pine uplands, shoreline or riparian woodlands, agricultural fields, and backwater embayments. These habitats provide excellent feeding, resting, and roosting sites for wintering waterfowl, white pelicans, sandhill cranes and a few endangered whooping cranes as well as nesting sites for migratory songbirds and many species of resident wildlife.
We are highly privileged to have as our guide Dwight Cooley, the retired Refuge Manager. Dwight will take us on refuge roads behind locked gates as we drive to various bays and sloughs where you can easily see hundreds of ducks and geese in large numbers. We’ll also see many other types of birds including, hopefully, bald eagles. We’ll even see a huge flock of sandhill cranes which winter at the refuge each year. This winter the Refuge expects to be hosting approximately 22,000 sandhill cranes and about 20 endangered whooping cranes. The gated roads are closed to the public but will be open to our group.
Please bring binoculars, a birding field guide and a spotting telescope with you if you have them. The leader and Dan Frederick will each bring a spotting scope which they will share with participants.
This outing is rated easy, as there is very little walking involved, and we won’t be climbing any hills or walking through thick brush. Please dress for the weather. The wind at the refuge can be biting, blowing across open water on cold days.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 10 and over who can remain quiet for extended periods of time (so as to not disturb the birds and bird watchers) are welcome.
Possible optional dinner after the birding trip depending on what time we finish bird watching.
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 southeasternoutings@gmail.com by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 26, 2023. When you contact Dan, please be sure you leave your first and last name and either your phone number or email address. If you are bringing guest(s), please be sure to give Dan the first and last names of each of them.
This outing is limited to 5 motor vehicles. Dwight Cooley, the retired Refuge Manager and our outing leader, has very kindly reserved a 10-person refuge van to be one of those vehicles. Therefore, we are currently allowing a total of 25 Southeastern Outings people in order to comply with Refuge regulations. We hope the limitation will not prove to be a problem.
If you want to come on this outing and you have a vehicle which can comfortably hold more than four people and you are willing to use your vehicle to transport participants into the Refuge with us, please advise Dan Frederick immediately. Your assistance in this instance will permit us to accommodate more people on our trip than the 25 maximum number of SEO people currently imposed.
Since the Refuge’s limitation is five vehicles, you must be willing to ride in a full car or vanload of people in order to be eligible to come on this trip. If you are unwilling to carpool with other people during this outing, please do not register to participate in this event.
People who want to register to participate after the limit is reached will be placed on a waiting list.
At a later date leader will advise meeting time and place only to those who have signed up for this trip.
We look forward to seeing many of you on January 28.
Info: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or southeasternoutings@gmail.com
