JULY 4, THURSDAY, 6:30 p.m.
Southeastern Outings 4th of July Picnic
Where: Bartow Arena Park
Details: Please bring your own blanket or chairs and all your picnic supplies: food, drinks (no alcohol, please), cups, ice, utensils, etc. Look for the SEO signs. SEO people will assemble to the right of the stage as you face the band, right where the grass ends and the concrete floor leading to the entrance to the arena begins. Well-behaved children, but no dogs, are welcome.
Reservations: Not required.
Info: Dan Frederick, southeasternoutings@gmail.com or 205/631-4680
JULY 4, THURSDAY, 7:00 p.m.
Southeastern Outings Attends FREE 4th of July Band Concert Followed by City of Birmingham Fireworks
Where: Bartow Arena Park
Details: Band concert by the UAB Summer Band. This large group of carefully auditioned and selected student and professional musicians is an outstanding concert band. Please bring your own blanket or chairs. SEO people will assemble to the right of the stage as you face the band, right where the grass ends and the concrete floor leading to the entrance to the arena begins. Look for the Southeastern Outings signs. When the concert ends, conveniently enjoy clearly viewing the Birmingham City Fireworks from the picnic area. Well-behaved children, but no dogs, are welcome.
Reservations: Not required
Info: Dan Frederick, southeasternoutings@gmail.com or 205/631-4680
JULY 4, THURSDAY, After the Concert and Fireworks
Southeastern Outings Potluck Dessert Get-Together
Where: Bartow Arena Park
Details: Southeastern Outings people will stay at the Bartow Arena Park for a while after the fireworks are concluded, avoiding all the exiting traffic congestion. Then we will enjoy good company and food. You are encouraged to invite one or several guests to come with you since this event is one of the best SEO events for introducing yourself (if you are not already a member) and your friends to the group. Please bring a small dessert with you to share with the group. SEO will provide a table to set out desserts plus plates, napkins, forks and spoons. We suggest you also bring your own drink (no alcohol, please) with you.
Well-behaved children, but no dogs, are welcome.
No Charge
Reservations: Not required
Info: Dan Frederick, southeasternoutings@gmail.com or 205/631-4680
JULY 6, SATURDAY, please meet 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Kayak/Canoe Trip, Tallapoosa River at Heflin, Alabama
Details: The section we will paddle is relatively easy. This is a scenic stretch of river located in a very rural area. Forty-four SEO people participated in this very popular outing in August, 2011. There has been no outfitter on this stretch of river for the past three years. We are delighted to learn that Lex Brown, the owner of the property at the takeout, has opened his new outfitting company effective May 30, 2023.
Novice canoeists are welcome and may come on this trip, but each one must be partnered with an experienced canoeist in their boat.
The trip length is about 7 miles long. There are two relatively easy class I rapids on this stretch.
Please note that for this trip you may rent one or two-person sit-upon plastic kayaks at the take out from Tallapoosa River RV and Outdoor Center.
Here is the schedule of outfitter charges:
1. solo sit upon kayaks each $30
2. tandem (two-person) sit upon kayaks each $50
3. shuttle fee per owned boat $10
Boat rental fees include paddles, life jackets and shuttle service to the put-in. If you rent a boat from this outfitter, the outfitter will shuttle you and your rented boat to the put in so you will never need to transport your rented boat at all. Also, the outfitter will shuttle for a fee all private boats used on this outing. You may bring your own canoe or kayak on this trip, but you must pay the outfitter to shuttle your privately-owned boat.
If you wish to rent a boat from this outfitter, please call Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680. Dan will relay your boat rental reservation on to the outfitter. Please note that the outfitter has only 40 one-person sit-upon kayaks and 10 tandem (2-person) kayaks for rent, so be sure you call to reserve early. Once all their boats of one type or the other are reserved for July 6, there will be no more boats of that type available to rent!
This outfitter does not have canoes to rent.
When we arrive at the outfitter’s, you will sign a waiver, pay your shuttle or boat rental fee, use the restroom, eat lunch and then the outfitter will transport all of us and our boats upriver to the put in. We will then paddle down the river to the take out where our cars are at the outfitter’s, stopping as often as we want to along the way.
For more general information please see note for canoe trips below.
After the canoe and kayak trip we are planning to go to a restaurant for dinner on the way back. Hot showers are available for no charge at the outfitter’s place. If you would like to shower, wash up and/or have dinner with us at the restaurant after the canoe trip, please bring a change of clothes and your shower things to be kept in the car.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the Leeds Highway 78 gravel parking lot. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m. If you decide to meet us at some place other than the meeting place in Leeds specified in this announcement, please notify Dan in advance and directly of this fact.
Reservations Required: You must contact trip leader Dan Frederick, southeasternoutings@gmail.com or phone 205/631-4680 if you plan to come on this canoe/kayak trip. Please advise your name, telephone number, skill level, whether you want to kayak or canoe and whether you are bringing or wish to rent a boat and whether you need a paddling partner. You may leave a message on Dan’s voice mail if you wish. Please do not just show up for this outing without making advance reservations!
Information and Trip Leader: If you have further questions or would like additional information, please contact Dan Frederick, phone 205/631-4680 or email southeasternoutings@gmail.com.
JULY 13, SATURDAY, please meet 8:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Short Dayhike and Glorious Swim at the bottom of the 102-foot-high DeSoto Falls in DeSoto State Park
Details: Walk through the woods and on a trail down a steep hill in DeSoto State Park to the huge pool which many of you have seen from above when at the overlook above 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.
We are pleased to announce that DeSoto State Park has recently constructed a new trail which extends from the road going to the top of DeSoto Falls all the way down to the opposite side of pool at the bottom of the falls from where the previous trail leads. This new trail is considerably easier and much less treacherous than the trail we used to take there when we did this trip in past years.
The new trail is 7/10 of a mile long one way. The first half goes down a fairly steep hill. The second half parallels the West Fork of Little River and is more or less level. The State Park Service rates this new trail as moderate to strenuous. I would rate it moderately strenuous. The surface is rocky, but the trail is open, there is no underbrush and there are no vertical cliffs to negotiate.
That being said, it is highly recommended that anyone intending to come on this outing with us bring TWO sturdy hiking poles in order to wade safely across the West Fork of Little River (about 20 feet wide) from the side where the new trail is located over to the opposite side of the river where the sand and gravel beach is. We will spend most of the day floating on the water in the huge pool at the bottom of the waterfall and on that beach where we will eat our lunches.
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.
Participants on this hike must: be able and willing to wear hiking boots or sturdy overland shoes to hike to and from the water’s edge and bring and wear shorts or swim suits and water shoes to wade the river and for the swim. Sturdy foot protection is required all day. Old sneakers work fine for the in-water activities, but please no bare feet, flimsy beach shoes, flip flops or loose slip-ons for the swim! Please don’t come if you are unwilling to get wet! Also please do bring a large plastic bag with twist tie or large Ziploc bag in which to put your wet shoes and also bring a hand towel to dry your feet before putting your socks and hiking boots back on for the walk out.
Please bring water, swimsuit, and any kind of a flotation device you wish. See float note below for information about acquiring inflatable, canvas-covered floats.
Various floatation devices including tubes are permitted on this outing. You are required to carry your flotation devices deflated for the walk in and out from the pool. Please note that on this outing it will not be possible for you to inflate your float using an electric pump plugged into your vehicle. All floatation devices must be inflated at the edge of the pool using hand pumps only. The pool where we will be floating is nowhere near the vehicle parking lot. It is a 7/10-mile hike from the parking lot to the pool. Dan Frederick will bring a float pump to pump up floats at the edge of the pool when we get there and deflate the floats before we hike back up the hill.
After our swim and float, we’ll walk 7/10 of a mile back to the cars and then, for those who would like, they may go for showers and an optional dinner. Hot showers are available for $2.00 per person in the air-conditioned bathrooms at the DeSoto State Park campground before dinner. Please bring shower things and a change of clothes if you wish to clean up and change for dinner. If you would like to shower and change clothes and then drive straight home without going to dinner with the group, you may do so. Also, if you want to just change into dry clothes with no shower and then drive to dinner with the group or directly home, you may change with no charge in the restrooms by the Country Store in DeSoto State Park.
Please 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 State 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 southeasternoutings@gmail.com if you would like meet the group initially at the park lodge.
Info. And Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com or phone 205/631-4680
River Float Note
Substantial, fabric-covered, inflatable, vinyl, rectangular floats like you use to ride the waves at the Gulf of Mexico work best. Now after six years, trip leader Dan Frederick finally has 72-inch-long inflatable floats for sale for $23 each. He also has 60-inch-long inflatable floats for sale for $15 each. These floats are available ONLY at the start of the river floats. Please pay either with exact change or a check made out to SEO. First come, first served.
Dan will provide hand float pumps to pump up your float at the end of the hike down to the bottom of the falls which is where we will be swimming. Please note that on this particular outing it will not be possible to pump up your float using an electric pump plugged into your car.
JULY 20, SATURDAY, please meet 8:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Kayak and Canoe Trip, Flint River near Brownsboro, Alabama
Details: This will be Southeastern Outings’ fourth group trip on the Flint River. This is a scenic stretch of river located in a very rural area. This stretch is fairly easy and without classified rapids. Along the river we’ll see wildflowers and stop to investigate islands and beaches.
Novice canoeists are welcome and may come on this trip, but each novice canoeist must be partnered with an experienced canoeist in their canoe.
The outfitter, TGL Adventures, has for rent 1 tandem canoe, 50 new one-person sit-upon kayaks, 6 tandem kayaks and 6 sit in solo kayaks.
We thank SEO member Wendy Plash for observing the signs for this outfitter while she was kayaking on the Flint River and then referring us to TGL Adventures.
Here is the schedule of outfitter charges:
1. solo kayaks (both sit-upon and sit-in) each $40
2. tandem (2-person) canoes $60 each
3. tandem sit upon kayaks $60 each
4. shuttle fee per boat for owned rather than rented boats $15
Life jackets, paddles and shuttle fee are included in the rental boat fee for those who rent boats from the outfitter. Also, the outfitter will shuttle for a fee all private boats used on this outing. If you rent a boat from this outfitter, the outfitter will shuttle you and your rented boat from the take out back to the outfitter’s office so you will never need to transport your rented boat at all. You may bring your own canoe or kayak on this trip, but you must pay the outfitter to shuttle your privately-owned boat.
When we arrive at the outfitter’s, you will sign a waiver, pay your shuttle or boat rental fee, use the restroom, and then we’ll put in the river at the outfitter’s. We will then paddle down the river to the take out, stopping as often as we want to. The outfitter’s vehicles will meet us at the take out and transport us and our boats back to the outfitter’s office where our cars are.
Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 10 and over welcome.
After the canoe and kayak trip we are going to a nearby restaurant for an optional dinner. If you would like to wear dry clothes for the drive home or to go to dinner, please bring a change of clothes to be kept in the car. The outfitter has changing rooms. There is a shower you can use in one of the changing rooms.
Reservations Required: You must contact Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com or call 205/631-4680 if you plan to come on this kayak and canoe trip. You may leave a message on Dan’s voice mail if you wish. If you want to come on the July 20 SEO kayak and canoe trip AND you are renting a boat from the outfitter at the site of the trip, in this instance you are required to call or contact ONLY the trip leader and notify him that you are coming! Dan will inform the outfitter how many and what type of rental boats he will need to provide to SEO people for this trip. Also, 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.
Please do not just show up for this outing without making advance reservations! Please meet 8:45 a.m. at the Jack’s at Exit 284 off of I-65 North of Birmingham. We plan to depart from there at 9:00 a.m. For more essential information about this trip, please see Note for Kayak and Canoe Trips below.
Information and Trip Leader: If you have questions or would like additional information about this trip, please email Dan Frederick, southeasternoutings@gmail.com or phone 205/631-4680.
Note for Kayak and Canoe Trips
Life jackets or personal flotation devices are required and must be worn. You are responsible for finding your own boat. Bring your own boat, borrow one, paddle with a friend, or rent a kayak or canoe from the outfitters listed above.
Please bring in the boat your picnic lunch, something to drink, and a towel. Put your belongings in a waterproof dry bag in the boat. Wear old shoes you don’t mind getting wet (old sneakers work well). Also bring at least 6 feet of sturdy cord to tie up your boat. If you have further questions, please call the trip leader.
