JANUARY 5, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Moderately Strenuous Dayhike on the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail System
at Lake Martin, near Alexander City, Alabama
Click for More Pictures
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.
Info: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680
JANUARY
6, SUNDAY, Meet 1:15 p.m.
Walk
Very Near Birmingham
Where: Turkey
Creek Nature Preserve near Pinson in Jefferson County, Alabama
Details: You
are invited to participate in an easy, fun Southeastern Outings short Sunday
afternoon dayhike in the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve near Pinson. Come
walk with us through this heavily-wooded area. We’ll hike on the new
trail which has been officially opened since 2012. The trail extends from the
upper parking area through the woods to a large creek with a long, sloping
waterfall in the middle of the preserve. Please bring drinking water with
you. Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 7 and over are
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.
Please
meet 1:15
p.m. at the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve oval, upper parking lot on the north
side of The Narrows Road about 1.4 miles west of the intersection of AL
79, AL 151 and The Narrows Road in Pinson. We plan to depart from
there at 1:30 p.m.
Well-behaved,
carefully supervised children age 7 and older able to walk 4 miles
welcome. Share an adventure. Bring a friend or friends.
JANUARY 8, TUESDAY, 10:00 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’
eighteenth hike in the Park. Please come with us for a 3-4 hour hike
on a walkable portion of this noteworthy place. Hike rated
moderate. 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 10:00 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 10:15 a.m.
Information: Scott Myers, 205/393-5230
CANCELLED BECAUSE of WEATHER
CANCELLED BECAUSE of WEATHER
JANUARY
12, SATURDAY, Meet 8:45 a.m.
Dayhike
Where: Point
Mallard Park, Decatur, Alabama
Details: The hiking route offers very scenic views. The Point Mallard Park trail runs right
along Wheeler Lake, an impoundment of the Tennessee River.
At some point during the event, we
anticipate also going to the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Observation
Building. Please bring a picnic lunch
and drink to eat on the trail. Rated
fairly easy. Well-behaved, properly
supervised children age 7 and over are welcome. Optional dinner after.
Please meet 8:45 a.m. at the
Hayden/Corner Park and Ride. We plan to depart from there at 9:00 a.m.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net
or 205/631-4680
JANUARY 13, 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: Doris Hatch, 205/901-8367
JANUARY 19, SATURDAY
OPEN
JANUARY 26, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Dayhike: Cahaba River Park in Western Shelby County north of
Montevallo
Details: The Cahaba
River is among the most scenic and biologically diverse waterways in the United
States, and the public now has access to a portion of the river in Shelby
County. Work is underway on the Cahaba
River Park, a 1,500-acre site near the Bibb County line in western Shelby
County. Please come with us for our
very first moderately easy hike in this newly created park.
Cahaba River Park will include two sectors: a larger sector
on the north side of the river and a sector on the south side of the river that
will allow for motorized access.
The river will split the park into two sites with different
amenities. The north side, which is
being called the Helena/Hoover Sector, includes most of the park’s acreage. The
sector comprises 1,212 acres of Forever Wild property and 127 acres of county
property.
The south side of the river, which is being called the
Boothton/Montevallo Sector, comprises 188 acres of Shelby County property.
Cahaba River Park is a Shelby County venture that is being
developed in conjunction with Forever Wild Land Trust, an initiative of the
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Improvements to Shelby County 251, or River Road on the
north side of the Cahaba River, are about 75 percent complete.
Planned work includes about 15 miles of professionally
designed trails for mountain biking, hiking and trail running; multiple parking
locations at trailheads; several canoe launch sites that will allow for short
trips or runs as long as 7 miles; a pavilion and restroom facility; and a
caretaker’s house for a law enforcement officer.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older
able to walk about three miles without complaining are welcome to participate
in this trip.
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.
Admission to the park is free.
