Skip to main content

A short guide to hiking and backpacking in Alabama

Alabama is a beautiful small southern state. The state is almost in sea level and the highest point is around few thousand feet which is not very high, nevertheless there are nice long and short hiking trails all over the state.

1- Long distance hiking or thru-hiking:
Pinhoti trail is a long trail. More information:



2- Long hikes:
Cheaha wilderness:
There are many trails in this region.
The Chinnabee-Skyway-Pinhoti loop is more common. Pinhoti section is well marked and more challenging than other sections. Chinnabee trail is very busy because it is mainly used for day hike.
Trails are a little confusing whenever you approach the river and usually you have to pass to the other side. Camping are permitted almost everywhere  however there are many used campsites.








Sipsey wildeness:
There are many short trails in this area you can join together to make a longer hiking trail. When it rains you may not be able to pass through the Sipsey river. The river could get very high. In my opinion trail 209 is the most beautiful part of the wilderness and it mainly follows along the Sipsey river.






Conecuh national forest:
Blue pond and Open pond are good starting points. There are campsites (not free) near these trailheads. I enjoyed the hot shower at the open pond campsite while I was camping in winter. It has very mild winter and winter is the best hiking time. The main problem could be the intentional burning by forest service which makes everything smells unpleasant.
Conecuh trail is a 20 miles hiking trail. I didn't find a high quality free map for this trail. There are many lower quality maps.







3- Short hikes:
Lake lurleen state park. Hiking trail are well maintained and well marked.

Oak mountain state park:
There are many hiking trail in this state park. Entrance fee is required. Arrangement is needed for overnight camping.

Jericho trail
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 28, 2020 at 12:15 AM

    Good selection. Cheahah is a great hike.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 29, 2020 at 11:59 PM

    You've got a nice shot of the waterfall in Sipsey.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DIY ultralight pyramid tent for 2+ or 1+dog or 1+ bike

 This is my new DIY project. I have been making tents for last 5 years and I've tried different types. When I started backpacking I purchased a double wall, fully enclosed tent  (so called ultralight tent; market crap).  Most people don't really need these tents and they are not ultralight at all. I switched to a tarp when I started thru-hiking and I fell in love with it's simplicity. Tarp is fantastic. I tried copying zpacks solo tents then. It is a great design.   This time I was looking for a larger tent that can fit my dog as well and it's not as miserable looking as a tarp (people think you are broken!). I always resisted the idea of using a pyramid tent but after a lot of thoughts I settled down with a pyramid tent and I must confess this design offers fantastic features. Here how I did it.   Materials: I ordered all materials from:  https://ripstopbytheroll.com/   but I have used https://www.questoutfitters.com/ in the past and I enjoyed doing ...
Post a Comment
Full Story »

New Wood Stove

Finally pulled the trigger and got the wood stove. Although it is not as small and as cheap as many other options, and there are many hassles, I like the aesthetic of it and it also gives me an option of using my MSR stove safely. I have been heating my winter journeys with MSR and cracked window and CO detector, but this sounds safer and more flexible. I spent a day next to pond and build the basic frame and tested the heater. The first impression was good! This is not mounted, it is just a test
Post a Comment
Full Story »

Looking for winter in Utah, we found it in Texas

In previous years trips, I have always been stopped by a cold weather at one point, so I had to turn around at some point and head south. Although I have full clothes and sleeping system for very cold temperatures, but the main problem is that my comfort zone is very small and I can't move around a lot. This time I was focused on ideas to improve the cold weather comfort and test how far I can go. As a side note, I have learned that holidays are not good times to travel to places with good weather, nevertheless Christmas is one of those times that I will be miserable staying home. I always have very nice neighbors and friends and their attempt to make sure I am not feeling lonely makes me feel pathetic. So it is the best time to leave the town and go somewhere. If they ask why, I would say I am missing the snow. And if they say, well, you can just drive a shorter distance to the north and see the snow, I would say I miss the desert. And it is true, I miss snow and desert. The magic...
Post a Comment
Full Story »