IrmaGerd! Spontaneous Alabama Road Trip!

IrmaGerd! Spontaneous Alabama Road Trip!

Northern Alabama Exploration

September 8-12, 2017

Summary:

Most everyone knows about Hurricane Irma. If not, you can check out the details on Wikipedia. As a Tallahassee resident who lives in a jungle house covered by trees, I was nervous as well as everybody else that lives in the Caribbean, Southeastern United States, Gulf of Mexico, etc. It didn't help Irma wasn't trying to win any running races, just bodybuilding competitions. Due to her slow-movingness, there was no clear calculated path at any point. I decided to leave and take the kiddos with me. It was our first family road trip!

I stayed in Birmingham, AL with my friend Brooke and took a few days to enjoy some parks, drink local brews, and get some National Park passport cancellations. My main points of interest were as follows:

Oak Mountain State Park | Blog | Website

Little River Canyon National Preserve | Blog | Website

Russell Cave National Monument | Blog | Website

The Gear:

• Osprey Daylite (+Bladder)
• Sony A5100 Mirrorless Camera
• TeVa Terra Fi Lite Sandals
• Dagger Stratos
• Werner Sherpa

The Story:

I was fairly confident that I would be leaving Tallahassee to travel inland. Irma is a slow swimmer taking her time, and the trajectories shifted daily. Oddly enough, the European model was the most accurate from the beginning. Thank you National Hurricane Center for being confident about it going up the East coast and then bouncing back into the Atlantic Ocean. Now we know who the idealists and realists are.

I would not fair well with a tropical storm in my death trap of a jungle house. The house survived Hermine last year but only a few months ago, I had a magnolia tree smash one side of my deck from a 15 minute evening windstorm. Irma is a spiral of catastrophic demolition. I only stayed at work until noon on Friday before going home to continue with preparations. My roommate and I brought everything that was outside into either the house or shed. I took my XT250 to Paula's house to hang out in her garage, and I set the kayaks up on my truck. The rest was packing and moving items around and getting the cats ready to go. I left many valuables behind, but I did bring my PC tower, 1/2 monitors, projector, camera, kayak gear, Surface, etc. I couldn't have too much since it will be the kitties' first road trip, and they need space.

Birmingham

I arrived in the evening where I found my friend's place. The kitties were not happy about the dog but found their spots to hide. I was probably a bad Kat Mama, but I needed food and a beer. I walked over to the Southside neighborhood and consumed some local brews and a burger at Jack Brown's Beer & Pizza. I've started to eat burgers again. It's weird how my food cravings are seasonal. My burger got lost somewhere, but I eventually did get to eat it and had a huge discount on my bill. Not bad. I returned back to the house, where I found a traumatized Taco and a jaded Jovi. I'll call around to board them for both their sakes and mine.

The next morning I met Brooke and her friend at The Market At Pepper Place. It is also in the Southside neighborhood and occurs every Saturday from 7-12, rain or shine. I had a delicious breakfast (and coffee), listened to music, checked out the large selection of farm grown products, and tried Kombucha for the first time! I had one while I was at the market, and then bought two bottles to go (each from different Kombucheries?). 

I needed to attend to Jovi and Taco not adjusting well. Not only did they have a stressful car ride, but they spent the night with large, playful, friendly dog. Taco would not get down from on top of the kitchen cabinets, wouldn't eat, and looked genuinely freaked out. Jovi found a good hiding spot, as per usual. I called My Spoiled Pet Resort & Spa to see if they had any room for my kiddos. She said they have room and that they are trying their best to accommodate all hurricane evacuee pets. I was expecting a small room with a cat tree, but they had a MASSIVE room with TWO cat trees and lots of floor space. I imagine I will hear all about it on the way home how they got to have two and I only have one. Anyway, thumbs up to My Spoiled Pet Resort & Spa for helping me, my kitties, and all the other families with furry four legged members this weekend. The pricing was fair, if not unexpectedly super cheap. I was charged $105 for both cats to have that huge room to themselves for three nights. I dropped them off on my way to explore outside, and felt so much less stress. I'm sure they were less stressed too. Their eyes lit up with no hesitation when they saw the room. Meow!

Oak Mountain State Park

Link to Post: Oak Mountain State Park - Paddling and Hiking

While at the market, I talked to Brooke and her friend about things to do. I wanted to go hiking and explore the outdoors, so they suggested I head to Oak Mountain State Park. Some photos here too.

Heading back to the boat ramp [2017-09-09]
Oak Mountain State Park | Pelham, AL

Turtles!  [2017-09-09]
Oak Mountain State Park | Pelham, AL

Leave No Trace [2017-09-09]
Oak Mountain State Park | Pelham, AL

I came across another map on the trail. I clearly took the Red/Blue connector that was further East, but I was trying to take the Western one on this map. I did not make it as far as I thought I had. Oh well! Plenty of room to adjust. I was close to the trailhead too, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if I don't want to go on a long hike. This added a perspective for me that the park is even larger than I imagined.

Trail Map [2017-09-09]
Oak Mountain State Park | Pelham, AL

I wrapped up my hiking and returned to my truck. I opened up the cooler and brought out the local Alabama Kombucha I bought at the farmer's market. I decided on the Harvest Roots Lemongrass and Chamomile. I popped it open and got on my way, hoping no one thinks I'm drinking beer as I'm driving...

Local Kombucha! [2017-09-09]
Oak Mountain State Park | Pelham, AL

Last but not least, the main entrance sign at the "front gate" of the park.

Main Entrance Sign [2017-09-09]
Oak Mountain State Park | Pelham, AL

Little River Canyon National Preserve 

Sunday morning I decided on a National Park agenda. I'm never travelling without my U.S. Nationals Parks or Florida State Parks passport. I never know where I could end up!

Link to Post: Little River Canyon National Preserve

The Main Overlook of Little River Falls [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

Russell Cave National Monument

Link to Post: Russell Cave National Monument

After getting my fix at Little River Canyon, I drove North right at the Tennessee border to visit Russell Cave National Monument. Again, no research and planning. I asked the rangers about the gist of the park, and they told me a brief background on the cave and said I should start with the exhibits inside the visitor center. I of course got my stamp! This park did not have much of a crowd, but I liked it that way.

I rounded a corner and arrived to a view of the cave. While I have been in caverns and seen sinkholes, it's neat to see the collapsed limestone with a roof over it from the outside. And that there are still plants growing on top of the cave.

The boardwalk ends just under the entrance to the cave. I had a feeling I wouldn't be allowed to wander. There's more signs for me to gain knowledge though!

Huntsville, AL

I decided to pass through Huntsville on my return trip. I was recommend Ale's Kitchen, which was the restaurant for Straight to Ale. While my Jerk Chicken Tacos were scrumptious, it was one of the more disappointing beer flights I've ever had.

Straight to Ale / Ale's Kitchen: 

 Beer Flight - Ale's Kitchen [2017-09-10]
Straight to Ale | Huntsville, AL

Therefore I walked over to Yellowhammer Brewing which was across the field. I'll classify this flight as being at least average. They had an electronic beer menu with an Untappd feed, so I could see my check-ins.

Beer Flight [2017-09-10]
Yellowhammer Brewing | Huntsville, AL

Hey those are my Untappd check-ins! [2017-09-10]
Yellowhammer Brewing | Huntsville, AL

I went to Starbucks for an hour or so to make sure I was sober enough for the dark, 2 hour drive back. I also took advantage of the Wi-Fi and got started on this blog post.

The next day, I went for a run, worked on my blog at a local coffee shop as well as Ghost Train Brewing, and then went on a crazy urban adventure, but no more nature things.

Ghost Train wins the award for cutest flights, as well as good Wi-Fi to camp out for a few hours and work on this again.

No bad news from the hurricane. My house had no damage and never lost power or electricity. Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky. Day after that, I scooped up Jovi and Taco, and we drove back to Tallahassee.

Hurdles:

If you are good at losing things like I am, get a dog (or cat) tag made with your first name and phone number and attach it to your key chain. I lost my keys, and it took awhile to find them. I was almost at the point of having a friend overnight them with FedEx. I now have a leopard print tag on my keys with that information.

Other than that - it was great to catch up with a friend, experience a new city, and explore some new parks!

Relevant Quote:

"Spontaneity is what travel is all about."

-Zach Anner

Normally I have a solid schedule when I travel with built in time for spontaneity. This trip was purely spontaneous, but thanks to suggestions and Google Maps, I had a great time exploring.

Other:

Such a long post...I took so many photos, but everything was so pretty! Including beer flights - which are always pretty.

I only have three more Alabama National Park cancellations. They are in the Southeastern part of the state, so it can be a really long day or weekend trip. Stay tuned!

***12 June 2018 - Edited post to separate out each section of the main 3 sections.

Related Resources:

• AL State Parks: Oak Mountain State Park
• U.S. National Parks: Little River Canyon National Preserve
• U.S. National Parks: Russell Cave National Monument

Little River Canyon National Preserve

Little River Canyon National Preserve

IrmaGerd! Spontaneous Alabama Road Trip!

Fort Payne, AL

10 September 2017

Introduction

Long story short - I fled Tallahassee, FL to Birmingham, AL with the kittycats to escape from Hurricane Irma. 

Joke on me - the storm did almost nothing to Tallahassee and the power didn't go out ever.

Joke on life - I got to get National Park passport stamps.

Main Post Here: IrmaGerd! Spontaneous Alabama Road Trip!

The Sunday morning of the weekend, I decided on a National Park agenda.

Stop 1 - Little River Canyon National Preserve [Right here!]

Stop 2 - Russell Cave National Monument

The Story

Little River Canyon Center

My first stop for Little River Canyon National Preserve was the visitor center. Since a theme of my trip is not preparing with research, I figured it was best to stop in before I did something stupid, like kayak down a deadly waterfall. The rangers answered my questions about kayaking ultimately by saying that there was not enough water but that it is extremely high whitewater classes if there was enough water. One of the rangers was kind enough to show me places upstream where I could put in at flatwater and then take out before I arrived at the falls. Most of which would be considered part of Desoto State Park. Since my mission was to get more Alabama National Parks cancellations today, I forewent the kayaking. I also wouldn't be able to shuttle on my own and would have to experiment with hitchhiking. Oddly enough, it wouldn't be the first time.

Buy 1 Get 1 Free Sunscreen [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

I went into the gift shop for some suncreen. All they had were little bottles that were BOGO. Perfect actually. They won't weigh me down and can pass as a carry-on liquid with TSA. They even have the park's logo on them too, such a functional souvenir. It was a way smarter buy than the Junior Ranger vest. They have them in ADULT SIZES, which clearly means they were no doubt inviting me to join the program. The volunteer working the shop says grown men have the vests and get the free patches even though it's a "kids" program. Some of us are adult kids! I decided on not getting the vest because I have my passport to track my progress through the National Parks.

Scenic Drive

I began with the scenic drive with overlooks. I thought that was the thing to do. When I reached Little River Falls Overlook, I got to see the falls from far away - very beautiful! But I want to see them up close. Reluctant, I kept driving in the direction I began with.

Little River Falls Overlook [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

Little River Falls Overlook [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

My next stop was Lynn Overlook. This is where I concluded that I was getting farther from the main "tourist" area. I was thinking more as if this were Skyline Drive, but it turns out the main attraction was right across the highway from the visitor center. I turned around after checking this overlook. I'm sure everything along the drive was gorgeous, but I didn't have the time to complete the route.

    

Lynn Overlook [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

Little River Falls

The main attraction - Little River Falls! Yes, right across from the Visitor Center. Lots of cars, it seemed everybody else knew exactly what they were doing. I never claim to be an expert at all this, just learning as I go!

Top of Little River Falls [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

From the parking lot, there is a trail that leads to the top of the falls. I wandered around, and this was the closest I get before a ranger with a bull horn yelled at me that I was too close 😳. 

I went back up the trail and walked across the bridge of the highway. It was cool to see the pools of water and seeing how it all flows to the right side.

Top of Little River Falls [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

Almost across the bridge, I took a picture from a different angle. There are more swirls over the rocks on this side. The water is incredibly low, which leaves my imagination to envision how much of the rocks would be covered at a high flow.

Top of Little River Falls [2017-09-10] 
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

Once across the bridge, I could see the Visitor Center entrance. Go me!

There is a boardwalk on this North end of the highway bridge that takes you underneath the bridge. I thought the stones of the bridge's structure were adorable!

Under the Bridge [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

The boardwalk led to an actual trail. I hadn't thought to bring my park guide with me to see what it was all about. I walked a few steps before turning around, where I crossed the bridge and took the main paved/boardwalk trail down to see the falls close-up.

The Main Overlook of Little River Falls [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL

My first thought was: Is it always just on one side? The ranger earlier told me the water was low, but this looks very low. I wonder what the rocks above the falls look like when the water is at a full flow. I bet we wouldn't be able to walk around as much? Anyway, there was a photo on the information sign that shows the falls span across the entire cliff.

Waterfall does stretch longer where there is more water [2017-09-10]
Little River Canyon National Preserve | Fort Payne, AL