Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Lake Guntersville State Park Cascade Trail Hike

After a another hard day in Boaz, AL on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 I decided to hit the trails at Lake Guntersville State Park to unwind. So at the hotel I mapped out a loop, gathered my stuff and hit the road for the park.

I parked at the King's Chapel Trail and Moonshine Trail trailhead parking area. As I got out of the Jeep a few drops of rain fell and I heard a low rumble of thunder in the distance. I threw caution to the wind and strapped on my CamelBak and hit the white blazed connector to the Cascade Trail.

I intersected the Cascade Trail and hung a left up it. It is an incredibly beautiful trail as it follows a stream up the side of the mountain with huge boulders and rocks every where. As I reached the point labeled Ken's Lookout I was really into the scenery. You can click here to see some of the pictures that I took.

I saw the big cliff and thought how fun it might be to climb it. Then I was amazed when the trail instead of going around it cut back and went up and across the face of it. I was even more amazed as I stood on a three foot wide ledge to discover a sixty feet deep cave back into the cliff. It would have been a great place to camp out.

As I came off the ledge I intersected with the Meredith trail and hung a right on it. It made for some nice running as I went around the edge of the mountain and intersected with the Golf Trail. I proceeded to hang a left on the Golf Trail and was able to get in some more good running.

I could hear the people talking as they were playing golf on the golf course. My only concern was a stray golf ball flying through the air. As I neared the intersection of the nature trail it started to rain. I stopped and pulled my camouflage poncho out of my CamelBak and put it on.

About that time a whole string of runners began running by me. It looked like a local high school track team. In all about eight boys and a girl come running by me. I was at what I thought might be the Nature Trail but wasn't sure since there weren't any signs. I took a left on it though and headed back toward the Cascade Trail.

Well I hit the Cascade Trail but I hadn't been on the Nature Trail. It was simply a short connector between the Golf Trail and Cascade Trail that wasn't on the map. So I took a right on the Cascade Trail. In no time I came to the Nature Trail intersection. During the trip down the connector the rain had stopped and I had put my poncho back in my CamelBak.

I then proceeded to the left down the Waterfall Trail. It was very wide and was going down an old road. About a hundred yards down it a rather large deer snorted at me and bounded off down into a big valley. I wasn't able to see if it had horns but it was a big deer.

As I got down the trail a little ways I saw a connector trail that was listed on the map that would take me back to a section of the Cascade Trail that I had not been on so I changed my original plans and took off to the left down it.

I was glad that I did. The bottom of the valley that I went through was covered in a very green, tall, wavy grass. It made the whole valley seem as if it was flooded in green water or there was a green fog floating just above the ground over the whole valley. It was really cool.

I intersected the Cascade Trail and hung a right back down to Ken's Lookout. I then changed from my plan and took a right and hit the Old Still Path. Another good decision. It was a nice run/walk along this trail as in places it was narrow and rocky. Other places it meandered around the mountain and made for some good running.

Also right there in the middle of it all was the Old Still site. I stopped long enough to capture a few memories on my digital camera and then I was on to the Waterfall Trail intersection. I took a left on it and because of it's width was able to run all the way back to the Jeep.

All in all it was a very nice run/hike and made for a very memorable last trip during my stint at the Boaz plant.

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