Hike 6/20- Madison County, AL Nature Trail

Madison County, Alabama Nature Trail                                      2.85 miles

Me, Scotty, Ethan

Temperature High 70's (unusual)

Ethan had lasik eye surgery and we're spending the weekend at his house.  As it's me and the 2 guys, we watched several movies with chasing, shooting, blood and guts.  (I know - not what you typically read in a travel blog!). Anyway, it was beautiful weather and Ethan's eyes were feeling okay so off we went.  The trail is a 10 minute ride from his house on Green Mountain.  The park had many visitors.  One side effect of this pandemic is the fact that more people are getting outside enjoying nature.  This is a beautiful little park.  It's well maintained and just a great place to visit!

Hike 6/18- Laurel Falls & Stone Door TN

Something's up!!  The weather in Tennessee has been unseasonably cooler recently.  I really shouldn't complain because it makes for perfect hiking weather!  It's not a bad hike up to Stone Door - it is slightly uphill to the overlook, and it's definitely worth it!  The views are breathtaking.  From the outlook, you can hike down through the 'stone door'.  The trail goes deeper down into the valley and into the forest, but we only went down through the rock formations then turned back.  There were few people on the trail so it's a great place to socially distance oneself.

 

Can you see the hawk on the rock?
I wanted to get a photo of him flying, but he only wanted to sit and pose.

Hike 6/18- Greeter Falls, TN

To get to the falls, you hike down a trail which is rocky and you definitely have to watch your step.  At some spots, the path is narrow and you can look over where the mountain drops down over the falls.  There are plenty of trees lining the path and it would be highly unlikely that you'd fall directly into the falls.  :)  Soon you reach a spiral staircase that takes you down into the ravine.  Here it is very rocky and once again, you need to watch your step.  We changed from our hiking shoes to water shoes, thinking we may go into the water.  But, the water was very chilly, even on this June day.  There were several teens and children in the water and we decided to leave them to the swimming.  We hiked a bit through the rocky ravine.  It's a gorgeous spot.  There wasn't much water flowing over the falls as Tennessee hasn't had any good rains lately.  We finally headed back up the spiral staircase to the rocky trail.  On the way back, we did encounter a snake on the path.  Scotty saw it first and when it poked it's head out from behind the step, I did scream.  Slightly embarrassing as there was a 4 year old boy behind me.  I'm sure he thought I was over-reacting as his dad told us he had just moved the snake off the path earlier.  This is a beautiful hike, even with the obstacle of a snake.