Backpacking Trip, April 2000

I left Lancaster County Pennsylvania at 3:30 AM on Saturday morning. I was headed for the Baltimore Washington Airport and from there to Alabama to spend 4 days hiking with my son Mark Lee. He was taking some days off from his studies and had planned a trip through the Talladega National Forest on a section of the Pinhoti Trail.

Mark Lee met me at the Birmingham Airport about 9:30. We stopped for breakfast and then headed directly for the trailhead. We shuttled a car to our destination at Rabbit Town Road and then were left off at the High Rock Lake road crossing. We planned to take a fifteen-mile section from south to north over a 3-day period. This was scheduled as a leisurely three-day wildflower walk!

I had prepared myself to be quested about the contents of my backpack. Mark Lee likes to pack light, very light, and things others should as well. I do agree with this up to a point. However, I have a few "musts" that he does not have! We settled this amicably!

The day was beautiful and the temperature just right. We planned to go about four miles that afternoon to the Laurel Shelter. The trail followed the usual up and down contour lines of the hills. We saw many flowers including Phlox, Trilliums, Mayflowers, and Foam Flowers. There was a Boy Scout group at the shelter and we enjoyed their company. They shared the picnic table, fire, etc and we pitched our tarp nearby. The beautiful clear stream provided all the water we wanted and sung us to sleep!

We arose the next day to another beautiful day. The shelter was high at the head of a valley and the sun took its time reaching us. We aired out our sleeping bags and took our time heading out. We had cherry turnovers for breakfast, a treat for the first morning! It was Sunday and we paused to thank our Lord for His wonderful creation and the great day. We hiked to Coleman Lake and stopped to swim in the clear cool lake and took cold showers in the shower house. At least we could soap up and feel cleaner.

Our path took us through an area that had been cleared of most trees but pines. The rangers were trying to improve an area as habitat for an endangered woodpecker. We did see several woodpeckers and [I] thought they might have been them.

Next we hiked through the Chocolocco Wildlife Management Area and stopped by a wonderful stream with a number of waterfalls to rest. We bathed our tired feet under the falls and thought about camping nearby. It was only 2:00 and we decided to camp at the Chocolocco Lake instead. We found a place near the dam and set up our tarp for the night. This proved to be a bad idea as our sleeping bags were soaked on top in the morning. The mist from the lake was captured by our tarp and it made our down bags soaked on top. We spent some time in the morning drying them in the warm sun.

We hiked out to Rabbit Town Road a day early. We drove around to Coleman Lake again and took another swim and then went to a pizza shop for lunch. How's that for roughing it?

After consulting our maps we decided to do another trail and go to the Lower Shoal Shelter for the night. The trail was exceptionally beautiful with lots of flowers. We saw an unusual Birdfoot Violet here and Fire Pinks. There were many common wildflowers. The early flowers were over or past their peak. Spiderwort and Wild Iris were found in many places.

We arrived at the beautiful well-maintained shelter early in the afternoon. We spent the afternoon resting by the clear cool streams that intersect by the shelter. We read, slept on the rocks, and bathed our feet in the knee-deep pools. What a wonderful place to have all to ourselves for an afternoon.

We awake to another perfectly clear sunny day. It had been quite cold in the night but we stayed warm in our down bags snuggled on our sleeping mats on the floor of the clean dry shelter. Our breakfast was raspberry oatmeal??? and hot tea.

To get our car we split up. Mark Lee backtracked to the car and I was to go ahead on the trail and wait where the trail crossed the forest road for Mark. As might be expected the trail went up the whole way to the road. But the climb was gentle and went through some beautiful stands of pines and hardwoods.

After we met at the road we decided to do another two-mile section and then ended our hike. We had walked 22 miles when we were done and had perfect weather and a great time together.

Now it was time for me to head to the airport and back to Pennsylvania. Mark Lee had to go back to teach his college class on statistics. I wonder what new trail we will hike in the future? And I wonder how much more of the Pinhoti I will get to hike before Mark Lee leaves Alabama for his next job!