DeSoto State Park
by JP on Mar.27, 2009, under Alabama Hiking Trails
Fort Payne, AL
Hiking Trails, Mountain Biking, and Camping in Northwestern Alabama.
DeSoto Falls State Park is an Alabama State Park located in the foothills of Northwestern Alabama. This state park offers a number of outdoor activities, including some very technical mountain biking trails, 15 miles of hiking trails, geocaching, and 20 primitive camp sites. Running through the park is Little River cutting the the valley below.
Hiking Trails:
Included in the 15 miles of hiking trails are 4 waterfalls Indian Falls (pictured below), and Lodge Falls are along a single long yellow blazed trail. This trail runs along a ridge around 50 feet above Little River in the valley below. Additionally, there are numerous places to hike down to the river below. Also, hikers do not need to hike the entire trail, to see all of the falls, most of them have nearby parking and are only short hike to them. The other two falls, Laurel and Lost Falls require a bit more of a hike, and be read about here.
Mountain Biking
The 3.6 mile, mountain biking trail loop is a somewhat technical climb if ridden clockwise. Begin at the parking area next to the visitor’s center, and begin climbing the quarry trailed blazed by white diamonds. The trail has a number of short, steep ascents that are slowed even further by rock outcroppings everywhere. This makes for some really fun, technical downhills, but some some pain in the rear uphills climbs. I had a video of this trail, but unfortunately, the disc data disappeared somehow. I’ll post a video of the trail from my next ride here.
Nearby:
Directions:
1. Take AL-35 South into Fort Payne, AL.
2. Turn left onto Gault Avenue.
3. Turn right onto AL-35. Follow this road up the mountain, and follow the signs to the state park.
4. Turn left onto County Road 89 to the state park.
Related posts:
- Updated: Desoto State Park – Lost Falls and Laurel Falls Fort Payne, Alabama Distance: Approximately 5.0 miles. Difficult: Easy While...
- Bear Hair Gap Trail, Hiking in Vogel State Park Distance: 4.1 Mile Loop Difficulty: Strenuous Blaze: Orange Bear Hair...
- Camping and Hiking DeSoto Falls, Georgia Desoto Falls Scenic Area is a federally managed area...
- Little River Canyon – No Place for Bear With the new season of Man vs. Wild starting...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks for this entry
-
Updated: Desoto State Park – Lost Falls and Laurel Falls |
January 16th, 2010 on 4:43 pm[...] Indian Falls [...]
January 6th, 2010 on 9:34 pm
[...] DeSoto State Park [...]