Southeastern Outings
Southeastern Outings is a non-profit organization committed to sponsoring outings for people who enjoy participating in simple outdoor adventures. All activities of the group are open to the public.
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February and March Activities
FEBRUARY 23, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
River Ramble Barton’s Beach and Perry Lakes Park near Marion in Perry
County, Alabama
Details: Barton’s Beach.
The area is an extensive sand and gravel beach on the Lower Cahaba River
in Perry County near Marion, Alabama. The
river floodplain broadens and creates areas of bottomland hardwood forests,
oxbow lakes and extensive sand and gravel bars there.
The Perry Lakes Park and Wildlife
Sanctuary contains about 600 acres available to the public for outdoor
recreation, education, scientific research, and other activities. Interpretive
nature trails (fire lanes and primitive paths) make walking through the woods
fairly easy and fun.
Several trees in the park have
been designated as Alabama State Champion Trees. The park lakes support a large
heron rookery along with an abundance of songbirds. A 100-foot tall canopy birding tower allows for an exciting view
of the forest and oxbow swamps.
Hikes at Barton’s Beach and Perry
Lakes Park are easy since the terrain is level and the walks are all on
trails. The two properties adjoin each
other so we can walk readily back and forth between them.
Well-behaved, properly supervised
children age 7 and older welcome.
The very special, optional dinner
will begin at 5:00 p.m. It will be the
Low Country Shrimp Boil supper, an annual event in Marion that is perfect
following our day of hiking. The dinner will be held at the historic
Marion Female Seminary Building in Marion.
The function will be very
informal. The menu is boiled shrimp
(which you peel & eat), sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob, coleslaw,
bread, and your choice of a multitude of homemade desserts.
Musical entertainment will be
provided for your enjoyment at the upcoming shrimp boil February 23, 2019 after
our hike. Please plan to come!
Price for the meal is $20
flat charge to benefit the Perry County Historical and Preservation
Society. Only cash and checks are accepted forms of payment for the
dinner. NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED!
For more information concerning
the dinner, please call Kay Becket, president of the historical society, at
334-683-8250 or 334-292-0319.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the
McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart
from there at 10:00 a.m.
Info. on the hike: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or seoutings@bellsouth.net
FEBRAURY 24, SUNDAY, 1:45 p.m.
Easy Walk
Where: Vulcan Trail inside the City Limits of Birmingham
Details: Enjoy an easy walk in the woodlands overlooking
Birmingham. The trail is level, as it
is on an old mining railroad right of way just below the crest of Red
Mountain. A previous walk on this trail
drew one of the highest number of participants, 67, on any outing SEO has ever
sponsored. Don’t miss it!
Please meet at 1:45 p.m. in the Vulcan Park and
Museum Parking Lot where you would normally park to visit the statue and Vulcan
Park. We plan to depart from there at
2:00 p.m. Note that there is no charge
to park in the Vulcan Park parking lot!
We will walk from the big parking lot a short distance down some new
stairs to the trail head and then on the trail to Green Springs Highway and
back. The formerly undeveloped section
of the Vulcan Trail has recently been widened and resurfaced.
After the walk is completed, there
will be an optional dinner at Jim 'N Nick's 11th Avenue Grill at Five Points
South. Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older
able to walk 4 miles welcome.
Share an adventure. Bring a friend or friends.
Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680
MARCH 2, SATURDAY, 9:15 a.m.
Moderate Dayhike
Porter Gap on the Pinhoti Trail
Details: The Pinhoti is Alabama's long distance trail. The existing
trail runs approximately 139 miles from the Tramel trailhead near Sylacauga to
the High Rocks trailhead east of Piedmont near the Georgia line. We plan to
hike a rather tame portion of the Pinhoti to the east of Talladega County's
Porter Gap. We'll climb through pretty Alabama hardwoods on a gentle trail for
an elevation gain of about 600 feet over almost 2 miles. Gaining the ridge top
we'll be in interesting rock formations with partially obscured views off the
Talladega Mountain Ridge to the north and Shin Bone Ridge and Lizard Scrape
Mtn. to the south. We will eat here. We will return the same way we came
up.
Please bring water and your picnic lunch.
Optional restaurant dinner after the hike.
Please meet 9:15 a.m. at the Leeds Highway 78 gravel
parking lot. We plan to depart from there at 9:30 a.m.
Bring a friend or friends.
Info: Francis Rushton, 205/290-5557
MARCH 10, SUNDAY, Meet
1:45 p.m.
Second Sunday Dayhike
in Oak Mountain State Park
Details: Enjoy a moderate 4-mile walk in the
woodlands near Birmingham on a Sunday afternoon. This is an excellent outing for introducing your friends to
Southeastern Outings and for making new friends who enjoy the outdoors. Parts of this hike may be off the
color-coded trails. There will be some
ups and downs.
Well-behaved, properly supervised children age eight and up
able to walk the distance of about 4 miles and complete the hike are
welcome.
Share an adventure!
Bring a friend.
Please meet at
1:45 p.m. in the Oak Mountain
Park office parking lot. We plan to
depart from there at 2:00 p.m.
Please bring $5/person ($2.00 seniors) park admission fee
plus your drink.
Info: Randall Adkins, 205/317-6969
MARCH 16, SATURDAY,
Meet 9:45 a.m.
Dayhike
Where: Horseshoe Bend National Military
Park
Details: On March 27, 1814,
Major General Andrew Jackson‘s army of 3,300 men attacked Chief Menawa’s 1,000
Red Stick Creek warriors fortified in a horseshoe- shaped bend of the
Tallapoosa River. Over 800 Red Sticks died that day. The battle
ended the Creek War, resulted in a land cession of 23,000,000 acres to the United
States and created a national hero of Andrew Jackson.
In March 1814, General Jackson's army left Fort Williams
on the Coosa River, cut a 52-mile trail through the forest in three days, and
on the 26th made camp six miles north of Horseshoe Bend. The next morning,
Jackson sent General John Coffee and 700 mounted infantry and 600 Cherokee and
Creek allies three miles down-stream to cross the Tallapoosa and surround the
bend. He took the rest of the army - about 2000 men, consisting of East and
West Tennessee militia and the Thirty-ninth U.S. Infantry - into the peninsula
and at 10:30 a.m. began an ineffectual two-hour artillery bombardment of the
Red Sticks' log barricade. At noon, Coffee's Cherokee allies crossed the river
and assaulted the Red Sticks from the rear. Jackson quickly ordered a frontal
bayonet charge, which poured over the barricade. Fighting ranged over the south
end of the peninsula throughout the afternoon. By dark at least 800 of Chief
Menawa's 1,000 Red Sticks were dead (557 slain on the field and 200-300 in the
river). Menawa himself, although severely wounded, managed to escape. Jackson's
losses in the battle were 49 killed and 154 wounded, many mortally.
Though the Red Sticks had been crushed at Tohopeka, remnants
of the war party held out for several months. In August 1814, a treaty between
the United States and the Creek Nation was signed at Fort Jackson near the
present day city of Wetumpka, Alabama. The Treaty of Fort Jackson ended the
conflict and required the Creeks to cede 23 million acres of land to the United
States. The state of Alabama was carved out of this domain and admitted to the
Union in 1819.
In 1828, partly as a result of his fame from the battles of
Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans, Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh
President of the United States.
We will have the opportunity to watch a short film and view
the exhibits before we begin our hike which is rated easy. Hike distance is 5.8 miles. Admission to the park is free.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age eight and
over welcome.
We are very pleased and grateful that immediately after the
hike is concluded Marie Vernon, a friend of Southeastern Outings who lives in
Alexander City, has arranged for all interested hike participants to enjoy
pizza and dessert at Marie’s condominium right on the shore of beautiful Lake
Martin. There will be no charge for the
pizza and dessert, so we hope that all of you who hike with us on that Saturday
will come with us to Marie’s place to enjoy food and good company after the
hike. The pizza and dessert gathering
after the hike is, of course, optional.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the Publix in The Village at Lee Branch in
Greystone. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.
Info: Randall Adkins, 205/317-6969
MARCH 17, SUNDAY, Meet 1:45 p.m.
Dayhike, Moss Rock
Preserve
Details: Explore the wilder side of Hoover on
a moderate 2-4 mile hike with some climbing up and walking down fairly steep
hills on Shades Mountain. We’ll experience
the preserve’s diverse natural features which include longleaf pine forests,
huge boulders, streams, grassy areas, outstanding views and, when it rains,
some beautiful waterfalls.
Please bring water to drink. Well-behaved, properly supervised children age seven and up able to walk the distance and complete
the hike without complaining are welcome.
Please meet 1:45 p.m. at the Simmons Middle School Parking Lot. The group will depart from there promptly at
2:00 p.m.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age eight and
over welcome.
Info on the hike: David Shepherd, email
davidshep2@yahoo.com or 205/240-4681
MARCH 23, SATURDAY,
Meet 8:45 a.m.
Dayhike, Bankhead
National Forest
Brushy Creek and Sougahoagdee Falls
Details: The hike will be 6 miles long and is
rated moderate. We will follow a
beautiful trail which runs from the Brushy Creek Bridge along the creek. We usually observe about nine waterfalls on
this route. We should also see lovely
cliffs, hemlock trees, canyons and perhaps some additional waterfalls. If we have time, we may also visit the
nearby natural bridge (not the one
at the town of Natural Bridge) in the Natural Bridge Recreation Area of the
Bankhead National Forest.
Carefully-supervised, well-behaved children age 10 and older
welcome. Bring a picnic lunch and
water. Optional dinner after at a
delightful Italian restaurant in Double Springs.
Please meet 8:45
a.m. at the Hayden/Corner Park and Ride. We plan to depart from there at
9:00 a.m. Or you may meet at 9:20 a.m.
at the Mile 300 Rest Area on I-65.
MARCH 24, SUNDAY, Meet
1:45 p.m.
Wildflower Walk in a Forest Preserve in Homewood
Details: The City of Homewood owns two forest
preserves on Shades Mountain adjacent to the Homewood High School. Come and spend a relaxing two hours walking
and admiring wildflowers with us in the lower preserve. Rated moderately easy. Well-behaved, carefully supervised children
age 6 and older welcome. Please meet
1:45 p.m. in the
Homewood High School east (nearest Brookwood Village Shopping Center) parking
lot, just off Lakeshore Drive in Homewood. We plan to depart from there at 2:00
p.m.
MARCH 26, TUESDAY,
Meeting time to be announced
Dayhike
Bankhead National
Forest
Details: To be announced
Info: Doris Hatch, 205/901-8367
MARCH 30, SATURDAY,
10:00 a.m.
Dayhike Along the Locust Fork River from Swann Covered Bridge to Powell Falls
Details: A moderate 3-mile dayhike and picnic
along the lovely Locust Fork River in Blount County near Cleveland,
Alabama. We’ll view and drive through
the genuine and newly-restored wooden covered bridge. Then we’ll hike along the river from the bridge and have lunch
right beside Powell Falls. This
waterfall drops about eight feet and carries a substantial amount of water.
We’ll also view sheer cliffs rising over 60 feet right above the water. See a rushing river, covered bridge, high
rock bluffs and a large waterfall—all along a one and a half mile stretch of
river.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older
welcome.
Bring a friend or several if you wish. Please meet 9:45 a.m. at
the Cleveland Chevron. We plan to depart from there at 10:00
a.m.
Info: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680
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