Upcoming Activities
MARCH 12, THURSDAY, 9:30 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Leisurely Weekday Hike
Where: Beeswax Creek Park, Lay Lake, Wilsonville, Alabama
Details: Beeswax Creek Park, bordered by Beeswax Creek to its north and Lay Lake (Coosa River) to its east, is located in the Columbiana/Wilsonville area in Shelby County, Alabama.
Beeswax Creek Park has many amenities including two picnic pavilions, three fishing piers, a 2.8-mile multi-use trail for hiking, two restroom facilities and a huge parking lot. A resident caretaker provides security for the park. Alabama Power Company, through its "The Preserves" program, has added a boardwalk and a bridge to the trail system, created a pollinator plot with interpretive signs, and Alabama Power has also built two gazebos on the trail overlooking Lay Lake.
The walking pace for this hike will be moderately easy. We’ll stop often to catch our breath and note views, trees, birdsongs and the trail and woods around us. We recommend that you bring binoculars with you on this trip if you have them. We will be walking along the water for over ½ of the hike distance. On our scouting trip in December, 2024, we saw numerous herons, egrets, gulls, ducks and even possibly a loon on or over the water. Admission to the park is free.
Please meet at 9:30 a.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart from there at 9:45 a.m.
Information and Trip Leader: Caroline Boone, 205-567-8389.
MARCH 14, SATURDAY, 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Dayhike
Where: 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.
Barton’s Beach, which is a property owned by the Alabama Nature Conservancy, is the largest sand and gravel beach on the entire Cahaba River. It is indeed a spectacular and beautiful sight to behold!
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 observation 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.
Since the trails in the park may be muddy, we recommend that you bring a change of clothes with you in the car, especially a change of footwear and pants.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.
Information and Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com, landline 205/631-4680
March 14, SATURDAY, 5:00 p.m. after the hike
Low Country Shrimp Boil Supper
Where: Marion Female Seminary Building, 204 West Monroe Street, Marion, AL 36756
Details: After we complete our hike, 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.
You will be able to clean up and change your clothes in the Seminary Building restrooms before dinner.
The function will be very informal. The menu is boiled shrimp (which you peel & eat), sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob, bread, and your choice of a multitude of homemade desserts.
Live musical entertainment will be provided for your enjoyment at the shrimp boil on March 14, 2025 after our hike. Please plan to come!
Price for the meal is $25 per person flat charge to benefit the Perry County Historical and Preservation Society. There will be no tax and no tip. Cash, checks and all major American credit cards are accepted forms of payment for the dinner.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m. for the hike followed by the shrimp boil dinner.
For information concerning the dinner:
Please call Kay Beckett, President of the Perry County Historical Society, at 334-292-0319.
MARCH 21, SATURDAY, 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Dayhike
Where: Horseshoe Bend National Military Park
Right-click here and open a new window to view more photographs from this outing.
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 raged 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.
Optional restaurant dinner after the hike.
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.
Information and Trip Leader: Randall Adkins, 205/719-7719.
MARCH 28, SATURDAY (Time TBA (To Be Announced))
Southeastern Outings Dayhike
Where: Upper Quillan Creek, Sipsey Wilderness, Bankhead National Forest
Details: Moderately strenuous, 4-mile dayhike in a highly scenic location, Upper Quillan Creek Forest Area. Most of the hike is off trail, there are lots of ups and downs, and several rock-hopping crossings are required across small creeks. We’ll walk along two creeks and on an old road. At a beautiful waterfall we’ll visit the site of an old mill. On this hike we’ll see several small waterfalls on side creeks and tributaries to Quillan Creek. We will visit at least three very pretty waterfalls on Quillan Creek itself along the way. We expect to see a minimum of a total of twelve lovely waterfalls on this trip.
Please bring picnic lunch and water for the day. We expect to finish hiking about 4:00 p.m. Optional dinner after. Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 9 and over able to walk 4 miles off trail without complaining are welcome.
Reservations Required: If you wish to participate in this outing, you are required to call Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or email your reservation to southeasternoutings@gmail.com by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, 2026. When you contact Dan, please be sure you leave your phone number and/or email address. This outing is limited to 10 people in order to comply with U.S. Forest Service regulations. We hope the limitation will not prove to be a problem. If you make a reservation with Dan to come on this trip and then for any reason decide later to not come on this outing, please telephone Dan, 205/631-4680 right away. If we have 10 people signed up on the day of the hike and, for example, we have two people on the waiting list and then two people who signed up don’t show up for the hike, those two no-show people have in effect deprived the two on the waiting list from participating. Please don’t be a no-show. If you aren’t coming after making a reservation, please notify Dan. At a later date leader will advise meeting time and place only to those who have signed up and been approved for this trip.
Information and Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com, landline 205/631-4680.
APRIL 4, SATURDAY, 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Dayhike
Where: Paul Grist State Park near Selma, Alabama
Details: Paul Grist State Park is one of the state’s most uncrowded, yet scenic state parks containing hills, forests, fields and a large, beautiful, tree-lined lake. Prior to the dayhike we will get together at the smaller pavilion right near the park office to eat our picnic lunches. Please bring your picnic lunch and also $3 per person ($2 for seniors age 62 and older) park admission and a beverage for yourself. Dayhike Details: Hike rated moderate. There are only a few ups and downs. Total hiking distance is approximately 5.5 miles. We plan to walk all the way around the lake and then also walk on some additional trails in the park to make the drive time down and back worthwhile.
Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age nine and over able to walk 6 miles without complaining are welcome. Please bring your picnic lunch and drink, and wear sturdy footwear.
Optional group restaurant dinner after the hike. Reservations not required for this outing.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.
Information and Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com, landline 205/631-4680
April 18, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings 10.6-Mile Bicycle Ride
Where: Chief Ladiga Trail, Piedmont, Alabama
Click here for more photos of the Chief Ladiga Trail
Details: Join friendly folks for a 10.6-mile bicycle ride on the Chief Ladiga Trail in the Piedmont, Alabama area. Ride on Alabama’s first extended rails-to-trails conversion route on an old railroad right of way. The trail we’ll be riding on is smooth, 8-10 feet wide and even paved. There are no hills on this trail. The trail is suitable for road bikes plus mountain, hybrid and urban bicycles. Ride through towns, fields and picturesque woodlands. No motorized vehicles are allowed on your trail!
Bicycle helmets are required and must be worn. Please bring a picnic lunch and drink.
The pace of this bicycle ride will be leisurely. From time to time we will stop bicycling just to enjoy the scenery and views from the four bridges over the creeks. However, please note that this ride is 10.6 miles long. We recommend that participants intending to come on this outing have bicycled at least a few times during the 30 days prior to October 25. In order to be assured that you can ride comfortably on this trip you should probably be able to ride at an average speed of 8-12 miles per hour on level terrain.
There will be an optional restaurant dinner after the bicycle ride. You will have an opportunity to wash up and change clothes in the Eubanks Welcome Center restrooms after the bicycle ride. If you’d like to clean up and/or change clothes, please bring your soap and towel and/or change of clothes with you.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the Applebee’s Restaurant in Trussville. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m. or meet 11:20 a.m. at the Eubanks Welcome Center on the Chief Ladiga Trail in Piedmont.
Reservations Required: If you want to come on this bicycle ride, please make a reservation with Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com or phone 205-631-4680. Also, if you have a bike rack which can hold more than one bicycle, please bring it with you to Piedmont in order to facilitate the required car shuttle and advise Dan that you are doing so. We probably need to leave about two vehicles at the Eubanks Welcome Center in order to transport the drivers of all the remaining vehicles from the end point of the ride back to the start point to pick up their vehicles after the ride is concluded.
Information and Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com, landline 205/631-4680.
APRIL 22, Wednesday, 9:45 AM
Southeastern Outings Dayhike
Where: Five Mile Creek Greenway Extension in the Brookside Areas, just northwest of Birmingham
Details: You are invited to participate in an easy and leisurely-paced, fun Southeastern Outings dayhike on a portion of the Five Mile Creek Greenway Trail, a rails-to-trails conversion route on an old railroad right of way. This smooth trail is wide and level. No hills! This finely-crushed rock surface trail goes through mostly wooded terrain.
The walking pace for this hike will be moderately easy. We’ll stop often to catch our breath and note flowers, trees, birdsongs and the trail and woods around us.
Please bring your picnic lunch and plenty of water. Wear good walking shoes or boots. Dress appropriately for the weather.
Note that the trail has been extended recently. Our hike in 2026 will be entirely on the new section where we have only hiked twice previously. So come out to see and experience what the new part looks like! Total hike distance is about 3.8 miles.
No motorized vehicles are allowed on the trail! This outing should be lots of fun for everyone.
Other portions of this trail have consistently been some of our most popular places to hike since it is easy and close to Birmingham.
Please meet in the WalMart Gardendale parking lot at 9:45 p.m. We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.
Information and Trip Leaders: Caroline Boone, 205-567-8389, and Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com, landline 205/631-4680.
APRIL 25, SATURDAY, 9:45 a.m.
Southeastern Outings Dayhike
Where: Horse Creek Trail, Dora and Sumiton, AL
Details: Join friendly folks on an easy 3.2-mile walk on the Horse Creek Trail in Dora and Sumiton in Walker County, sort of near Jasper, Alabama. Walk on one of Alabama’s rails-to-trails conversion routes on an old railroad right of way. This smooth trail is wide, level and paved. No hills on this trail. On this particular hike you will be walking on a scenic trail which goes through fields, near houses and through the woods.
The trail is nicely developed, with frequent covered benches. People you might meet are both friendly and helpful.
No motorized vehicles are allowed on your trail! Note this is a relatively easy outing, one which should be lots of fun for everyone. Please bring your drink with you.
Please meet 9:45 a.m. just outside the left front door (as you face the front of the store) of the Wal-Mart SuperCenter on Alabama Highway 5 (formerly U. S. Highway 78 in Sumiton, Alabama. We plan to depart by car from the WalMart at 10:00 a.m. and drive to the nearby start point of our hike on the trail.
Information and Trip Leader: Dan Frederick, email southeasternoutings@gmail.com, landline 205/631-4680
