Today we went on a completely-new-to-us trail! But first, a quick highlight reel of all the stuff that happened in February that I didn't blog about!
- My baby girl turned 15!
- We walked (nearly) 12 miles on the Richard-Martin with that Gina person! (Pictures and track log.)
- We finally made it around to the western part of Wade Mountain's extensive trail system! (Pictures and track log.)
- Esther and I hiked Bean Road again and things were blooming! (Pictures and track log.)
(If anybody knows why Google Maps is splitting my tracks into segments, please let me know.)
Now, on to the totally new hike of today:
From their website: "The centerpiece of Red Mountain Park is its extensive, interconnected trail system, its juxtaposition of natural features with historic mining structures and its interpretive exhibits highlighting the mining history of Red Mountain and Birmingham. In addition, the Red Ore Zip Tour Zip Line is a huge,exciting new anchor!"
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| SkyHy Treehouse |
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| The in-progress section of the Red Ore Zip Tour |
The park is located on the historic site of an iron ore mine and is dotted with the remnants and ruins of that age.
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| Redding Shaft Mine |
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| Redding Shaft Mine- inside the main scructure |
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| #13 Mine |
The trails offer a variety of flat wanders and steep climbs and include two overlooks.
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| View from Ishkooda Overlook |
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| Birmingham skyline from Grace's Gap Overlook |
It's called "Red Mountain" for a very clear and obvious reason. The iron ore permeates the soil across the majority of the mountain. If you walk the trails, you will bring souvenirs of your visit home one way or another.
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| The red-stained deck of Grace's Gap Overlook |
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| Red ore on my pants leg |
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| Red puppy paw |
The trails also offer two hand fulls of geocaches that have been placed with permission from the land managers. I managed to find only half of them. I'm sure that we'll be back with friends and I'll have a chance to find the rest.
All the
pictures from the day are here and the
track log is here.
