Desoto State Park, Ft. Payne, AL 5/5-6/10

[OwenM]

May 5-6 overnighter at DeSoto State Park in Ft. Payne, AL and the surrounding area, with some short dayhikes and lots of exploring.
The 5th was my 39th birthday, and probably the first birthday I ever actually thought about after 16. Yuck.
DeSoto strikes me as a great place for family outings, and to take spouses or kids who really aren't into roughing it. You are not supposed to camp in the wilderness area, and required to use the established primitive campgrounds. The individual sites have stone fire rings, a garbage can, and there are a pair of communal outhouses, plus pavilions with picnic tables that groups can use. The area is blocked to traffic, as they give you a key to a padlocked gate when you pay for the site, which was about $13. You are also given the code for entry to the RV section, which has nice bathrooms and showers.

These first couple are more like stops than hikes, but I managed to offset this here and on the other trails by spending most of my time bouncing around the surrounding woods collecting poison ivy samples and such about my person, rather than staying on the trails.

Azalea Cascades from above:

From below:

Indian Falls(trail is almost right across the street from Azalea Cascades):

 

[OwenM]

Followed the water, as I am wont to do...

..until it hit the river, where I shared the scenery with a new friend

 

[OwenM]

Got a key, and went to check out the primitive campgrounds they make you use, then hit the Lookout Mountain Parkway...

..on the way to DeSoto Falls. No access to the bottom, and no way across the river to avoid private property, so I was disappointed about not getting better pics.
A spillway feeds the falls, and "fall" is quite appropriate in this case:

There were a couple of other people there, and I haven't cropped this one out of my pic.

I then headed over to Little River Falls, knowing the flow would be higher than last time I was there due to recent rain.
Made my way down and followed the river back up to the base of the falls. The rapids were raging, but the sun was beating down just right, and screwed up most of my pics of the river below the falls. I've posted a bunch of this place before, anyway. There's some evidence of the recent flooding-someone lost their footbridge!

 

[OwenM]

Back to DeSoto State Park to make camp before dark.
The obligatory campfire(which I kept very small, since it was kind of pointless at 90 degrees), and my new Integral Designs eVENT Unishelter EXP bivy. Oh, I'm going to be so high speed and low drag by my 111 mile hike this fall I'll have to drag a foot to steer as I glide down the trail!

Planning the day ahead while trying a Starbucks Via for the first time.
Along with the bivy, I've recently bought a Marmot Trestle Trails 55 degree bag-a breathable nylon shell with a DriClime wicking liner. I'm a very warm sleeper, and was on top of the open bag until I woke around midnight and zipped it up. I think the temp went down in the low to mid-60s, and I was very comfortable. The pad is a decade plus old Thermarest Guidelite 3/4 that chose this night to give up the ghost, as it had deflated when I woke up in the morning. Seam, valve...haven't checked yet??

Lost Falls. Also known as "No Falls" when there hasn't been rain...

Playing with the timer on the camera again. Guess I keep hoping I'll suddenly get prettier if I take enough pics...

 

[OwenM]

Here are a few from my little off-trail adventures. I know they suck, but I went through all kinds of horrible crap to take them, so here they are. The last one is actually on the trail, it's just flooded:

Had to work that night, so my day ended at Laurel Falls, with some snacks and another cup of coffee to kill some time before returning to the real world.

One of these days I'm going to kill myself racing that 10 second timer!

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Looks like a great way to spend your birthday

I'm jealous!!!

 

[kgd]

That is awesome. Five days out and your birthday to boot. Love your sense of humor and great water shots. Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[mdauben]

Looks like a great trip, OwenM! I'm going to need to make a trip to DeSoto SP myself some time soon.

 

[JV3]

great pics! thanks. i hear yah about that 10 sec timer - i find it one of the most dangerous hiking activities

 

[22-rimfire]

I believe part of Bear Gylis' AL episode was filmed in DeSoto SP. Have not been there, but I know I would really enjoy exploring.

 

[WJC01]

Going to camp there next month! Wife reserved a campsite. Have not done any research yet. Can you canoe there? Mtn Bike trails?

 

[dboles]

Nice pictures thanks for posting.Is that Starbucks coffee worth trying?
Dan'l

 

[OwenM]

Going to camp there next month! Wife reserved a campsite. Have not done any research yet. Can you canoe there? Mtn Bike trails?

I didn't see any mention of canoeing there. Some people kayak at Little River Canyon, but it's class III-VI.
Page 2 of this PDF is the same as the map they give you at the park, and shows the trails you can use a bike on.
http://www.alapark.com/parks/images/desoto/file/DSP TRAIL MAP 2009(1).pdf

dboles...I'm not a coffee connoisseur, or anything, and usually use the Folger's single packs. These are stronger than the Folgers, or regular coffee from a local brand that we have at work.
The Columbian's packaging describes it as "smooth, nutty flavor", and was bitter to me. It went down a lot better with a Chocolate Brownie Clif bar to go with it.
The Italian Roast says "rich intense flavor", and I thought it was pretty good. I didn't use any kind of sweetener or flavoring with either.

 

[Steve_Holt]

Very nice! I just realized it's been over 10 years since I was down there with my family. We "roughed it" in a cabin! Camping with my wife requires cable television and air conditioning.

At that time, they were cutting down hundreds of trees- I think pine beetles had set in.

Thanks for the pics- it reminded me I need to get back down there soon.

 

[lambertiana]

Cool, I have a soft spot for streams full of big rocks.

 

[ROCK6]

That is a great looking area Owen! Were you able to "free" hike through the creeks? My wife has family up around there, that may be a good place to camp for a few days!

Excellent pictures...I just love that type of terrain.

ROCK6

 

[OwenM]

ROCK, I'm afraid there's not much in the way of free movement when you get off the trail. Really thick stuff along, and sometimes over, these little waterways. I enjoy that kind of stuff, but wouldn't do some of the things I do further south, not being the world's biggest fan of pit vipers.

 

[remmmm]

Nice place, I like water falls and you definitely picked a good time to visit with all the rain that moved through the midsouth last week. Looks like about 5 hours from me, I might have to work a visit there into a road trip someday.

 

[hollowdweller]

I love water falls and thanks you for these pics!