Hiking a world of waterfalls in eastern Alabama

Last fall hiking the West Fork of the Little River - License our images here.

Water is the main attraction in DeSoto State Park. Many waterfalls along the trails. 

The park is named for Hernando de Soto, a Spanish that explored this region in the 16th century. He died later by the Mississippi River with half of his soldiers - a group survived and went back to Mexico. 

Desoto Falls is the biggest waterfall. Actually, this is the tallest one in the state of Alabama with over a hundred feet height - 30 meters. You must drive some miles north from the park to reach it. A hydroelectric station was built here in 1925. There is a trail that goes down to the big pond for a different perspective. 

Desoto Falls seen from the overlook. 

Closer to the campground, we found the smaller waterfalls. They are Azalea, Laurel, and Lost Falls. We took the Blue Trail along Laurel Creek and ended at a boardwalk near the road.

The tiny Lost Falls - we crossed over the fall to reach the Blue Trail. 

Across the road, Laurel Creek feeds Indian Falls near the point where it joins the West Fork of the Little River. 

Indian Falls seen from the walking bridge. 

There is a small cave at the base of this fall.   

C checking the cave. 

The hike continued along the river through the Yellow Trail. This part became pretty rocky and fallen trees erased the trail to the Lodge Falls. We managed to climb over the boulders to reach the bottom of the small cascade.

Lodge Falls is another tiny fall - just a shower. 

One day, we visited the city of Fort Payne - yep, Walmart is there. 

This was the Willstown of the Cherokees. The town was named after "Red Head Chief Will", a red-haired man mix of Indian and German. Interesting tale. The Cherokees were removed from their lands in the 1830s. Some remains of the historical fort still survive.  

 

Ruins of Fort Payne. 

We visited the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum in the small building of the old ranger's office. It's at the old park entrance, which looks better than the modern access - it has more character. 

Old entrance to Desoto State Park. 

Coyote howls woke us by 5 a.m. on the day of our hike to the "Unfinished Bridge". Thanks to them, we were on the trail early in the morning. 

Primitive trails shadow the old dirt road for a while. We hiked a piece to take a glimpse but preferred the ample road. Easier and faster. The dirt road ends at the unfinished bridge. 

End of the road: the unfinished bridge. 

The unfinished bridge goes across Straight Creek. There is a primitive trail on the other side that keeps going through a dense forest. We checked it for a hundred feet.  

The pillars built in the 1940s.        

The bridge and the road were left unfinished in 1942. The reason was that the Civilian Conservation Corps was disbanded because WW2. The original plan was to connect DeSoto State Park to Little River Canyon. 

I almost stepped on a basking snake laying on a sea of leaves on the way back. It was a harmless racer that was lethargic with the low temperature. It looked like a black root, but the "S" shape raised a flag at the last moment and... jump! Ancient instincts recorded in our genes. The snake hissed and drifted away. 

The hike to the "Unfinished Bridge" was about 3.5 miles. We added 3 or 4 more walking from our campsite. Only crossed two groups of hikers there. 

We got daily visitors around our campsite. Nervous, like they always are. What a daily show!   

We saw many in this park. 

Alabama Black bears? We didn't see any.