I miss Bama.

[Chris]

I have been out of Alabama for 3 months and I am missing the scenery and hiking it so much. Luckily when I return for Christmas I get to spend some time camping at Cheaha and maybe even a day on the Pinhoti. But Alabama is a place like no other and I am missing her. But at least the Crimson Tide is number one right now.

[Lostsheep]

Don't feel bad Chris. I'm right here with you. I'm in Iowa and it just can't compare.

It'll all be worthit when you get home!

[jedbear]

Hi Chris,
'Bama will be waiting here when you return.  It will be just like it was when you left it 'cause nothing much
changes in good ole Alabama!

             jed

[McDowra]

Come back when you can we'll leave the light on fer ya!

[auwesman]

Chris,
Your in Texas right?  What part of Texas again, I forgot.
This week I've been down in McAllen and Brownsville.  Today I'm in Corpus Christi and fly home.  Couldn't remember if you were in south Texas or West Texas.  Not much to look at in South Texas.  However the temp was a nie 86 degrees and gas was $1.79!

[Nalgene Ninja]

Chris is in El Paso.

[PastorLarryT]

Hi Chris,

I just spent a week in Phoenix, AZ... got to do some great day hiking in the Red Rock area and The Superstitions.  The area was absolutely gorgeous and I enjoyed the hikes immensely... but AZ is not home.  AL is home and the first chance I got after flying back home was to get out and hike.  It was wonderful to see some "real" hardwood trees and enjoy the yellows, golds, reds, oranges, and purples of Autumn in central Alabama. 

AL may not have some of the more recognizably spectacular natural scenery (as some would rank them)... but to me she ranks second to none.

As "Dorothy" would say, "There's no place like home!"...

[WolfVanZandt]

Actually, I keep hoping the rest of the world won't find out about Alabama. In many ways, she is second to none. On one episode of Discovering Alabama, Doug Phillips said that Alabama has more waterfalls than any other state in thhe U. S. The more I explore, the more i think that he's right.

I was in Denver about a month ago and I still like the Appalachians better. In the Rockies, everything is breathtaking. In the East, we have variety. We have plenty of breathtaking but we also have "peaceful rolling" and "deep valleys' and 'big  rivers" and "really big gulleys".

And as pastor Larry said - the West doesn't compare with an Eastern autumn.

I once saw a biodiversity map in a National Geographic and the two places with the most biodiversity in the U. S. are Alabama and North Central Florida.

People don't generally think if Alabama when they think of canyons, but I often go "canyon hopping" in Alabama. There are canyons all over Alabama from the Bankhead area down to Camden.

And there are many plants that occur only in Alabama, like the Cahaba Lilies and several forms of azalea that occur only in the Dadeville area.

If we could only get people in Alabama to drive like people in Colorado......

[Joshua Szulecki]

Wolf,

I have to disagree with Doug Phillips on that one. Based on what I know, and where I expect there to be more, I put the number in the 200-300 range. Several states have more waterfalls that are named and recorded than that, and those states are also likely to harbor other falls that are unrecorded. Tennessee, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and one or two others would all be expected to have considerably more waterfalls than Alabama, based on geology, topography, and just shear size in some cases. That said, Alabama is still in the top ten, and when somebody finally does a good survey of Alabama's waterfalls, it may be in the top 5 or 6.


I too love rolling hills, mountains, and valleys. I think that comparing the Appalachians and the Rockies or other western mountains is like comparing apples to oranges. The Appalachians are OLD and worn and have an ethereal calm quality unique to them in this part of the world. The western mountains are showy, bold, and stir the emotions in the opposite direction.

But... I don't try to compare states based on their natural qualities, only their political/social ones, because every state is a unique place in the world and has specific natural features that occur nowhere else. So for me, every state is second to none.

That said... Alabama has some of the best preserved areas of wild and near wild land in the union, but it isn't as well protected as I'd like to see it. I think knowledge leads to protection, so I'd like to see more people discover Alabama. Right now, many areas in Alabama are so obscure dumping occurs with impunity. Few people have the nerve to dump dead goats and refrigerators if others are watching and hold the land sacred.

I miss 'Bama too, btw. I miss Sipsey, I miss LRC, I miss the ruffled terrain around Birmingham, I miss the natural diversity, and I miss the BBQ.

[WolfVanZandt]

Perhaps if the right people know about it. But I can't help feeling that more people = more pollution.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Wolf,

It's possible. But right now, I see tons more garbage from locals than from visitors. Most of it yard waste, agricultural waste, and household appliances. People don't travel hundreds of miles to see something and then dump such garbage there. Even most of the litter I see is from local teens and fishermen who leave beer and soda cans, cigarettes, or food packaging behind. I've scolded a few friends myself.

Rather than keeping things secret, I think it is more important that we make the areas known, and punish those who make a mess. Yes, greater visitation means more erosion, and probably greater small-scale littering, but it also means more incentive to clean up after the visitors. Obscurity does not equal protection, it only leads to neglect by local, state, and federal officials and the people who live near what needs protection. And once that happens, logging, mining, and drilling often ends up happening nearby, at least in Alabama. Look at Davis Falls, which was once a picnic area operated by a logging company. Just a few years after it was closed to the public, logging began occuring well within any range of comfort for the falls. Now, most of the locals don't even remember it existed, and there is no incentive on their part to protect the site which has intrinsic natural qualities as well as historical merit, despite a dedicated push to make it a park.

But then, if you listen to me long enough, you'll see I'm a big proponent of having no secrets on public lands, with a few exceptions due to strong environmental, cultural, or public safety reasons. And part of having no secrets is telling people about what you have, so they can enjoy it too.

[montysano]

Wolf,

It's possible. But right now, I see tons more garbage from locals than from visitors. Most of it yard waste, agricultural waste, and household appliances. People don't travel hundreds of miles to see something and then dump such garbage there. Even most of the litter I see is from local teens and fishermen who leave beer and soda cans, cigarettes, or food packaging behind. I've scolded a few friends myself.

That's so true.  My in-laws have a place at Smith Lake.  Unfortunately, much of the area is heavily littered.

Rather than keeping things secret, I think it is more important that we make the areas known, and punish those who make a mess. Yes, greater visitation means more erosion, and probably greater small-scale littering, but it also means more incentive to clean up after the visitors. Obscurity does not equal protection, it only leads to neglect by local, state, and federal officials and the people who live near what needs protection.

Although my inclination is to be secretive, I think you're right.  And there's this: I don't know what others' experiences are, but on the majority of our cold-weather Sipsey trips, we never see anyone else.  The majority of the Sipsey is far from overused. 

[WolfVanZandt]

Heh, fact is, I just don't like crowds.

But I agree about the messy locals. When we used to have the SEHowl at Buck's Pocket, the locals used to come down to the primitive campground and work on their dune buggies - change the oil and everything. Once some of the ranger's buddies (linemen) came down and had a rowdy party across the road from us. We were not paying much attention to them until they left - and left a huge roaring bonfire that was reaching up into the trees. We had to put it out.

One thing that I would hate to see though, is for our parks to become as strict as the ones in Georgia. You can't get off the trails, you can't get in the creeks. grph, I have horror stories I can tell.........

[Chris]

I just found out I am being deployed to Quatar for a year or more around May so I will be out of Bama for a while.

[WolfVanZandt]

Well, that will be quite an adventure but stay well and come back home.

[Lostsheep]

Chris, we'll be looking for you to come home....soon.

Stay safe and check in when you can.

[Joshua Szulecki]

So for a boy from 'Bama, is Qatar going to be too cold?

No, seriously... Good luck, and stay safe.