On Trail & Off Trail

[Pathfinder]

It just occurred to me that there are lots of discussions on this forum about hiking various trails in numerous places in Alabama.  There are many postings on Alatrails about off-trail bushwhacking.  It seems to me that whenever someone posts about bushwhacking, they are usually talking about the Bankhead National Forest.  If they are talking about hiking other areas they almost exclusively talk about trail hiking.  I am curious as to why this is.

[Magic City Matt]

I think it's because Bankhead is one of the most feature dense areas in Alabama. Talladega NF and most other places in AL have lots of features but they are pretty spread out. With Bankhead there is stuff everywhere both on and off trail. Off trail in bankhead almost always yields something you had not previously seen and there is a stoke to finding something for your self without a trail having to take you there. 

M

[Joshua Szulecki]

Well... As a mostly bushwhacker, I think there are a few components to this...

1) There are no good maps for most of those areas which clearly show private/public property boundaries. This is a biggie for me, and has kept me from bushwhacking in some areas. Talladega does have some coverage, but the maps are as old as I am. Forget most other areas.

2) As Matt said, Bankhead is feature dense. Talladega and other areas are more spread out and less packed with interesting features. They all have their unique character that makes them special. Canyons tend to make trails hard to build and to cause lots of features to squash together. Bankhead is also in a special area botanically, with separate climate zones all meeting in one place. Talladega and Conecuh are more homogenious. 

3) Ignorance. Many people are not aware of what can be found in some of these areas. Jaybird and I have bushwhacked to a few sites in Talladega, and I've bushwhacked to plenty of sites in other areas looking for waterfalls.

4) Acceptability. State parks and other areas are much more touchy about off-trail hiking than the NFS. Bankhead is particularly known for being a very good bushwhacker friendly area. The remoteness of Bankhead, especially since none of the roads other than Cranal and 33 are heavily travelled, means cars can be left on roadside turnoffs with ease and without fear of getting towed or ticketed.

5) A big reason, at least in my mind, is that the trail system in Bankhead doesn't go where the good stuff is, for the most part.

6) Size. Bankhead dwarfs the other wildlands in Alabama and often necessitates bushwhacking.