National Forest Rd

When my parents were in town at the beginning of the month, we met them in Alabama for the afternoon and took them over to one of our favorite spots in the world...Smith Lake just outside of Birmingham. In our opinion, it's one of the best kept secrets in the world because it's the 2nd or 3rd (can't remember) cleanest lake in the entire U.S., just behind Lake Tahoe. While we were there, we went through the Bankhead National Forest, known as "the land of a thousand waterfalls" and found our favorite new camping spot! We plan to spend a lot of time there in the Spring when the weather warms up! In fact, I already caught DW online looking up information on buying kayaks to go with our fishing gear and mountain bikes. :-)

Even with the water down and the trees bare, it is a breath-taking, out-of-the-way spot that makes you feel like no one else in the world exists but you. In fact, when we were taking pictures, we realized we couldn't hear a single noise or car or voice besides our own. Then, as if to complete the fairytale, snowflakes started floating down all around us. DW and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. "Wow!" we said at the exact same time.

As much as the "city girl" in me loves busy and fast and great restaurants and shopping, the "country girl" in me loves putting on a pair of jeans and some old kicks and heading out to get my outdoor fix more! I can't think of anything better than being in your own little corner of the world, listening to the sounds of the wind in the trees, the dogs crashing through the underbrush, and looking up at bright, beautiful stars! I couldn't resist taking a few winter pictures of our "secret spot" and am looking forward to sharing some more pictures of our "great adventures" (as my Dad said) as the seasons change:

The road in through the Bankhead National Forest:

Looking across the camping spot toward the lake:

Coming over the ridge:

View from the picnic bench to the water:

Standing at the picnic bench, you see a cave to your left...

Closeup of the Cave:


...and to your right there are a set of stairs down to the water!

Coming down...

As you come down the stairs, you see the swim dock:

...the view back up at the property if you're standing on the dock.

If you're standing on the swim dock, there are gorgeous rock formations less than 50 feet away if you look over one shoulder...

...and a view out of the cove toward the main part of the lake if you look over the other shoulder.

I can't wait to come back and visit when the water is up and the sun is out! I'm sure we'll be sneaking away from the world quite a bit now that we found this little piece of heaven! Dad and Mom, thanks for being willing to make a few little detours that day...if you hadn't, we would have never found it! Hurry back!