Lake Martin Hike

This weekend I went on the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail at Lake Martin by the Dam with my Hiking Meetup. It was a really pretty trail and I am sure that we will be doing it again!

There were only four of us, Me, Kristi, Ken and Ponja. I guess all the rain in Birmingham must have been discouraging and people decided to skip. I know Kristi was feeling this way because the entire way down to the lake she kept proclaiming, “Jennie, I am not hiking in the rain”. And I would come back with, “Have a little faith that it will clear up by the time we get there”! Sure enough, as soon as we pulled in the parking lot – clear skies. Glorious! Well, not totally clear skies, a little overcast, but still – no rain!

Sign off of Highway 50. This is the trail head, picnic and overlook area to see the lake. We had a snack here after the hike.

We started off taking the Chimney Rock Trail. About half of the trail kept us in the woods until we got to the bottom of the lake and we were on the shore.


This is a baby spruce pine. Also known as a “Broom Top”. I believe. Ken told us all of these things and I was trying to take mental notes of the names of the flora. So I may be wrong on a few of these.

Ponja, Kristi and Ken on some boulders.
This is a Gum Tree. It is the only tree that will not drop its dead leaves in the winter. In the spring, when the new leaves come in, they will push the dead leaves off.

The lake was again, really low. But the colors were so pretty. It was like a bright aqua/teal blue.

This is another attempt to get artsy with the camera. I was trying to focus in on the rain drop and make the rest blurry but the camera kept on wanting to focus in on the tree trunk too. Oh well. Guess I am going to have to take a digital camera class. Not everything can be self taught! Haha!

This is the Mossy Drip. Very cool and way unexpected on the hike! I didn’t know this was here! This whole wall was covered in moss and it just dripped water right into the lake. It was VERY COOL. And it sounded so pretty too. Imagine thousands of little drips. Ken joked with me that it looked like it was straight out of “Fern Gully”. Apparently I say this a lot on the hikes “Oh my Gosh! This looks like it is right out of Fern Gully!” Fern Gully is an old Disney movie about forest sprites (fairy’s). Really though – the Sipsey Big Tree does look like it is straight out of Fern Gully!

This is just a funky piece of wood that was just shooting up out of the ground. Looked pretty neat off of the trail.

Parts of the hike on the shore. Even though the lake was VERY low, it was still pretty and to see the colors of the water was pretty cool too.

Moss on dead wood. Kristi and Ponja took some of this (not this particular one) home with them. The moss was sort of bouncy since it was on the dead wood. Pretty neat and really bright.

I am pretty sure this is a shot of Goat Island. Goat Island is a tiny island in Lake Martin that is full of goats and donkey. They hang out ont he cliffs on the back side of the island and you can drive by and look at them on the boat. Some people throw fruit and food on the cliffs for them too. It is pretty neat. Ken told me that there is a Goat Island on Smith Lake too. Must be an Alabama thing ;)

Someone’s old school fishing boat.

Boulders.

Fred Astaire. Being a good boy and waiting for a treat!

Moss covered a fallen tree.

Some more woodsy shots.

This is called something particular with a fancy name. I forgot. But basically it is cancer on a tree. I just call it a Tree Tumor.

We didn’t do all the trails, just two – but it was worth the drive down there.

Afterwards, Kristi and I went to “Camp David”, my Dads cabin at the lake to just hang out. This is a shot of the sun set from the back porch.

I hope to make this trip again in the spring. I think it would be really pretty! Although, it was nice to go right after the rain too –made all the moss nice and bright!

Peace Out -

JM