Pinhoti Trail Hike

Yes, we are crazy. Yes it is August, and we live in the deep south. And yes, we went on a 6-mile hike last weekend. We hiked the Pinhoti Trail from the trailhead at the Chief Ladiga Bike Trail and went south to the Oakey Mountain shelter, then back again. It was a surprisingly comfortable hike, as our neck o' the woods was experiencing an unusually cool and not-so-humid day.


There's a beautiful spot just before the Pinhoti leaves the bike trail called the Terrapin Creek Watershed. (And I must apologize for the poor quality of the photos - we forgot the Canon and had to rely on the cell phone. And we don't have one of those fancy high-tech versions!)


From the valley we hiked up, along the boundary of the Talladega National Forest, to a new shelter on OakeyMountain, built by the Pinhoti Trail Alliance.

To get to the shelter you hike along the ridge of the mountain for quite a ways. It's summer, and the trees are in full leaf, but we were still able to get one good pic from our eyrie across the valley below.


We've failed miserably in our quest to get a lot of hiking in this summer. Or perhaps we simply underestimated the allure of air conditioning in 95 degree weather with 70% humidity. Regardless, as the weather starts to cool next month, we have grand plans. ::heh:: And you'll be the first to hear about them!