Hiking on the Cutchenmine Trail in the Lake Guntersville State Park in Alabama

October 1, 2022

One of Bruce’s friends from Huntsville, AL has a Class B RV (camper van). He came down and stayed several days in the Lake Guntersville State Park. He worked during the day and we got together after 5:00 pm to go hiking.

We drove into Lake Guntersville State Park and picked him up. On the way to the trailhead, we noticed three emus or rheas in the water facility. I think they are emus since I think I see “hair” on their heads. I couldn’t see the color of their eyes and I am not sure 100% sure about about the “hair.”

We drove to a parking lot and got parked. At first, we thought we would have to walk along the road to get to the trailhead. As we looked around the parking area, we saw another trailhead.

Surprisingly, the trail had just been cleared with a Bobcat.

The trail started out soft and not to bad for my ankle. I made sure to keep an eye out for roots and rocks that could cause a misstep.

As we hiked along the trail, we started smelling diesel. We discovered the trail had just been cleared! We meet the Bobcat and its driver!

We continued past the Bobcat and saw the trail had been cleared past it as well. We walked next to the water. You can see the leaves have a tinge of yellow.

We came to a Y the trail. In one direction, the Y went to the road and in the other direction, there was a bridge over a dry creek.

On the other side of the bridge, the trail headed up the ridge. It had not been cleared by the Bobcat. I got close to the top of the ridge and realized I needed to stop. My ankle was starting to feel some stress. Bruce and his friend continued along the trail so they could see the lake from the ridge.

I turned around and slowly started back.

I was across the bridge and took these pictures.

I started to slide on some wet clay the Bobcat had exposed. Of course, this was my left (hurt ankle) foot that started to slide. I caught myself and my ankle really twinged.

I saw a big stick I could use to support myself and help keep some of the weight off of my ankle.

Bruce and his friend caught up with me not long after I was using the stick.

After some conversation, Bruce went to get the truck so he could pick me and his friend up by the road.

I walked back towards the bridge and took the path to the road. On the way up to the road, we saw a little black snake. I didn’t get a picture.

I waited beside the road with our friend for Bruce to pick us up. It didn’t take long for Bruce to pick us up and then get turned around to head into Guntersville. We had dinner at the Fire by the Lake, which was delicious.

I iced my ankle when we got home and it was fine the next day.