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Several years ago, when both Betsy and I were younger and could get around better, we celebrated my birthday by traveling duo Fort Payne, Alabama. At that time we were tracking down waterfalls and there are several in the Fort Payne area. One of the waterfalls is Little River Falls, pictured above.
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Desoto State Park in Alabama is one of our favorite places to visit, and we’ve been there several times. The photos in this post were taken during a birthday trip Betsy arranged for me in March, 2013.
We originally went to Desoto State Park for the waterfalls — there are five in the park — but on this visit we hiked a trail along the West Fork Little River within the park. Since it was very early Spring, there weren’t many people around and we had the trail to ourselves.
There were parts of the river that had rapids (as can be seen in the first photo), but along other parts the river was calm and serene.
As we hiked, the channel got smaller and the water got more shallow.
But all-in-all it was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday with My Beautiful Bride.
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Betsy and I have been to Desoto State Park in Alabama several times. It’s a wonderful park with waterfalls, hiking trails and a beautiful mountain setting. One of the main attractions of the park is Desoto Falls. All of these pictures are from a visit we made to the falls in 2013. This was part of a birthday surprise that Betsy had arranged for me.
There is a dam just above Desoto Falls which forms Desoto State Park Lake. Although the dam is not part of the waterfall, it too, is a beautiful sight.
The official viewing area for Desoto Falls offers only a side view of the waterfall. It’s a nice view, but Betsy and I had seen pictures of the waterfall from a different vantage point and we wanted to find it.
After talking to one of the park rangers we were told that it was possible to bushwhack to a view of the falls by following a primitive trail almost two miles from the official viewing area. We found the trailhead without too much difficulty and hiked back toward the waterfall.
After a while we were rewarded with this view of Desoto Falls. We weren’t as close we were at the official viewing area, but we both liked the view we were able to enjoy.
In some ways we hope that the primitive trail is not upgraded — we can keep this beautiful spot as our very own secret.
Little River Falls, Fort Payne, Alabama. March 8, 2013.
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This is my post for the Our World meme. This meme is a second generation of My World Tuesday created by Klaus Peter and is hosted by five wonderful ladies. To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.
Earlier this month Betsy and I went to Fort Payne, Alabama, to celebrate my birthday. One of the first places we visited was Little River Falls in Little River Canyon National Preserve.
Little River is unique in that it flows for almost its entire length along the top of Lookout Mountain. As such it doesn’t have much depth, but there was a good water flow when we were there in March.
Betsy and I at Fall River Falls, Fort Payne, Alabama. March 8, 2013.
We have been to Little River Falls before, but this time we found a new boardwalk and observation deck. The deck allowed us to have a wonderful view of the falls.
Little River Falls, Fort Payne, Alabama. March 8, 2013.
Little River Falls is a 45-foot waterfall that marks the beginning of Little River Canyon. The canyon is approximately eleven miles long and is up to 700 feet deep. Little River Canyon is sometimes called the “Grand Canyon of the East.”
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Betsy planned a wonderful birthday celebration for me last weekend. We went down to Fort Payne, Alabama, to do some hiking and visit some waterfalls. We’ve been dan there before, but there was more water this time than on our earlier visits.
Hiking with Betsy is a great way to celebrate a birthday, or any day. The collage above contains photos taken last weekend. The picture on the upper left shows us at Little River Falls in the Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Payne. Although I love hiking with Betsy, she does sometimes get carried away with the trails she picks as you can see by the picture on the upper right.
Betsy patiently waits while I’m playing around trying to get the ‘perfect’ shot, as the picture on the lower left shows. (I love that beautiful smile!). The middle picture shows us at Lost Falls in Desoto State Park.
The picture on the right shows the best part of hiking with Betsy. This picture was taken along the West Fork of the Little River, also in Desoto State Park.
I’m already looking forward to our next hiking trip.
Little River Canyon National Preserve, Fort Payne, Alabama. February 14, 2010.
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One of the places Betsy and I have visited several times is Little River National Canyon Preserve near Fort Payne, Alabama. The canyon is sometimes called “The Grand Canyon of the East”. There is a scenic drive along the rim with several overlooks from which the river can be seen far below.
Little River, Fort Payne, Alabama. February 14, 2010.
These pictures were taken in February, 2010, when the river was fairly high and the water was a beautiful color. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the water rush over and around the rocks in the stream bed.
Little River, Fort Payne, Alabama. February 14, 2010.
Both kayaking and rock climbing are permitted in the canyon, but Betsy and I decided to content ourselves with photography.
Little River, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Fort Payne, Alabama. February 14, 2010.
This is my post for Watery Wednesday. To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.
Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Payne, Alabama, is a beautiful area to visit. The preserve includes an 11-mile scenic drive (Alabama highway 176) with overlooks at several points.
Sometimes called the “Grand Canyon of the East,” the canyon was formed over thousands of years by Little River. Little River is one of the longest rivers in America that flows almost entirely on the top of a mountain (Lookout Mountain). The river begins at 1,900 feet above sea level and drops over 1,200 feet before exiting the canyon.
The canyon carved over thousands of years by the river is twelve miles long and reaches depths of over 600 feet.
The picture above was taken at one of the overlooks along the canyon rim in February of last year.
Little River Canyon, Fort Payne, Alabama. February 14, 2010.
Little River is one of the country’s longest rivers that forms and flows for most of it’s length along the top of a mountain. The river begins about 1900 feet above sea level on Lookout Mountain and ends at 650 above sea level at Weiss Lake. This results in one of the most extensive canyon and gorge systems in the eastern United States containing one of the South’s clearest, wildest waterways.
Canyon Rim Drive follows the western rim of Little River Canyon for the final 11 miles of the river’s length. There are several overlooks along the route which give wonderful views of waterfalls, rapids, canyon walls, trees, plants and birds. At one overlook we even spotted some kayakers down in the canyon below.
I think the Little River Canyon would be beautiful any time of the year, but the water flow can be quite low during the summer months. But if you are near Fort Payne, Alabama, I think you would enjoy Canyon Rim Drive any time of the year.
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Betsy and I took advantage of a break in the weather to go to Hendersonville to check in on my parents. Both of my parents were in good spirits and we were able to help them with a couple of problems they’ve been having around the house. But the most amazing thing for us was that once we got off the Plateau there was no snow to be seen! However we came back home to snowy reality. In fact it is snowing as I write this on Wednesday night (enough already!!!).
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I’m grateful for all the beauty of this world — in both nature and in people.
Little River Falls, Fort Payne, Alabama. February 14, 2010.
This is my post for Watery Wednesday. To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.
Betsy and I saw the waterfall pictured above on our Valentine Weekend trip to Fort Payne, Alabama. Little River Falls is in the Little River Canyon Natural Preserve near Fort Payne.
We enjoyed our visit to Little River Falls for a couple of reasons. One was that although we’ve visited this waterfall a couple of other times, but there was more water going over the falls this time than in the other times we visited. The other reason we enjoyed our visit so much was that this was our first waterfall after we each got our new cameras.
Betsy has had her camera for a couple of weeks. I got my camera last week. It’s a Canon EOS Rebel T1i with an EF-S 18-55mm lens and a EF-S 55-250mm lens. As you can imagine, I took quite a few pictures during the weekend.
I also experimented with RAW format. This is the first camera I’ve had that supported RAW and I’ve enjoyed seeing what kind of images I could capture. I took the picture above in RAW and then converted it to JPEG for posting.
I’m sure I’ll be sharing more of my experiments with you in the days ahead.
Senior Moments 