hurricane creek park

We were out looking for a place for a short hike. Hurricane Creek Park was that place. Nice ups and downs, on a clearly marked trail. It's not very long, but just right on a warm morning ... Gets the blood flowing. Try this place out.

Just off I 65 south of Decatur, Al. Is a little known hiking area. The park is about 70 acres nestled in a500' gorge, so the trails are rather steep. Bottled water is available and there is a covered picnic area. It has recently been added to the bird watchers list of observation destinations. The fees are minimal and it's interesting to all ages in good physical shape.

My family visited this park over the weekend. It is tucked out of the way just off interstate 65 on highway 31 heading toward Cullman, AL at the bottom of a very steep hill. We arrived in the gravel parking lot at around 11:00 am CST. As the title of the review states, it was fall and the leaves were changing and had started to fall rapidly. There were bright colors of green, red, yellow, brown, and gold all over the area. The office area was clean and there were a few climbing walls just outside to test any equipment that they offered for sale. They offer climbing gear for anyone brave (read crazy) enough to scale the rock faces around the park. They have a mountain biking trails and also rock climbing instruction on site.We took the High trail which is a 1.5 miles hiking trail around the North side of the park. My family consists of my wife, eight year old daughter, five year old daughter and myself. We are all in fairly good physical condition. The ground was covered in leaves and made footing difficult at times. However, for the most part, we enjoyed ourselves and even our five year old was taking in the scenery as she hiked the trail. There were some very steep portions of the trail where we had to hold her hand and I directed my older daughter where to step. The picnic areas were spread out and covered a lot of area. This gave a sense of solitude even when there were other hikers in the area that we found relaxing. The park has a stream (read creek) running through it that gives it it's name of Hurricane Creek. If it were not chilly, we might have played around and waded in the creek.Overall, the visit was enjoyable. The hiking was not very difficult although there were some steep areas that you might want to be extra cautious on. There were more trails available but I don't think the youngest would have been able to complete all the trails. We found the scenery to be gorgeous and would recommend a visit. We will be coming back to look at the other trails and maybe get in some mountain biking as well.Caveat - $11 for the whole family to hike the trails. $3 adults $2.50 children under 17

The last time I went was a hot summer day. When I found shade, it was a lovely place. Hot summer days are not ideal for walks in a park. I have also been in spring, when a few trees and shrubs were still in bloom. Cooler weather made for more enjoyable walking. Small park.

If you are into outdoors fun and hiking, this is an excellent place to visit. You can hike for miles, you can climb, you can take photos, or you can picnic and enjoy watching the more energetic folks get a workout. It is a very serene area, unspoiled by progress. A very nice piece of nature.