Alabama hiking – Great 1-day itinerary

Alabama Hiking was nowhere on our radar for the weekend; we planned to stay local to do some practice hikes. My husband found a cute AirBnB that was very budget friendly, so we decided to switch things up.

AirBnB – Yee-Haul

He found a cute tiny home coined the  “Yee-Haul” on AirBnB in Pell City, Alabama. This tiny home is located on the Goat Farm at South of Sanity Farms; the farm has goats, horses, rabbits, a pig and chickens. They have 2 other places to stay on site as well.  South of Sanity Farms sells their goat milk products; you can find their store here.

The farm was advertised to have beautiful sunset views over their lake, so I couldn’t wait to check it out. I didn’t get a chance to see the sunsets because we were out and about during that time; I did however catch a sunrise. The Yee-Haul is glamping for sure (it’s a converted U-Haul trailer with a composting toilet), but that is all we wanted, someplace to sleep and shower, and it checked all the blocks.  It was very small, but for just the two of us empty nesters, it was a perfect size to glamp for the weekend.

Recommended Alabama hiking near Pell City

The first morning we headed to Cheaha State Park to check it out.

Cheaha State Park, which is located on the southernmost tip of the Appalachian mountain chain, is the oldest park in Alabama and considered by many to be one of the most unique parks in the nation. Cheaha State Park has 2,799 acres of granite boulders and wind-warped ancient trees at 2,407 feet above sea level, often above the clouds, and surrounded by 392,567 acres of the Talladega National Forest including 7,245 acres of Cheaha Wilderness.

Cheaha State Park seems to be far removed from civilization; however, this park is only 30 minutes away from several historic downtowns (Oxford, Heflin, Anniston, Talladega, Lineville, Munford, and Ashland) which are packed with shopping, dining, cultural arts, and recreational opportunities. 

The ranger recommended we hike the Chinnabee Silent Trail. It’s not in the park, but very close by. The drive to Cheaha and the trail head was beautiful! The fall colors were showing strong.

We hiked the Chinnabee Silent Trail; it is a moderate out and back trail that is 8.1 miles and has 882 feet off elevation gain. We started at the parking lot for Turnip seed Campground on 281. You pass a few waterfalls on the way out and back, but I did not see any signage, so am unsure which one was what. One of them was Cheaha Waterfall. The hike takes you to Lake Chinnabee to turn around. There are bathroom facilities there. The hike on the way back to the parking lot seemed much tougher than the hike out. 

After hiking Chinnabee Silent Trail, we headed back to Cheaha State Park to explore some. We checked out the Bald Rock Overlook. It was a boardwalk that was .6 miles total out and back. The fall colors were nice there as well.

Birmingham is also close to Pell City. There is a ton of restaurants there, so we headed over to Birmingham for dinner.

El Barrio

My favorite restaurant in Birmingham is El Barrio.

El Barrio has become one of the most popular restaurants in Birmingham history. They are known for their tacos, margaritas, guacamole, chicken enchiladas, chili relleno, chorizo meatloaf and plantain nachos. The multi-regional Mexican-inspired cuisine is prepared with locally sourced seasonal produce and natural farm-raided meats.

They serve lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday, plus brunch on Saturday.

If you’re ever near Birmingham, be sure to check out some of their trails. Once you build up an appetite, head over to El Barrio to indulge on some good eats!

Be sure to check out some great hiking in Hike 3 Beautiful Moderate to Strenuous trails in Cloudland Canyon State Park

-S&E