Monte Sano Circumnavigation

“After locating a new cache of maps online (thank you, Briartech) I've discovered that there is a route, combining the Land Trust trails, the State Park trails, and some of the "unofficial" trails, to go completely around Monte Sano Mountain. The route I've worked out starts from the Land Trust Parking Lot on Bankhead Pkwy. nad goes like this:

Trail	Distance
Bluff Trail	1.62
Natural Well Trail	2.26
McKay Hollow Trail	1.54
South Loop	0.24
Warpath Trace	0.28
Goat Trail	.16
Flat Rock Connector	0.34
Flat Rock Trail	3.53
Panther Knob Access Trail	~0.25
Tollgate Trail	0.27
Total	10.49

The map I'm using is here. Right click on that link to download it. It's 371KB, so it might take a little while to download on a dialup connection.

Anybody up for it? It'd be an all-day hike.”

“Let's go now!”

“lol...wish I could! But I'm figuring it to be at least a 6 hour hike, counting a lunch break, and maybe longer. This weekend's probably out for me (unless I skip church another Sunday in a row) but maybe the one after that. You're gonna be gone then, aren't you MDS?

Labor Day, maybe?”

“I'll be gone 8/25 - 8/30.

Labor Day is a good possibility!”

“Heck, let's go ahead and schedule it for then. Hopefully this evening some of the other Huntsville types will read this thread and want to join in.”

“i'm in...i saw we bushwack some and do a lil stealth camping”

“It'd have to be real stealthy, depending on where we set up. No campfires or anything like that. But there are probably plenty of places where a hammock could be strung, or a tent pitched. Heck that map even shows some large cleared areas.”

“Count me in too!”

“I just thought of a possible problem. There may not be any water. Unless it's rained recently, most of the stream on Monte Sano are dry. Then there's the fact that all the houses and structures on Monte Sano are on (or used to be on) septic tanks. Not sure that I'd want to drink any water from a stream there, even if it was filtered.

Of course, that's just a logistical problem, which can probably be overcome.”

“I think we can bring enough water for 1 or 2 days. That shouldn't be too much of a problem.”

“Some of the trails are close to roads..we could cache water. I know it's only 10 miles..but we could find tons of ways to stretch it out...
i spent 3 days in the hills on Redstone...mp's chased us for the most part of one day...lol...now they'd just shoot you. Redstone has some nice woodland over there near the river”

“Caching is a possibility. I could get a couple of those 2 gallon collapsible water jugs and cart them to a place we agree on the day before or something like that.”

“Is there a date set for this yet?”

“We could hike all day and then crash at the campground and have a totally excellent cookout, complete with 12oz beverages.

Nah, that would be too easy.”

“Bit, even at a leisurely pace, a day hike shouldn't take more than 3 hours. Remember, we're not humpin' packs. I regularly do 5 miles on the Land Trust in an hour and a half. Let me know when you want to do this, I'm in!
If'n ya wanna do an overnighter, no problem. I can pull potable water from the most questionable sources, and I know where to hide!
Sounds like fun. Let's do it!”

“Wait a minute.......isn't this the trail that Leatherneck had "problems" on?”

“Bring yer pepper spray!”

“Hell's fire, boys and girls, we could overnight at 3 Caves and nobody would ever notice the fires. But there are other places, too...”

“chili, we're looking at Labor Day right now, if I'm not mistaken.

FG, what, are you running?

I might be packing a full pack for the training regimen, although I don't expect it to be heavy.

MDS, boy that does sound like a good idea. Steaks....mmmmm....brats.....mmmm......


BEEEEERRRRRRRRRR...mmmmmmmmmmmm.......”

“Well, it's in that area, chili, but I seriously doubt if they'll bother to go as deep as we are going. They weren't more than a quarter mile from the parking lot, if I read Leatherneck's directions right.”

“I am not too comfortable with your choice of the work "deep" in that post.


In any event, I'm not too sure I can make it Labor Day weekend,,,,”

“work= word”

“Bit, I take the Almshouse trail to Waterline to High trail to...shucks, I can't remember the rest of the names, but if you look at the map on the board at Bankhead, it adds up to 5 miles. Just for fun, I do it in reverse on occasion.”

“Whew, FG, you're faster than me...My pace is pretty much 2mph no matter what the conditions. I have hiked faster, but damn, it feels like I'm running when I do that...


chili...ahem...uh...yah...sorry about that...

Let me rephrase that statement.

I seriously doubt if the "gentlemen" in question will venture as far into the Great Woods as the trails upon which we shall be treading.

Is that better?”

“Oh, yeah. Labor Day weekend Mother Goose and I will be in the Smokies with katibug and crew...”

“Well, Labor Day weekend is shaping up to not be too good. Us Huntsville types can do it anytime we want though.

I've already got a September hike planned, so keeping it close to home is preferable.

Alms House to Waterline to High Trail to Tollgate?

Alms House trail is where Leatherneck had his Encounter of the Gross Kind.”

“Yeah, I think it is Tollgate. Parallels Monte Sano Blvd. for a while. Like I say, carry your pepper spray for the perverts who don't know better than to keep it private...”

“Looks like it's gonna be rainy this weekend. I bet the trails will be perv-free!”

“I think I'll head out to Monte Sano this a.m. I'll let you know...”

“OK cool. Have fun! take your rain gear!”

“Popping this to the top again. Anybody interested in doing this Labor Day weekend? Labor Day itself I'll probably have family obligations.”

“Wish I could. I am taking my kids to see their grandmother.”

“Turf the kids to grandma and come on anyway, chili!

j/k....lol....I understand the family thing...”

“if OPIE wants to go, I'll go too.”

“of course you will!!!!

you don't expect him to carry any gear do you????

a good daypack must weigh at least a couple of pounds!”

“I'm all for you two going MO, I'm just not interested in an overnighter that weekend. But we could make it an overnight another weekend.”

“I think Randy has plans that Sunday anyway. So I'm sure just a day trip will be fine with him. Are you talking about Saturday? We've been looking for a good way to work out. I'll call him in a little while and see what he thinks. He's trying to get his cable and internet fixed right now.”

“Either one is fine, so Saturday is just as good as Sunday for me.”

“count us in bitpusher

saturday? time? place?”

“Saturday, 8:00AM, Land Trust Parking Lot. Since this is such a long hike, I'm going to be hiking with a daypack only, not my full pack. I'll print out some maps so we'll have a good idea where we're going, but I already have a pretty good idea for most of it.

Looking forward to it!”

“Is the trip still on Bitpusher? Who all is going with us?”

“how long is the trip you have planned..so i know how much water and or food..lol”

“Have a good trip!”

“I'm planning on being there tomorrow morning at 8:00AM. The route is about 10.25 miles, and will probably take us 4-5 hours to complete, with breaks. I'd bring a lot of water, and some Gatorade or Gatorade powder.”

“Oh, and it looks like it's just the three of us. No one else was interested or available. Father Goose is Smokies-bound this weekend, MDSHiker is in the Smokies right now, BAMA is off hunting bar, chili has his kids this weekend, etc., etc. I suppose I could email Trailhound57, I dunno if he's read this thread or not.”

“what are you taking with you?..i have a platy backpack, and i just got MO a hippack with 2 waterbottles..also have a quart bottle sling.”

“Two platys of water, some Gatorade powder, and a nalgene to mix the Gatorade in. Also gonna make some gorp to munch on, and a small lunch, plus a few Balanace bars. It oughta be enough.”

“Guys I can't thank you enough for the invitation and pointing out this thread for me. However, this is going to be one of those weekends that I must be available to work on a moments notice. Lord knows I could use a day to enjoy the woods. It looks like the intense work projects should slow down before October though.”

“OK trailhound. We'll catch up with you another time then.”

“OPIE, Miss Opie, and I started from the Land Trust parking lot a little after 8:00AM. The day started a little cool, in fact, Miss Opie was saying she had a chill. We started up the Bluff Line Trail, then took that up the mountain, stopping for a short break where the Waterline trail intersects it. Then, we took the trail up to Monte Sano Blvd. walked down it a ways, then crossed over and onto the Natural Well Trail. We took it around Hale Hollow, and stopped at the Natural Well to take pictures and throw rocks into it. Then, after losing the trail for a short time, we took it down into McKay Hollow, and stopped to eat lunch where the Natural Well Trail intersects with the McKay Hollow Trail.

We took the McKay Hollow trail south towards the ascent to the top of the South Plateau. We were all pretty tired at that point, so climbing out of McKay Hollow was a chore. We climbed up and onto the South Plateau Loop, and took it south to O'Shaughnessy Point. There, we rested again for a while.

We then went down the Warpath Ridge Trail, and turned onto the Goat Trail. This is where we ran into trouble. We should have continued descending to the Flat Rock Trail, but we didn't, and we didn't discover our mistake until it was too late to correct it. We ended up taking the Goat Trail to the three benches, then going up the Sinks Trail to the Mountain Mist, and taking it to Bankhead Parkway. We then walked down Bankhead Pkwy. for a mile or so, back to the Land Trust parking lot. We arrived back the cars at 4:45PM, having taking about 8.5 hours to do the loop, ~7.5 of which was actual hiking time.

The only really hard part was coming up out of McKay Hollow, an ascent I've done plenty of times before. Other than that, and not actually finding the Flat Rock Trail, it was an enjoyable, although tiring, hike.”