Gulf Oak Ridge Trailhead

The state of Alabama has created great trails for cyclists, walkers, and joggers in Gulf State Park. Recently my wife and I loaded up our bikes and made the short journey from Pensacola to Gulf Shores to ride the the trails. We discovered the trails on a camping trip we took with our kids at Gulf State Campgrounds. We went a short distance with the kids, but this time we would go further and faster.

We arrived at the trailhead located on State Park Road 2 around 9 am. The trail is a paved walking and cycling trail that winds through hard wood forests and wetlands.

The first leg of the trail is called Gulf Oak Ridge. I’m sure it inherited it’s name from the beautiful oak trees that provide shade and beauty to the surroundings. This is my favorite section of trail for it’s scenery and the small inclines which make for some good fun.

The next section which picks up at the Orange Beach Sports Complex is rightly named Twin Bridges. This section of trail takes you over two raised wooden boardwalks.

Gulf State Park Trails Pavilion

Adjoining Twin Bridge is Catman Road. This section of trail has a very nice screened in pavilion and restroom facilities. We stopped and spent a few minutes here refreshing and taking photos. We also observed some water bowls for walkers to refresh their pets.

Alligator Habitat Sign

Heading on Catman Road intersects a section of trail called Rosemary Dunes. We opted to take the Rosemary Dunes trail. The terrain changes from hills and oaks to marshy wetlands. One sign along the trail reads Alligator habitat. We had hoped to see one but to no avail. This section of trail dead ends to a few sandy trails that connect you to East Beach Blvd (Perdido Beach Road). The sandy trails are a short distance to the road. We were able to ride a small section but had to push our bikes a bit.

We completed our loop by following East Beach Blvd. and then took State Park Road 2. The total distance for this ride was 8.86 miles.

If you’re looking to walk, jog, or go for a ride these trails offer some beatiful scenic views. This is a great place to turn your kids loose on a bike as there is no worry about cars. Not up for an 8 mile ride? No worries. Take a map and go as short or long as you would like. Just have fun… Go Explore!

More on Gulf State Park

• Exploring Gulf State Park
• Gulf Oak Ridge Trail Map

Take a tandem jump over the drop zone or over the beautiful beach. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s a sandy landing!

If you decide to continue your training, they will help you all the way to earn your expert license.

They even have camera flyers. So, you get your picture taken on the way down.

Check out these fun photos by first time skydivers!

Reserve your spot now.

Emerald Coast Skydiving Center
website: emeraldskydive.com
16646 County Road 95
Elberta, AL 36530-3112
(251) 986-5618
Open Wed-Fri 9am-5pm; Weekends 9am-6pm

Head on over to Hillcrest Farm, grab a pail and start filling it with plump, organic blueberries. You might want to go for two buckets, so you have one left after the one you eat on the ride home.

We recently loaded up the car and headed to Hillcrest Farm to meet some friends and pick blueberries. We even discovered that they have a geocache.

When we arrived, we were given a friendly greeting by the Hixson’s, long-time owners of Hillcrest Farm. The Hixson’s have been supplying Florida and Alabama with berries, jams, garden vegetables and ice cream for over twenty years. We were given instructions on where to pick and given buckets with plastic bag liners for carrying our ripe, picked blueberries. After berry picking, the kids enjoyed eating Ms. Hixson’s homemade ice cream while we all enjoyed the shade- although there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t too hot. We like to go early in the season for that reason and for easier picking when the blueberry bushes are still loaded with berries.

Hillcrest Farm is a family-owned farm located in Elberta, Alabama and just 30 minutes from Pensacola.

Location

30497 Hixson Road
Elberta, AL 36530
Phone: 251-962-2500.
East of Foley and Elberta on US98 to mile marker 76. Turn north on Hillcrest  Dr. Open: June – Sept, Daily, 6 am till dark.

What you’ll learn:

• Gulf Coast Hiking Destinations
• Snake Identification
• Knot Tying
• Backpack Cooking Demo
• Hands-On Gear Demo

Presentation Schedule:

• 9:00am -  Hiking the Gulf Coast: Where to Go Take a Hike
• 10:00am -  Hands-On Gear Demo Presented by Alabama Outdoors
• 11:00am – Snake in the Grass-Identifying Snakes on the Trail / Is Knot! Knot Tying with Gene Boothe
• 12:00pm – Backpack Cooking Demo w/Juli Day
• 2:00pm – Blakeley Historic State Park Hike

There will also be door prizes and raffles for amazing prizes including a brand new Ascend a10 Kayak!

Contact: Joe Cuhaj @ 251-533-1812 or jcuhaj@gmail.com

Optional NTD Hike: An optional hike will take place at Blakeley Historic State Park at 2pm (there is a $3 park admission fee). Meet at the park entrance at 2pm. Contact Juli Day for details at jujuhiker@gmail.com

Over 500 hearty souls braved the stormy weather to attend the first Bald Eagle Bash and were rewarded with one of the best events to be held in 2010. This year’s Taste of Weeks Bay will again feature Alabama Wild Shrimp prepared by the area’s best restaurants. The delicious food will be accompanied by classic dry sangrias, wine, and beer, all included in the price of admission. Live music and appearances by Shelby Mitchell of 95KSJ and Darwin Singleton of NBC15 will complete the scene.

The Bald Eagle Bash is the premier Party for Preservation. The money raised will help fund the Weeks Bay Foundation, the only nationally accredited land trust in coastal Alabama. In just the last year, the efforts of the Foundation have preserved over a mile and a half of waterfront wetlands on Fish River and almost a thousand acres of freshwater wetlands on Mobile Bay. These lands will now be preserved in a natural state for wildlife and for future generations of
coastal Alabama citizens to use and enjoy.

Your support of the Bald Eagle Bash comes at a time when our ecosystem is under great stress from the 2010 oil spill, a time when we need to provide a sanctuary for the great diversity of wildlife that lives here year round or depends on our wetlands during migration. Mammals, birds, and fish depend on the citizens of our area to preserve their wetland homes and you can help and have a great time at the Bald Eagle Bash on the banks of Weeks Bay.

Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the gate and can be purchased online at www.BaldEagleBash.com or at any BBVA Compass location in Baldwin or Mobile counties, the Foundation office, and the Reserve. This is the event of the summer so get your tickets now and call or e-mail your friends and ask them to attend. And remember what the Party for Preservation is for: the future of one of the most beautiful and diverse environments on planet earth, right here
in Baldwin County.

Grab your bike and take a short day trip to bike the Eastern Shore Bike Trail. This is a beautiful trail winding along the banks of Mobile Bay connecting the traveler to unique and charming communities.

We recently packed our bikes and biked a 3.5 mile section of this trail. We parked across from the Grand Beach Hotel located in Point Clear, Alabama. From there, we traveled north on the Eastern Shore Bike Trail. As we biked, we enjoyed the shade from large oaks laced with Spanish moss. It was fun looking at the beautiful houses and unique restaurants, shops and cafes such as Jolly’s Diner and Bay Break.

Jolly's Diner

As we approached Fairhope we saw people walking, biking, and jogging along the breathtaking views from the bluffs. In this section there are a few public piers, park benches, and picnic areas for visitors to enjoy.

After taking a short stroll out on the Fairhope municipal pier and sitting on the benches overlooking the bluffs, we headed to downtown Fairhope. It was time to eat lunch, so we went to Sandra’s Place which serves great sandwiches. The cafe is located in the center of town and has outdoor seating. We had wonderful Chicken Salad sandwiches served on a croissants with chips and a pickle.

Mr. Gene

The city of Fairhope is one of my favorite southern towns in Alabama. After lunch, we strolled around town with our bikes. We walked through the art gallery which showcases the talents of local artists as well as stopped into Mr. Gene’s Beans. Mr. Gene’s Beans is a fun place for ice cream and coffee. My pick of the day was a delicious refreshing iced coffee beverage.

Our last stop of the day was to Running Wild, a running and triathlon supply store- we introduced the manager to Outdoor Gulf Coast. It was then time to make our way back. Going back was just as nice and fun with the help of some downhills. If you are looking for a fun place to take your bikes, the Eastern Shore Trail should be on your list of places to explore.

Check out the full map of The Eastern Shore Trail.

Adam Barker and his two boy's Noah and Kaleb with a nice Alabama Redfish.

Hello from the beautiful Gulf Coast. So far, the weather around here has been sketchy and you really have to pick and choose your days carefully. Lately, we have had some really howling winds and a ton of rain making the water very muddy and extremely high- not to mention the cold fronts that have been coming in. But, that hasn’t stopped the fish from biting everywhere.

There has been some good upper slot reds caught to the west of Dauphin Island, AL near Coffee Island. Most of them were caught on the west side of the Coffee island where the cut through in the middle of the island (about 30 feet wide) dumps out into a slight cove. And as always with this time of year, there are large numbers of fish being caught around Dixie Bar and Fort Morgan. Many of the fish have been caught on spinner baits and popping corks with a Bass Assassin Shrimp or a Berkley Gulp! Shrimp in the molt, natural, pearl colors, or anything with chartreuse in it. I like to have as much scent as possible on my lures, so I always add an attractant such as BioEdge Fishing Product’s Shrimp Potion or put some Trigger X attractant on the lure.

The speck bite has been hit or miss lately. As always during this time of year, fishing in the evenings when the dock lights are almost a must. There has been a decent bite around the south side of Ono Island, AL. Try to hit every dock that has a light on it. I would start by running up the south west end of the island. Start fishing when you get past the No Wake Zone. Look for deeper pockets and pot holes in the grass beds to hold decent fish. There are also some nice specks in the Theodoore Industrial Canal, just make sure you hit it when the tide is moving in or out, it doesn’t matter. There are some good flounder being caught right now in the same areas as the specks, so make sure you get your bait down close to the bottom.

Jacob and his mom with a nice 15.5 lbs flounder.

Hopefully, the weather in November will be better than October around here. Hopefully the big bull reds will be coming in full force by then.

Tight lines,

Chris Williams

The CCA of Louisiana gave anglers the opportunity to participate in this process by starting a volunteer tagging program. Since 1987 the program has used more than 1,400 volunteer taggers, tagging over 105,000 fish. The main focus of this tagging program is to introduce volunteer anglers to more qualitative or “scientific” methods for reporting their tag and recapture information. The more precise the data will yield to more specific information that can be used in measuring the populations of the fish.

The best part of this program is you do not have to tag fish strictly in Louisiana. You can catch them right here on the Gulf Coast and tag any sized Speckled trout or redfish you release alive.

Here are some of the basics of the program for you:

* Tag Spotted Sea trout “Speckled trout” and Red drum “redfish” of any size in any  water body in any state

* All that they ask is that volunteers complete the data cards with the required fields   and return them in to us for data tracking purposes

* They also ask that GPS coordinates be included on the data card for data analysis and tracking. Volunteers are reminded that this data is for biologist’s use only and will not be shared with the public. So NO private fishing spots will be reveled.

* Whenever someone recaptures a fish that you tagged a recapture report will be sent to the tagging and the recapture angler letting them know where the fish was tagged and recaptured (brief location information/no GPS coordinates), how long the fish was at large and the measurements at the time of tagging and recapturing.

* All supplies are provided to volunteers free of charge and tagging kit includes instructions on how to fill out the data card as well as how to tag the fish.

If you would like to volunteer for this program (as I did), please send the following information in an email to fishtags@wlf.louisiana.gov. It will surely be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do.

• Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Do you own a GPS unit? Yes or no
• Area Generally fished:
• Have you ever participated in a tagging program before? Yes or no

Note: this is not the full section of trails. Other paved trails branch off from recorded trails.

Trailhead coordinates:

Latitude: 30.271562º N
Longitude: 87.655587º W

Trailhead Orange Beach Sports Complex

Latitude: 30.279491º N
Longitude: 87.612572º W