After the rains at Little River Falls

This past weekend, I ventured with my son James and Boy Scout Troop 97 to Little River Canyon National Preserve and saw a great show.

Thanks to heavy rains the previous week, Little River was running at full force, and the conditions drew kayakers from Alabama and surrounding states. The most intrepid of them plunged over the Falls, a 45-foot drop. My Flickr album includes video of this amazing sight.

More information on Little River National Preserve is included in my book, Five Star Trails: Birmingham and on the Preserve's U.S. Park Service website.

If you go, you must stop at the Canyon welcome center on Alabama 35 atop Lookout Mountain, just east of Fort Payne. The center, built by Jacksonville State University, serves as headquarters for the National Park Service staff and offers information and interpretation of the Canyon, which is one of the deepest gorges East of the Mississippi River and is nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the East.

There is an easily accessible view of the Falls right off Alabama 35 and a hiking trail from that parking lot to a smaller set of falls downstream, Martha's Falls.

You can also get spectacular views by driving the twisty road the follows the Canyon rim. Other hiking opportunities along the way.