South Region - Hiking Alabama: A Guide to the State's Greatest Hiking Adventures - page 124

Schedule: Year-round, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; zip line open weekends Memorial
Day-Labor Day
Maps: USGS Uriah East, Uriah West, Huxford, and McCullough, AL; DeLorme:
Alabama Atlas & Gazetteer, page 57 D6
Trail contact: Little River State Forest, 580 H. Kyle Rd., Atmore, AL 36502;
[phone]; www.forestry.state.al.us/little_river_state_forest.aspx?bv=6&s=2
Finding the trailhead: From I-65 exit 57, take US 21 north 11 miles. Turn right
onto H. Kyle Road and travel 0.4 mile to the pay station. The park office and the
start of the trail are straight ahead in another 0.2 mile. GPS: N31 15.436' / W87
29.129'
The Hike
The folks who drive past Little River State Forest (formerly Claude D. Kelley
State Park) and never stop to visit don't know what they're missing. The forest,
hidden in the woods about 11 miles north of Atmore, features nearly 2,000 fores-
ted acres and the 25-acre Little River Lake. This man-made lake provides swim-
ming and fishing year-round. The Bell/CCC Trail affords wonderful views of the
lake, plus a bit more of a hiking challenge than many other south Alabama hikes.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the park in 1935 (you can view
an actual film of the construction of the park online at www.youtube.com/
watch?v=N23Vpy6VTmw). This trail utilizes an old dirt road that was once used
by CCC workers and a newer trail built by former Alabama forestry ranger Paul
Bell, hence the name Bell Trail. The combination of the two trails gives you a nice
walk in the woods with exceptional views of the lake and of the surrounding hills
at the intersection of the two.
The park is located in Monroe County, which was immortalized in Harper Lee's
To Kill a Mockingbird , the best-selling novel about racial tensions in a small
Southern town. The story was set in Maycomb, a fictional alias for the nearby
town of Monroeville.