South Region - Hiking Alabama: A Guide to the State's Greatest Hiking Adventures - page 180

Maps: USGS McCalla, AL; DeLorme: Alabama Atlas & Gazetteer, page 46 A2;
online at www.alabamaforeverwild.com
Trail contact: Alabama State Lands ADCNR, 64 N. Union St., Montgomery, AL
36130; [phone]; www.alabamaforeverwild.com
Finding the trailhead: From Tallassee at the intersection of AL 14 / E. Barnett Av-
enue and AL 229 / Jordan Avenue, take AL 14 east 2.3 miles. Turn left onto
Macedonia Road and travel 3.1 miles. Turn left onto Hicks Store Road and travel
1 mile. Turn right onto Gravel Pit Road and in 400 feet turn right onto Coon
Creek Landing Road. Follow the road to the boat ramp / parking area. The kiosk
and trailhead is on the left (west) side of the parking lot. GPS: N32 35.838' / W85
52.831'
The Hike
Coon Creek is a feeder of the Tallapoosa River and Yates Reservoir near the town
of Tallassee (the reservoir is created by the nearby Yates Dam). Much of the land
around the creek is owned and managed by the state's Forever Wild program as
the 320-acre Coon Creek Tract. Once again the program wanted to create recre-
ational opportunities for the area such as hiking, paddling, hunting, and fishing,
while at the same time protecting the natural habitat formed by the creek.
In 2009 the state built two new hiking trails on the property: the Overlook Loop
and this hike, the Wood Duck Trail. The Wood Duck Trail is a 4-mile out-and-
back hike (with a small loop at the turnaround) that hugs the banks of Coon Creek
and the slough that feeds the wider creek. For the most part the trail is a narrow,
2-foot-wide dirt footpath with a leaf and pine straw bed, but it does use some old
dirt roads to make its way around the creek. It's an easy-to-follow trail with excel-
lent red paint blazes leading the way.
It is an interesting, and beautiful, environment that you will be walking through.
For much of the trip you will be only a few feet from, if not directly on, the banks
of the creek itself, with excellent views and a chance to hear frog song, do a little
bird watching, or maybe see some wildlife like white-tailed deer or turkey vul-
tures soaring overhead, or the telltale signs that a beaver was hard at work.