Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I have changed things up a bit since the last edition. After the Bluffline Trail we
now use the Annandale Trail to go to the Waterline Trail. This is an interesting
little trail with some rock features, and it actually leaves the preserve and cuts
through the state park for most of its length.
Annandale then meets up with the Waterline Trail at a creek crossing, where
there is a nice cascade after good rains. The trail is so-named because sections of a
water main that were used during the 1950s for the city of Huntsville run through
here. Sections of the pipe are exposed for you to see.
At the intersection of the Waterline and Alms House Trails is the Three Caves
Loop. The loop is a 0.2-mile trail around the quarry that gives you excellent views
of the caves that were once mined for limestone. There are several steel fences
here that you can stand by and look down into the quarry, but this is a dangerous
place. Heed the warning signs and keep children, and yourself, away from the
edges of the steep and deep cliffs. Also on the loop you will pass a road that leads
directly to the caves. Do
not
go to the caves! Entry is by permission only.
The Alms House Trail levels things out for a bit, though the path is rocky for
the most part. On this section you will pass the foundation of an old springhouse.
This stone structure was once used as an early form of refrigeration, using the
spring that ran beneath it to cool meats and vegetables.
On the final stretch to the parking lot, we use a short stretch of the Wagon Trail
to visit a beautiful wide stream and the Fagen Springs Trail to pass an impressive
waterfall (again, remember that flows are seasonal). The final stretch uses the
Alms House Trail once again, taking you steeply uphill to the trailhead. This last
section has few markers, so read the mile-by-mile description below and keep
your eyes peeled for the trail bed.
The city of Huntsville stepped from its cotton-based economy
to being a leader in high-tech industry when Dr. Wernher von
Braun and his team of rocket scientists came to the city to get the
US space program literally off the ground. His successes included
the building of the first American rocket to send a satellite in
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