Tusk A Loose-A: Elephant and Walrus LbNA #24649 (ARCHIVED)
Map
Nearby Boxes
Add Note
Add Location| Owner: | Adoptable |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Aug 8, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Tuscaloosa |
| County: | Tuscaloosa |
| State: | Alabama |
| Boxes: | 2 |
| Planted by: | TurtleMcQ  |
|---|---|
| Found by: | J Walkers (2) |
| Last found: | Nov 24, 2006 |
| Status: | Fa |
| Last edited: | Aug 8, 2006 |
So we headed out to Deerlick Creek Park on Holt Lake after reading about its 3+ miles of hiking trails online, only to be informed by the gentleman at the entrance that no, they don't have any hiking trails at all. I showed him what I had printed out and asked all kinds of other questions trying to get to the truth (someone said there were trails, and miles of them!) but he kept shaking his head and saying, no, there were no trails, and if there were, they'd have snakes and be too hard to hike, anyway.
I could tell he wanted us to tuck our sad tourist tails behind us and go, but we'd driven a long time to get there and would not be dissuaded from checking things out for ourselves. He finally gave up, handed me a temporary parking pass marked "picnic area" that he warned me to give back when we left (you may need to pay for parking, so be prepared) and waved us in the direction of the day use area. I disregarded his wave and drove through the camping area, pointing out to my passengers all the hiking trail signs we passed along the way. If there was no hiking, why did they need all those signs? Something was up, and I was determined to find a trail on which to plant the two darling Tuscaloosa-themed boxes Amanda from Seattle had surprised me with before we left for Alabama. They had to be planted in Tuscaloosa and we were heading home in just two days - time was running out!
I pulled into the lot next to the laundry facility/bathroom/picnic pavilion complex and jumped out of the car to check out the bulletin board there. I found a map of the campground there; you may want to ask for one when you enter the park since it should be clear by now that we weren't offered one. Sure enough, there were a few trails on the map, but they were neither long nor well-labeled. We decided to take the one that looked like it went along the lake, and we picked it up just to the right of the pavilion, heading downhill into a wooded area.
Before you start, let me reiterate all those warnings you frequently hear when out letterboxing. Watch for snakes, spiders and any other wildlife that might get you into trouble. Don't poke your hand into a hole without poking a stick in first. Be on the look out for poison ivy; the park is full of it, though I tried to avoid planting anywhere near it. (Oops, I'm getting ahead of myself there, but you probably already figured out that I eventually did find good places for Amanda's two boxes.)
We headed down the trail towards the lake but made a quick stop at the wooden stairs on the right. You should stop there too and look under the front left corner of the deck leading up to the stairs, being sure to heed all those warnings I just gave. You may find this hard to believe, but there's an elephant tucked under there! Once you've tucked it back in, cover it well with leaves, then rocks, and then some more leaves for good measure. Oh, and try not to let anyone see what you're doing, since the stairs lead up to the campsites and there may be people about.
Continue on down the trail to the lake and then follow it as it goes uphill, past a dock, some wooden fences, over a downed tree, past another wooden fence on your left and into an area with lots of little caves in the rocks. You'll see another dock. Go down towards it, looking for a small opening into the woods to your right, just before you hit the dock stairs. Look for a tree on the right that seems to be growing straight out of the rock. Walk past it and then look down at its base, right where the tree meets the rock. I know this sounds crazy, but at ground level, behind some small rocks, a walrus is hanging out, just waiting for your company. Be sure to cover it well with rocks and woodland debris when you're done so that the box can't be seen by casual passersby.
Head back to the trail, which will soon end at a set of stairs that will take you back up to the campsites. Go straight on the road, following the yellow line until you see your car on the right (unless you walked to the park, in which case you're on your own for getting back). This concludes our oh-so-brief exploration of the hiking trails that do not exist at Deerlick Creek Park, or at least the letterboxing portion of our journey. You can check out the Gobbler Ridge loop trail like we did, but you'll probably agree that the abundance of poison ivy there made it a rather inhospitable home for elephants and walruses. While on that trail we also passed what appeared to be a trailhead for the Beech Hollow trail but the area was so overgrown it was impossible to tell if a trail really existed there or not. Maybe that was the dangerous snake infested trail our friend at the gate was warning us about? I suppose we'll never know, having surrendered our temporary parking pass as we left. If you happen to find out, do fill us in...
I could tell he wanted us to tuck our sad tourist tails behind us and go, but we'd driven a long time to get there and would not be dissuaded from checking things out for ourselves. He finally gave up, handed me a temporary parking pass marked "picnic area" that he warned me to give back when we left (you may need to pay for parking, so be prepared) and waved us in the direction of the day use area. I disregarded his wave and drove through the camping area, pointing out to my passengers all the hiking trail signs we passed along the way. If there was no hiking, why did they need all those signs? Something was up, and I was determined to find a trail on which to plant the two darling Tuscaloosa-themed boxes Amanda from Seattle had surprised me with before we left for Alabama. They had to be planted in Tuscaloosa and we were heading home in just two days - time was running out!
I pulled into the lot next to the laundry facility/bathroom/picnic pavilion complex and jumped out of the car to check out the bulletin board there. I found a map of the campground there; you may want to ask for one when you enter the park since it should be clear by now that we weren't offered one. Sure enough, there were a few trails on the map, but they were neither long nor well-labeled. We decided to take the one that looked like it went along the lake, and we picked it up just to the right of the pavilion, heading downhill into a wooded area.
Before you start, let me reiterate all those warnings you frequently hear when out letterboxing. Watch for snakes, spiders and any other wildlife that might get you into trouble. Don't poke your hand into a hole without poking a stick in first. Be on the look out for poison ivy; the park is full of it, though I tried to avoid planting anywhere near it. (Oops, I'm getting ahead of myself there, but you probably already figured out that I eventually did find good places for Amanda's two boxes.)
We headed down the trail towards the lake but made a quick stop at the wooden stairs on the right. You should stop there too and look under the front left corner of the deck leading up to the stairs, being sure to heed all those warnings I just gave. You may find this hard to believe, but there's an elephant tucked under there! Once you've tucked it back in, cover it well with leaves, then rocks, and then some more leaves for good measure. Oh, and try not to let anyone see what you're doing, since the stairs lead up to the campsites and there may be people about.
Continue on down the trail to the lake and then follow it as it goes uphill, past a dock, some wooden fences, over a downed tree, past another wooden fence on your left and into an area with lots of little caves in the rocks. You'll see another dock. Go down towards it, looking for a small opening into the woods to your right, just before you hit the dock stairs. Look for a tree on the right that seems to be growing straight out of the rock. Walk past it and then look down at its base, right where the tree meets the rock. I know this sounds crazy, but at ground level, behind some small rocks, a walrus is hanging out, just waiting for your company. Be sure to cover it well with rocks and woodland debris when you're done so that the box can't be seen by casual passersby.
Head back to the trail, which will soon end at a set of stairs that will take you back up to the campsites. Go straight on the road, following the yellow line until you see your car on the right (unless you walked to the park, in which case you're on your own for getting back). This concludes our oh-so-brief exploration of the hiking trails that do not exist at Deerlick Creek Park, or at least the letterboxing portion of our journey. You can check out the Gobbler Ridge loop trail like we did, but you'll probably agree that the abundance of poison ivy there made it a rather inhospitable home for elephants and walruses. While on that trail we also passed what appeared to be a trailhead for the Beech Hollow trail but the area was so overgrown it was impossible to tell if a trail really existed there or not. Maybe that was the dangerous snake infested trail our friend at the gate was warning us about? I suppose we'll never know, having surrendered our temporary parking pass as we left. If you happen to find out, do fill us in...