Woe is me! I have not had a single opportunity this autumn for any road trips in search of autumn color. It is getting pretty everywhere, even in our own communities. In my tiny corner of the world, the trees are always pretty at the west end of Deerfoot Parkway where it intersects with Old Springville Road. Also, as you drive into the edge of Trussville from the SW on US-11, there is a large maple tree (near Captain D’s) that is just as pretty as one in New Hampshire or Vermont.
Come Saturday morning, I will hit the road for a drive through the beautiful Washington Valley in Wesetern St. Clair County. It is a remote drive along farmlands, small streams with a beautiful ridge off to the west.
I have a hunch that again this year I will not be able to see one of my very favorite sections of Alabama. It is a drive up the Paint Rock River valley in extreme North Alabama. The road parallels the Paint Rock River. You can go to the community of Paint Rock on US-72 east of Huntsville and turn north up the valley. You will see such quaint little communities as Garth, Trenton, Holly Tree and Princeton. The small town of Princeton is like going back to the last century and I love that. Leaving Princeton, continue NE and the valley becomes more narrow. You will reach the tiny community of Swaim at the foot of Maxwell Mountain. There is an intersection there, but continue NE along the Paint Rock River around the base of 1,720-foot Brewer Mountain.
You will next come to Estill Fork, which is a community in a deep cove surrounded on all sides by mountains. It is then that you will have to make a decision. The Paint Rock River divides here. You can go north on the Estill Fork of the river, or angle toward the NE along the Hurricane Creek Fork. Little Cumberland Mountain separates the two streams. Nearby Dr. Knob has an elevation of 1,760 feet.
But there is still another choice.
Downstream when you reached Swaim, you could turn left and go north along the Larkin Fork of the Paint Rock River. That drive stays close to the stream and the mountains. It is a very narrow valley. It will go through the small community of Larkin. Eventually you will reach the small town of Frisco in extreme NW Jackson County adjacent to the Tennessee border. Nearby Husky Top Mountain reaches an elevation of 1,820 feet.
In my opinion, this is some of the most beautiful part of Alabama and certainly some of the more remote. The more remote it is, the better I like it. I have always loved a back road off a back road off still another back road.
I know there are many other beautiful places in this great state, including Mt. Cheaha, DeSoto State Park, Guntersville State Park and many others. The Bankhead National Forest in Winston County in NW Alabama is not to be overlooked.
I do not see how anyone cannot appreciate autumn in Alabama.
