Hurricane Creek City Park

Last updated: October 30, 2023

As we’ve been settling into our forever home within the great state of Alabama, I’ve begun to explore all the designated parks, forests, and wildernesses within a 30 minute drive from my house. I am very excited to find out that there are a LOT of options… more than I’ve ever had, which is one of the many reasons I truly love where I live. I didn’t grow up with any hiking trails that were within a reasonable driving distance, so I consider have these options now a major perk!

One such park that landed within my 30 minute range was Hurricane Creek Park. It’s located at 22600 U.S. Hwy 31 North in Vinemont, Alabama 35179. What’s unique is that it’s nestled in a 500-foot-deep canyon in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains called Hurricane Creek Gorge. I can honestly say that I’ve never been to such a rugged park

I have never had the option to go hiking before work, but now since I have some trails that are close to me, I decided to hop in the car at 5:30am and make my way there on a Wednesday morning. This was an incredible way to start the day before going to work! If you have a chance to get some ecotherapy before your work day, I highly recommend. I’m honestly worried I’m going to get addicted to this.

I know hiking alone can be dangerous and since I really enjoy life and have thousands of more things I’d like to do before I die, I shamelessly reaching out to local Facebook hiking groups begging for someone to be my hiking partner. This has actually worked out better than I imagined and I was blessed to be joined by a fellow hiking gal who had been to the park before and was gracious enough to lead the way and introduce the park to me (thank you, Angela!). I have a few more hikes already scheduled with others and look forward to photographing these adventures and sharing them with you.

I’ve really been trying to learn more about my camera and how to take great photos. Since it was so early and there was no one else there, I decided to stay within that theme and kept the photos more on the dark side to convey the quietness and almost loneliness of the trails. Look at me… choosing a mood for my photos. Maybe I am turning into a photographer after all!

Finding the park was easy and there was only one parking lot, so entry was a piece of cake. There is no fee and it was easy to locate the trailhead.

I found this map which sadly does not give the distance for each trail. I was able to locate this site which claims that the total of all trails is 4 miles. I emailed the park to confirm how this was split between each trail but never heard back… seems to be a theme as no one ever responded when I emailed about Trinity City Park either… maybe it’s me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Because I’m relentless, I’ve now messaged their Facebook page to see if I can get an answer and will update this post if they respond.

In the meantime, I found this fantastic blog by Woodlands and Waters that gives amazing history about the park. Apparently, Buddy Rogers fell in love with the area because it reminded him of his visit to a beautiful place near Denver called Seven Falls. He loved the 120 acres so much, that in 1961, he convinced the farmers who owned it to sell it to him! He then single-handedly built the park and offered it to the public for a 25 cent admission fee. He ran it on his own for a little over 40 years. He turned 81 in 2003 and that point, he decided it was too much for him to maintain by himself so he donated it to the State of Alabama. The city of Cullman Parks and Recreation now manage it.

I reached out to the owner of Woodlands and Waters to get some more info as they visited in 2016 before the current map was created. They used this hand drawn map:

Woodlands and Waters graciously responded to me the same day and gave some helpful information regarding the distance of the trails by comparing the two maps. Here’s the best guess for the trail distances:

• North Highland Trail / Hurricane Trail (previously these were combined into just one trail called North Ridge Trail) – 1.5 miles
• Ridge Trail (previously South Ridge Trail) – 1.5 miles
• Creek Trail (previously did not exist as a trail) – 0.75 miles
• Heavens Staircase Trail (previously Low Trail) – 0.4 miles

I had plans to record the distance for each trail, but to my dismay, the trails were not marked. This was disappointing and is really the number one thing missing at this park. It is clear that the city does not love the park like. Buddy Rogers did! City of Cullman, if you’re reading this, please clearly mark each trail! Even if you just use a color system, it would be appreciated by the many folks who love visiting the park!

All that said, enjoy this virtual hike with me. Would love to know your thoughts on my choice of mood for these photos.

The parks three main features are Twilight Tunnel, the Stairway to Heaven, and Dead Man’s Squeeze.

Twilight Tunnel was pretty cool as it was enclosed on all sides and gets pitch dark about midway through. It’s short and you’ll come out on the other side. This is literally a walking tunnel through a huge rock.

I unfortunately missed snapping a photo of Stairway to Heaven. Sometimes you just get distracted by the adventure to take a photo, which isn’t a bad thing!

I don’t recall that I saw Deadman’s squeeze… I think this is because the trials weren’t marked and I failed to use the map. This was more of an exploratory adventure, and given the waterfall was dry, I 100% plan to go back to get a photo of the falls. This will give me an opportunity to snap some of the Stairway to Heaven and find Deadman’s Squeeze. I’ll probably take my pups with me as well as they would love this…

Once we have some rain, this will be a beautiful waterfall!

Thanks for taking a virtual hike with me today! I’d love to know your favorite photo and what you think about my choice of moody photography style. I’ll be back soon with another adventure to share with you!