Here we are again for another Travel Tuesday post! We’re continuing to explore a little bit of North Alabama with some time in Huntsville and Cullman. For this post we ventured out to Natural Bridge Park which is about an hour drive from Cullman.
County Rd 314
Natural Bridge, AL
The Natural Bridge formation, which dates back about 200 million years, is 60 ft (18.3 m) high and 148 feet (45 m) long. It’s composed of sandstone and iron ore, which are both sedimentary rock. This bridge is the longest natural bridge east of the Rocky Mountains in North America. This natural bridge was formed by water erosion of the weaker sandstone away from the stronger stone bridge spans creating an erosion feature: natural-bridge.
The park itself opened in 1954 to the public. It has long been known that the Creek Indians lived in this area, and they probably used the bridge-cave enclosure for shelter. Downhill from the bridge is the image of an Indian stone head; the origin of this formation is unknown. We didn’t locate that on our little hike.
It’s an easy quarter of a mile hike to the the bridge. The trail makes a loop which I always enjoy so you don’t have to retrace your steps.
You can walk up under the bridge which actually kind of cave like.
On a hike, don’t forget to look down and find the little things. Here’s some little things we noticed on the loop back to the car.
This tree coming out of the rock was fascinating to see.
I got some quick footage of it here:
So there you have it! Just a quick little post with way too many pictures of another beautiful spot in Alabama!
If you didn’t get enough pics>>>Natural Bridge Pics on my flickr
That looks like a fabulous place to hike. I much prefer loop trails when we hike too.
It is really fun to explore your own state. I’m amazed at the little wonders we have here.
Wow! That structure is so beautiful and interesting! What a fun place to visit!
It was quite fascinating.
Pingback: Weekend in North Alabama - A Camera and A Cookbook