Trails Build Generational Memories

The Year of Alabama Trails is about more than just being outside and enjoying nature. It’s also a celebration of family that can stretch across several generations.

Early last month, on a day of sunny skies and pleasant temperatures, Michele and I buckled our grandson into his car seat and headed to DeSoto State Park. It was lunchtime, so a picnic was in order. As we fought the occasional breeze that tried to blow away the napkins, food wrappers, and even the blue-and-white-checked tablecloth Michele draped across the concrete picnic table, my mind was carried back some 30 years to similar scenes.

Some of our kids’ earliest memories of outdoor adventures were forged at DeSoto. We spent time there as a young family because DeSoto was part of my upbringing as well.

Now here we were, enjoying a picnic with the next generation, passing along a love for nature and for these lands that have been an Alabama treasure since its dedication as DeSoto State Park in 1939.

Our grandson has been to DeSoto many times, enjoying the playground in particular. One of his favorite outings is the Butler Boardwalk Trail and the adjacent Blue Trail. But on this day, I wanted to introduce him to the big rock formation behind the pavilion in the playground area. I climbed on it as a kid. Our daughter and son climbed on it as kids. And now our grandson — who, at three-and-a-half years of age, has agility, long legs, and an eagerness to tackle any challenge — was ready to scamper across the boulder.

Admittedly, that rock didn’t seem as big as it appeared years ago. And that’s a good thing, considering Pawpaw and Mawmaw had to crawl around on it with him.

After a bit more scampering, finding acorns, and playing in the leaves, we were ready for the next leg of our adventure. We took the Indian Falls Trail to the footbridge that spans the top of the falls. He’s a bit young yet to take the trail down to the river, so we spent a while throwing sticks into the water and watching them float over the waterfall’s edge.

Back to the car, we drove to the Country Store for a bathroom break and to load up on snacks. We spent a few minutes in the Benefield Interpretive Center, where he looked at the mounted animals and asked questions. A mosaic class was underway in the big room, but we did take a peek at the live corn snake.

As our day at DeSoto came to an end, I thought about the years ahead. When he’s older and can appreciate the living history lesson, I’ll tell our grandson how DeSoto was built 90 years ago as “State Park No. 5” — Alabama’s largest park at the time — by the Civilian Conservation Corps. I’ll show him the quarry, the unfinished bridge, the lodge, and other stone structures. I’ll explain how one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most enduring New Deal programs created jobs and trained young men in the trades while having a tremendous impact on access to public lands and the tourism industry, whose legacy endures.

But mostly, I’ll keep bringing him back to enjoy the park that introduced me to a love of trails. When the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced the 2025 “year of” theme, it said the designation would “require two years to complete because of the enormous outdoors opportunities in one of the most geographically and biologically diverse states in the nation.”

For us, the Year of Alabama Trails is an ongoing focus that will continue to bless our family for generations to come.