THE SCENIC RIVER TRAIL OPENS

Friday was the day that the 631 mile Alabama Scenic River Trail opened. It is the longest River Trail in the United State of America. It runs the entire length of the State of Alabama. It starts at the Georgia line on the Coosa River in the northeast corner of the state and runs down the Alabama River into the mouth of Mobile Bay. This has been an 18 month project of a statewide committee.

This was the brainchild of Fred Couch, a jeweler in Anniston who has been an avid canoe enthusiast for 30 years. He thought “what if?” and made it happen. He coincidentally had this good friend named Bob Riley, who is in his second term as the governor of Alabama. He passed the project on to the Alabama Office of Tourism and Travel. They pulled together all the partners to work on the project. Everybody from corporate Alabama Power Company to local tourism programs and chambers of commerce to the Army Corp of Engineers got involved. The Alabama Councils of Resource Conservation and Development embraced the project and donated funds to make it happen. The project, on the day it opened, became a National Recreational Trail under the National Park Service.

The rivers are some of the assets we in rural Southwest Alabama that we have always had and just took for granted. We have both the Alabama and the Tombigbee Rivers flowing right by our doorsteps. We have always boated and fished in them, but never thought of inviting other people to come enjoy them. Now everybody knows. We put together brochures that catalogue all the things to see and do along the way. Nine of the attractions in the brochure are in rural Southwest Alabama. There is a website alabamascenicrivertrail.com where you can go and find out all about it. Both USA Today and the New York Times have done articles on it.

Wonder what else we have in rural Southwest Alabama that we take for granted that other folks might think is wonderful? I can’t wait to find out! Better still, why don’t you come to visit and tell us what you like. We take too much for granted about where we live. I bet you do, too. Bring your canoe and see the sights from the river. There are fossils in the banks, birds of all kinds singing overhead in the tree, and wildflowers growing along the way. There are historic sites all along the way. You can bring a powerboat, but the best way to beat the gas prices is in a can