Full Description
Make family time unforgettable with 75 outdoor adventures across Alabama—designed to spark curiosity and inspire wonder.
Getting kids outdoors and active in nature provides a wealth of benefits. It boosts creativity, improves physical health, builds confidence, and fosters a lifelong love of nature—not to mention strengthening family bonds! From waterfalls and wildflowers to caves, canyons, and coastal trails, Fresh Air Family: Alabama is your guide to the state's most rewarding nature experiences for families. Whether you're hiking to Alabama's highest point atop Mount Cheaha or descending into the depths of Cathedral Caverns, every destination has been carefully chosen and personally explored by author Verna Gates—founder of the Fresh Air Family nonprofit in Birmingham.
This parent-friendly travel guide is packed with honest advice, fun facts, and thoughtful tips to help you make the most of every outing. Each listing includes age recommendations, accessibility info, local history, and STEAM-inspired ideas to help kids of all ages connect with the natural world in meaningful ways.
Inside you'll find:
75 outdoor destinations, organized by region
Helpful tips to make each trip a bonding experience
Age-specific activity ideas and STEAM opportunities
Nature facts, regional history, and stories that bring each place to life
Created in collaboration with Birmingham's Fresh Air Family—an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to outdoor education and family adventure—this inspiring travel guide invites you to slow down, look closer, and experience Alabama's wild beauty together.
Contents
Northeast Alabama
Russell Cave
Walls of Jericho
Huntsville Botanical Gardens
Keel Mountain
Monte Sano Mountain Preserve
Burritt on the Mountain
Rainbow Mountain
Green Mountain
Blevins Gap
Three Caves
Sauta Cave
Pisgah Gorge
Buck's Pocket State Park
Lake Guntersville State Park
Cathedral Caverns
Sequoyah Caverns
Desoto State Park
Little River Canyon National Preserve
Northwest Alabama
High Falls County Park
Wheeler Wildlife Refuge
TVA trails
Cane Creek Canyon
Freedom Hills
Tom's Wall
Bankhead
Sipsey Wilderness
Flint Creek Botanical Area
Hurricane Creek Park
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
Joe Wheeler State Park
Natchez Trace Rock Spring Trail
Bear Creek Canoes
Dismals Canyon
Buck's Pocket State Park
Shoal Creek Preserve
Natural Bridge Park
East Central Alabama
Cherokee Rock Village
Noccalula Falls
Horse Pens 40
Anniston Museum of Natural History
Choccolocco Park
Cheaha State Park
Talladega National Forest
Chinnabee Silent Trail
North Central Alabama
Rickwood Caverns
Horse Pens 40
Red Mountain Park
Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
Turkey Creek Nature Preserve
Tannehill Historical Park
Moss Rock Preserve
Cahaba Wildlife Refuge
Cahaba River Park
Ebenezer Swamp and Shoal Creek
Orr Park
Oak Mountain State Park
Flagg Mountain
Lake Howard
Lake Lurleen State Park
University of Alabama Arboretum
Moundville Archeological Park
Shark's Tooth Creek
Locust Fork
Blackbelt/Montgomery
Confederate Memorial Park
Alabama Nature Center
Wetumpka's Meteor
Fort Toulouse-Jackson Park
Jackson Island
Perry Lakes and Barton Beach Preserve
Old Cahawba
Chalk Cliffs
Robert Wehle Nature Center
Red Hills Complex
Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve and Nature Center
Tuskegee National Forest
Donald E. Davis Arboretum
Chattahoochee River
South Alabama
Bon Secour National Wildlife Sanctuary
Lakepoint Resort State Park
Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge
Yoholo Micco, The Creek Indian Trail
Landmark Park
Forever Wild Trails Beaver Creek
Conecuh National Forest
Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Preserve
Gulf State Park
Bellingrath Gardens
Burnt Corn Creek
Dauphin Island Audubon Sanctuary
Fort Morgan State Historic Site
