Smith Mountain Fire Tower Trail
Ranking: Moderate
Are you afraid of heights? Are you ready to challenge yourself to see if you can face your fear?! Well this trail might be what you are looking for! All jokes aside though, this hiking trail is fun.
Located in Alabama, this trail is off the beaten path so don't worry if you start seeing less and less signs. Once you do find your way, you will discover that there isn't a visitor center (VC) or anything to that effect. What you will discover is a parking lot with an arch that indicates where the trail is. Now if you are new to hiking or you are the type that would like a little more information, don't worry! As soon as you start hiking there is an informational board with all trail whatnots. From the informational board you can decide from there where you would like to go.
When we visited, we opted for the "Smith Mountain Trail to Tower," trail. The trail itself isn't too difficult. It ascends the entire way to the tower and is the opposite leaving the tower. The only thing I will say is that I would wait and complete this hike in cooler months. We decided to hike in July- which we regretted later when we got lost for quite a while. So if you like hiking in the heat, by all means go for it! But if you would rather not, trust me don't do it.
Once you arrive at the tower there are informational boards that tell you about the area and so forth. I would recommend you take a break here to catch your breath if needed before hiking up the tower itself. Now this is where the fear of heights comes into play like I mentioned before. Be prepared that climbing up this tower is going to scare you. If you are like me and can handle roller coasters but can't handle ladders- you can do it- just don't look down! That's what I did. Yes I was shaking the whole time and talking to myself but hey whatever works to get you to the top. The tower itself is an easy climb, it's just the nerves hitting you that can make it challenging. If I'm being honest here, you should push through the fear. The views that you will see up there are amazing and so worth it. But hey if you cannot handle it or become too panicky- then seriously stop if you need to. It is not a race and no need to overdo it. That was just my experience from it.
Now after you finish that trail then you can decide if you want to do the other trails or turn around and be done for the day. That is up to you and your group. We decided to hike one more trail: Smith Mt Lake-shore Trail. This trail was less intense when compared to the Tower trail, so enjoy and take your time. It is for the most part all flat throughout the forest. There is a part of the trail that you literally have to cross water and I mean not shallow water either. You might even have to swim a little bit to get to the other side of the trail. Since we had our camera gear and didn't know about this water section of the trail we didn't finish. But it was a very nice spot to have a picnic so it all worked out. Oh! If you like to hammock I would recommend you bring yours on this trail, there are some perfect spots to hang out :)