• Type:
  • Loops/Out and Backs

  • Difficulty:
  • Easy to Hard

  • Scenery Ranking:
  • 5/5

  • Accessibility:
  • Easily Accessible

  • Trail Maintenance:
  • Well Maintained

  • Facilities:
  • Camping
  • Restrooms
  • Picnic Area
  • Cabins

Intro:

Monte Sano State Park is located in the beautiful Monte Sano Mountains in Huntsville, Alabama. There are over 20 miles of hiking trails located at Monte Sano. Some will take you high atop Monte Sano while others will take you into the hollows down below.

Trail Head:

The trail head is located on park property

To access the trail head: From the main entrance just drive down the road a short distance and you will see a sign directing you to the parking area.

Difficulty:

Some of the trails here are easy, while others appear to be quite difficult.

Hiking the Trail:

Since there are over 22 miles of trails here I will cover the most popular hike to do at Monte Sano, the South Plateau and North Plateau loops. The South Plateau takes you on a 3.5 mile scenic loop that goes along the southern end of Monte Sano. The trail basically just takes you on one side of the ridge and loops around to the other side, giving you great views along the way. The North Plateau loop is a 1.2 mile trail that loops around the north end of the mountain. The beginning of the trail will take you buy a scenic mountain stream (if there has been enough rain). It then loops just behind the lodge and picnic areas. Both areas have excellent scenic overlooks for you to view the southern end of the mountain. After you make your loop back around you will get great views facing the north. Just before you loop back to the parking lot you will come across another great overlook (also accessible by road) that overlooks the mountains to your east.

Now that I have covered the most popular (and easiest) trails, I will discuss some of the others. Due to lack of time I did not get a chance to hike these but I have hiked some very similar trails on the land trust trails located just outside the state park.
The Mackay Hollow and Mountain Mist trails would be two good trails to do in tandem with one another as well. These are considered more difficult. Both of these trails take you near the bottom of the mountains. Mackay Hollow will give you good views of streams and the Mountain Mist trail will give you a good view of the boulders above. There are several more smaller trails that connect to some of the trails I mentioned. Depending on what you want to see and do will determine which ones you will choose. If you are looking for great views from atop the mountain then the south and north plateau trails are best, but if you are looking for more of a challenge than you will want to look at some of the others.

Scenery:

Here you will get great views from atop Monte Sano, great views of mountain streams and small water falls.

Trail Maintenance:

Each trail is well maintained

Facilities:

The park has RV camping, cabins, a picnic area, playground, and even a disc golf course. There is also 14 miles of biking trails at the park. It is also located near the Land Trust trails in the Monte Sano Preserve. Note: There is an entry fee to enter the park. $5.00 for ages 12 and up. $2.00 for ages 4- 11,ages 62 and up, and active military. Kids under 3 get in free.