• Type:
  • Loop

  • Difficulty:
  • Medium

  • Scenery Ranking:
  • 4/5

  • Accessibility:
  • Easily Accessible

  • Trail Maintenance:
  • Well Maintained

  • Facilities:
  • Restrooms
  • Picnic Area

Turkey Creek Nature Preserve

Intro:

Turkey Creek Nature Preserve is on a 466 acre tract of Forever Wild property located in Pinson, Alabama. TCNP is less than 20 miles north of Birmingham and it's 6.2 miles of hiking trails makes for a scenic and quick getaway from the big city without the long drive.

Note - hours of operation: TCNP is open 8:00 am - 4:00 pm November through March, and 8:00 am - 5:30 pm March-November Wednesday-Sunday. TCNP is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and on major holidays. You can visit their website for more information, including schedule changes, by clicking here: Birmingham Southern College - Turkey Creek Page or the Alabama Forever Wild- Turkey Creek Page.

Trail Head:

There are a few places to access trail heads.The highland recreation area, turkey creek falls recreation area, and the main gate.

To access the trail head: Each trail can be easily accessed from the parking areas.

Difficulty:

I rated the trails a medium only because there are a few hills on this one.

Hiking the Trail:

For my hike I started at the highland recreation area and accessed the Hanby Hollow trail. This trail is about 1 mile one way and leads you up and down the hills of a scenic hollow. The trail will end at the turkey creek falls recreation area where you can catch a scenic view of Turkey Creek. If you are not able to hike very far you can also drive up to this area. After enjoying the view here for a few minutes I started on the Thomas Trace trail. This trail will take you back to the Highland Recreation Area. This trail takes you up on a ridge, giving you some scenic views. This trail winds around a little more than the Hanby Hollow trail so it's a little longer at about 1.4 miles. This is a great loop for about a 2.5 mile hike. You can also hike the Narrows Ridge trail. This is a mountain bike trail so be careful and be on the lookout for mountain bikes. This area is very scenic and worth the trip.

Scenery:

Here you will get great views of small cascading waterfall at Turkey Creek and scenic woodlands.

Trail Maintenance:

The trails are well maintained.

Facilities:

There are porta potty's at the Turkey Creek Falls Recreation area, and picnic areas at each trail head.