Mid-November 25-Year Return to Alabama’s Chewacla State Park

Having arrived in Auburn, Alabama on Thursday evening November 13, 2026, fellow retired forester (and Auburn University forestry graduate) Chris Stuhlinger, my grandson Jack (18), and I visited the College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Environment’s (CFWE) Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve and Nature Center, spent all day Friday at sundry engagements on AU’s campus, and hiked several trails Saturday morning at AL’s nearby Chewacla State Park. I invite you to join us as we hike the Upper Chewacla Trail System.

I had last visited the park 25 years ago, before I left my Auburn position as Director, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, heading to NC State University. I was pleased to revisit Chewacla in good company.

I welcome these autumn days of comfortable temperatures. I contend that our southern winter is a gradual transition from fall to spring, with an occasional cold spell thrown in for good measure.

Sauntering along the Mountain Laurel Trail and Return on a Ridgetop Trail

We parked at the Mountain Laurel Trailhead and worked downstream to the falls. We enjoyed pleasant temperature and morning sun as we strolled through the mixed hardwood forest along the toe slope.

The open understory presented a parklike scenario, and evidenced a high deer population effectively browsing the understory.

The stream flow corroborated the persistent autumn dry period that preceded our trek. A great morning for reflecting and reflection!

No heat, excess humidity, biting, sucking, or irritating insects — only the welcome crunch of early leaf-fall, a few bird calls, a scampering squirrel, and an occasional acorn dropping. Peace, serenity, and tranquility suggesting that all is good! Sauntering the gentle trail and soft fall woods with friend and family, I think of John Muir’s classic quote:

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.

Here’s my 60-second video from the Chewacla Creek channel.

Above the dam, the channel expands to a calm lake. A persimmon loaded with fruit leans over the water. I believe the mood and word of the morning is tranquil.

I recorded this 56-second video where the stream flattened to the lake.

Saw palmetto is common from central Alabama south to the coast. From 1981-85, I served as Union Camp Corporation’s Land Manager, responsible for the company’s 325,000 forestland acres (500 square miles) in Alabama, 100K north of the black belt (prairie soil divide just south of Auburn and Montgomery) and the remainder to the south. Seeing saw palmetto sparked deep memories of those years of action-packed industrial forestry!

I suppose I could elucidate what ecosystem factors at Chewacla signal deep within me the feeling that I am in the deep south, starting with the saw palmetto! North Alabama, although still in the South, has a more northern feel.

Curiosities and Oddities along the Way

I discover and appreciate tree form oddities, curiosities, and mysteries wherever I roam. This sweetgum sports an agrobacterial burl three feet above the ground.

A red maple streamside bears burls from its base to the live crown. When I took forest pathology in 1971-72, I would have termed the tree’s condition as diseased, attributing its abnormal growth to an infectious organism (fungal, bacterial, viral).

A Google AI Overview offered:

A tree disease is a harmful deviation from a tree’s normal function, typically caused by pathogens like fungi, bacteria, or viruses, or by environmental stress, leading to symptoms like discolored leaves, cankers, wilting, or stunted growth, and can ultimately weaken or kill the tree. These issues disrupt water, nutrient, and energy flow, often targeting roots, stems, or foliage, with factors like drought, soil issues, or physical damage increasing susceptibility.  

One-half century ago, my forest pathology focused on tree health relative to timber products, i.e. commercial value. This maple has no value for lumber production, yet it may have novelty commercial value. My point is that diseased in this case, may not be a cause for alarm.

Like so many tree form anomalies, this sycamore suffered a crushing blow from above years ago, bending the tree to 30 degrees from horizontal, then sending a new short vertical. The form is distorted; the cause is clear; the future is affected; a disease organism is not involved,

Make what you will of this dragon-headed Ostrya virginiana (ironwood), its mouth agape in grin (left) and its eye piercing and nostril flared (right). Once again, injury from above explains the origin of disfigurement.

The same cause and effect explain this hickory abnormality, not a face but a large caliber muzzle.

I wanted to make a head/snout/face out of this Ostrya burl, but nothing comes to me. Do with it what you will.

Simon and Garfunkel’s America (1968) came to mind as I struggled for a descriptive totem for this particular burl.

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said “Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera

I suppose it’s okay to be just a burl!

Other Notable Feature

Vaccinium arboreum (aka sparkleberry or farkleberry) is the only tree form of the native blueberry genus. I appreciate its mirthful common names, showy bark, interesting shape and texture, and its evergreen foliage.

How could I trek the Mountain Laurel Trail without posting mountain laurel photographs?!

We spent little more than 90-minutes at Chewacla. I wanted to showcase with this photo essay what a short morning saunter can reveal about the magic of everyday Nature.

Chewacla Falls

Without further elaboration, I give you the falls.

I recorded this 58-second video at Chewacla Falls.

I remind you of my third book, co-authored with Dr. Jennifer J. Wilhoit, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature. Without deep thought or deliberate intention, my series of ~500 Great Blue Heron weekly Posts has trended to six consistent theme elements:

• Stories of passion for place and everyday Nature emerge wherever and whenever I wander (and wonder).
• Nature-inspired life and living color and direct my living, learning, serving, leading, and praying.
• Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, and awe lie mostly hidden in plain sight.
• Look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
• And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. (John Muir)
• In every walk in Nature, one finds far more than he seeks. (Muir)

Certainly, there is more, yet these six simple themes cover most of my Nature musings.

Alabama State Parks Foundation

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
• And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. (John Muir)
• A short autumn morning saunter can reveal volumes on the magic of everyday Nature. (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Steve’s Four Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future