Entries by Steve Jones

MD’s Rocky Gap State Park: Habeeb Lake and the Canyon

On the morning of August 2, 2025, my son Matt, Alabama grandson Jack (17), and I hiked to the Canyon Overlook at Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park. We then visited the Habeeb Lake spillway and returned to the parking lot along the Lakeshore Trail. We enjoyed Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, and awe hidden in plain […]

Nature Attractions within Reach of Leighton, a Stop on Alabama’s Singing River Trail!

Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that introduces North Alabama’s emerging Singing River Trail: A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama.   As a designated Ambassador to […]

Hiking the Homesite Trail at Rocky Gap State Park

  On July 29, 2025, my older Alabama grandson, Jack (17), and I hiked the Evitts Homestead Trail on Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park. We ascended 1,100 feet from Lake Habeeb to Evitts’ 2,200-foot summit. I wanted to share the magic of the place with Jack and rekindle my aging memories. Still in high school, […]

Huge White Oak Blowdown and Cleanup at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge!

Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that introduces the emerging Singing River Trail (SRT): A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama.   Nature’s Twin Blades: Fury and […]

Native American Influence on Today’s North Alabama Forests

Preparing for my July 15, 2025, presentation to the Madison Historical Association on the pre-European settlement forests of our Huntsville, Alabama region, I visited two regional Native American historical sites on June 10, 2025: Florence Indian Mound and Museum; Oakville Indian Mounds and Education Center. My working title for July 15 — Thirteen Millennia of […]