This road ends at Camp Tranquility. After you complete the Wherigo, you could then drop down off the ridge and pick up the yellow trail to take back to your car if you parked at the yellow/white connector trailhead.
The Yellow Trail, known as the Foothills Trail, is approximately 8 miles long (one way). It begins at the North Trailhead and travels at a low elevation around Lake Tranquility to end at Peavine Road close to the South Trailhead area (off Terrace Drive).
This quick, three-stage Wherigo was designed by Caver but created by HotRod205 (big applause).
Download the Wherigo cartridge here: Camp Tranquility Cartridge
During the early part of the depression Congress passed the Emergency Conservation Work Act of 1933. In early 1934 the Forestry Commission reviewed several sites around the state of Alabama that would be acceptable for new state parks. One of these was an area of roughly 450 acres in Shelby County near the town of Pelham. It was located in the center of the state near Birmingham and was blessed in its beauty.
It contained waterfalls, beautiful vistas, rock ledges and many creeks and streams. On October 5, 1934 Civilian Conservation Corps Company 487 began work on Oak Mountain State Park. They built a road that left U.S. Highway 31 in Pelham and cut towards the foot of Oak Mountain.
By the middle of 1935 the acreage had increased to nearly 1000 acres for the park and the men of CCC Co. 487. In 1936 there was an effort to have the acreage of the park increased by nearly tenfold in order to make it a National Park. As this was happening the CCC continued to cut roads and fire breaks along with quarrying rock from the area to use in culverts, cabins and rock lodges. However in 1937 Company 487 was transferred to Yosemite to work on the National Park there.
Camp Tranquility represents a direct link between the past and present in Alabama. The Camp highlights the skill and ability of the men of Company 487 of Roosevelt’s “Tree Army”. They also represent the best our people had to give during a time of desperation and turmoil for the United States. These buildings stand as a testament to their work, craftsmanship and dedication to duty. Over the years many youth groups in the Birmingham and Central Alabama region used these facilities. The artisans who created these works should not have their labor simply evaporate with the passage of time. We do not want to look back at the ghostly chimneys of the site and ask what it might be like today if we had taken the time to save her.
Today the Camp Tranquility Preservation Association along with local Boy Scouts are spearheading a drive to bring Camp Tranquility back to its former glory as a monument to the men of the C.C.C. and W.P.A. who labored for so long to make this area a treasure for generations to come. It should be a memorial to the conditions of the time and the dedication of spirit over adversity. As it stands now, the area will be forgotten without the direct intervention of groups like the Boy Scouts, the Camp Tranquility reservation Association, Friends of Oak Mountain State Park and other Civic Partners.