This cache is part of the Red Rock Trail (RRT) Series, a series of caches in Jefferson County highlighting the lesser known greenways and trails that help make up the Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail System. This system idea was developed by the Freshwater Land Trust with a masterplan of 750 miles of interconnected trails within Jefferson County. Right now, the RRT System has a little over 120 miles and is growing each year.
This cache is located on the Enon Ridge Trail also known as the Dorothy Spears Greenway. The Enon Ridge Trail opened in 2015 and is a rail trail/greenway that extends for just over 1 mile between 3rd St W and Parker High School. Parking for this trail is located at a number of spots, but the best place for this cache is St. Peter’s Missionary Baptist Church located on Bankhead Hwy N. From the lot the trail can be accessed by a short flight of stairs. The trail is paved and, aside from those steps wheelchair accessible.
Prior to being a trail, the Enon Ridge Trail was an abandoned rail corridor that made up part of the mineral railroad which looped through Jones Valley connecting the mines, city, and ironworks furnaces during Birmingham’s rapid boom period in the late 19th century. Later the hill that the Enon Ridge Trail wraps around became known as dynamite hill because of the number of terrorist bomb attacks that the KKK inflicted upon the surrounding black community. Today the greenway is one of a number of rail trails that were established in 2015 as a direct result of collaboration between the City of Birmingham, the Jefferson County Health Department, and the Freshwater Land Trust utilizing T.I.G.E.R. grant funding to bring great greenways to a number of less affluent communities in Birmingham.
Permission to place this cache on the Enon Ridge right of way granted by the Freshwater Land Trust. For a comprehensive map of the Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail System consult: http://freshwaterlandtrust.org/find-a-trail/