This hiking trail traverses the 65-acre Homewood Forest Preserve, owned by the City of Homewood and stewarded by the Freshwater Land Trust. The trail itself winds from the bottomlands of Shades Creek’s floodplain, up the north face of Shades Mountain, with spectacular views of Shades Valley and Samford University from the crest of the ridge. The preserve is also home to Shades Creek’s most famous amphibious inhabitant, the black and yellow Spotted Salamander.
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 Trail System. This system idea was developed by the Freshwater Land Trust with a master plan of 750 miles of interconnected trails within Jefferson County. Right now, the RRT System has a little over 100 miles and is growing each year.
Permission to place this cache on the Homewood Forest Preserve Trail was granted by the Freshwater Land Trust ( http://freshwaterlandtrust.org). For a comprehensive map of the Red Rock Trail System consult: http://freshwaterlandtrust.org/find-a-trail