Library Homewood / Ruffner Mountain
It was still overcast and slightly raining. The weather forecast was calling for clearer skies after lunch. I wanted to hike Ruffner Mountain in the afternoon. I decided to sit out the rain in the Homewood library.
The network bandwidth was really good at the library. I had an upgrade waiting for the MacBook and Adobe Lightroom got updated at the same time. During the upgrade of Lightroom, It had to upgrade my photography catalog. During these two upgrades, I accidentally unplugged the external storage device and it seems I corrupted the Lightroom database. For the next three hours I worked on getting everything back.
While I was sitting in the library, a photographer came in and started setting up beside me. I asker if she needed me to move and she said, “No your fine.” Erin was her name and she was there to photograph three staff members that had recently won service awards. We chatted about photography and what cameras she was shooting with. I could see why the staff members had won service awards. There was something special about the way they interacted.
Erin with flash in hand
Ruffner Mountain
Ruffner Mountain was on my places to hike because of the views of Birmingham from the overlook. I chose the Quarry, Possum, Overlook and Ridge & Valley Trails in AllTrails.
Blackgum Tree
The trail starts off with a short climb to the first ridge. As I was hiking I stopped to take a photo of a label of a Black gum tree. About 100 yards up the trail there were two guys. I could see them looking at some leaves and it looked like one of them was eating a leaf from the tree. As I got closer, one of them said, “Hello how are you.” I told them I was doing fine and was happy to be on the trail. I asked them about the leaves and they told me an interesting story.
Jaylin and his friend had been here a year ago and they had both been very sick. For some reason, after reading the label of the Blackgum tree that I had taken a photo of, they decided to eat a bunch of the leaves. They told me that whatever was making them sick was soon gone. I told them that it isn’t always prudent to eat wild plants that you don’t know. We all kind of laughed at that. I later looked up the medicinal qualities of Blackgum leaves. Another name for the tree is Black Tupelo and the fruit can be eaten but just barely because it is extremely sour. After looking at a lot of sites it seems the leaves of the Blackgum tree (Nyssa sylvatica) were used by some Native American tribes as a remedy for digestive problems and to promote sweating and as a mild laxative.
Jaylin told me he makes music for the ladies and his friend (lost his name) said he makes music for guys. Jaylin’s music is jazz oriented with a Caribbean / latin feel and I checked it out on Youtube. I liked the vibe. They were fun to chat with.
Jaylin (r) with Black Gum Tree Leaves
I continued my hike. It was fairly flat and I kept taking side routes to checkout the views. There were paths crisscrossing all over and for some reason I took photos of some of the signs.
Along the trail there’s an old stone quarry. The limestone quarry was operated by the Ruffner Mountain Company. The company mined a variety of limestone-based products, including building materials such as concrete, crushed stone, and filler materials, as well as lime for use in the iron and steel industry. The quarry was active for several decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and played an important role in the growth and development of Birmingham's economy. Today, it is part of the nature preserve and popular hiking destination, offering visitors a chance to explore the site of the former quarry and learn about its history and significance. I hiked around the rim as well as around the base of the quarry. I was surprised that there was no water inside.
The colors were at times vibrant at certain points along the trail. Someone had collected some pods together on the ground. At another point, the water was running over exposed rock that had a rusty brown color. There was a moment when the sun came out and struck some moss along the trail.
Finally, I got to the overlook with Birmingham in the distance. I had debated about bringing the 200mm lens. As I hiked, I was glad I didn’t bring the extra weight, but at this moment I wished I had the extra focal length.
The trail had been fairly flat most of the way back. The last half was more hilly and as I was walking down one section, I saw a young guy with a Penn State Nittany Lions sweatshirt on. I said, you don’t see that very often. I knew that Penn State had beaten Auburn pretty badly in the fall. He said, yeah, my mom went to Penn State and she buys me sweatshirts. He wished me a good hike and continued on.
I hiked two more hills and met up with two guys about to go up the steepest part of the trail. Nick and Johnathan were friends and Johnathan said, “I like your camera”. I stopped and we chatted a while about travel and things we have seen. They gave me some suggestions for places to visit and hike. I asked them for a photo and they agreed. They both had these big smiles, but when I went to take their photo, Nick’s smile disappeared. I tried a few times but never captured the great smile. They wished me safe travels and told me the next couple of hills were pretty steep.
Nick (l) and Johnathan (r)
I made it back to the car, a little worn out and made a sandwich and grabbed a drink. The park sold merch in a unique way via a vending machine. They also displayed the gear and it seemed it was never stollen.
I was eating my sandwich and a woman approached. She was parked beside me. She noticed the cooler and other things I had unloaded to make my sandwich. We got to talking and it turns out she worked for the park. She was an avid hiker and I explained my adventure. She had so much feedback on my upcoming hikes in Alabama. She was a wildness camper and hiker. I’m sure she would do well on Survivor. She pulled out maps and told me which trails to hike in Sipsey Wilderness National Preserve. She was a bartender and an avid live music fan.
It was getting dark as I repacked the car and drove north to Fort Payne. I wasn’t real hungry, but I thought I’d have a light Mexican meal. There is no such thing. I stopped at Los Arcos and ordered the chile relleno platter. It came with a huge portion of rice, beans and a separate salad dish that was even bigger than the main chile platter.
There was a Walmart parking lot nearby and I parked there overnight.