The Walls of Jericho

Curbie and I left the house this morning at 3:30 am for the 2.5 hour trip to the Walls of Jericho. The area is just a few miles north of HiTop, Alabama which is just north of Skyline, Alabama on Alabama Highway 79. To put this in better context this area is about 25 miles north of Scottsboro and just a few miles south of the Tennessee border. In other words, it is in the middle of nowhere.
We hiked the 3 miles down to the Walls of Jericho in a couple of hours. The hike was all down hill and not that tough except for a few rocky places. Curbie decided to chase after a coyote but fortunately she came back to my whistle. If I lost Curbie on the trail I do not think Karen would let me back in the house.
There was not much water flowing at the falls but the scenery was exceptional. One deep pool below one of the falls was deep enough to swim in and the water was very cold. What was evident is that when the water is flowing in the creeks during the wet season this place will be spectacular. The Walls of Jericho is actually more of a box canyon with streams coming in from several directions. Rocks abound and look like the steps up to a monument.
It is becoming a very popular area as several groups arrived while I was there. Most of the people were coming down to swim in the swimming hole. One group was rappelling and climbing some of the rock outcroppings. Another group had their young sons on an overnight trip. As I was hiking out I passed 5 more groups coming in.
I photographed for about an hour until the light was used up. This is the first landscape photography I have done since Big Bend National Park and I found myself a little rusty. I have attached some photos to this page for your review.
I hiked out which was 3 miles of total uphill during the heat of the day. I was glad to see the truck at the parking lot and so was Curbie. We had a lot of fun, stayed healthy and took some decent photos.