Old Railroad Bed Trail

This is the story of a railway line, the Monte Sano Railway, long since vanished, dismantled by the early 1900s after the last passenger had disembarked. It was a line established in 1888 to help shuttle yellow fever, cholera and diphtheria patients from the Huntsville Depot to the "Mountain of Health," Monte Sano. The clean air and clear waters of the mountain brought relief to the suffering patients. Transportation to the mountain was frontier-like at best and grueling for the afflicted, that is, until the advent of this line.

Once again, the volunteers of the Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama have provided us with a wonderful trail that takes us back to that time. This trail was one of the Nature Conservancy's first 500 Rails-to-Trails projects. Yes, the railroad is long gone, but the trail conjures up stories of what it must have been like in the 1800s.

The Old Railroad Bed Trail is almost a subset of the Land Trust Loop described earlier in this guide. It starts out for a very short time on the Bluff Line Trail where it forks to the right and becomes its own path meandering just below the Bluff Line Trail, passing a seasonal waterfall on the way. It then heads south after looping around what is called "Button Hole Loop," passing another seasonal falls as it crosses Fagen Springs, before it comes to an end at the Tollgate Trail, a formidable little climb that will take you back to the entrance of the preserve and the trailhead.

Along the route you will see some vestiges of the old trestles that were once used by the heavy engines to climb the mountain, their stone foundations still quite evident. One was a whopping 175 feet in length. You will also pass through "mini-canyons," areas that were dug into the mountain by workers to lay track. While the "canyon" has filled in considerably over the years, you will still get the feel for the route of the line and the work that went into it.

The preserve is a wonderful location if you like to take in wildflowers and, as mentioned, a few seasonal waterfalls. The Monte Sano Preserve in which the Old Railroad Bed Trail is located, is but one of several areas preserved and maintained by the Land Trust of Huntsville & North Alabama, all beautiful oases amidst the sprawl of Huntsville and testaments to the dedication of the volunteers and the generous donations of contributors to save these lands and this history for us all. Please visit the Land Trust Web site to learn more about their other trails and properties, and how you can contribute to help continue their mission.

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Trail Type:: 2-mile loop
Difficulty:: Easy to Moderate
Hours:: Open year-round, sunrise to sunset.
Maps:: Brochures with maps available through the Land Trust office.
Fees:: No fee to hike.
Events:: The Land Trust sponsors many events on its properties throughout the year ranging from Kids Days in the summer to ghost stories at Three Caves Quarry in the fall. Visit their Web site for a complete, updated listing with dates and times.