Guntersville Walking Trail

This is the longest post yet, and more photos.  Please let me know if you have any problems viewing.

I'm not a great photographer, but this post is mostly for me, to remember this beautiful walk.

We stopped at the Guntersville Visitor Center a few days ago and Tim spotted this hiking trail that goes right beside the lake.  He finally talked me into to trying it yesterday, and I'm so glad he did.

Guntersville is proud of their history, and they should be.  This sign is in front of the Visitor Center.

It tells about the area being a crossroads for early settlers, tradesmen and explorers due to its proximity to the Tennessee River and established Indian trails. In 1785 John Gunter became the first white man to settle here.  He married the daughter of the local Cherokee chief.  He was given land here and raised a large family. (Will Rogers was his great-grandson). Gunter and his wife died in 1835.  General Andrew Jackson came through in 1813 and recruited several Cherokees to help him fight the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend...

(other side)...More than 1000 Native Americans crossed the river here in 1838 in what has become known as "The Trail of Tears."  ...Guntersville was practically destroyed during the Civil War by Union raids and bombardments...The area was forever changed in 1939 when the Tennessee Valley Authority constructed Lake Guntersville.

Buried near here in 1835

John Gunter

Founder of Guntersville.

He and his wife Catherine

daughter of

a Cherokee Indian Chief

were the

great-grandparents of

Will Rogers

Beloved American Humorist.

The walking trail is right across the street from the Visitor Center.  

Blue Heron, maybe?  I've got to learn about birds.

We walked a little over a mile down the trail.  This is how it went...water, flowers and foliage, water, flowers and foliage, and on and on, with birds, bees and insects dotted along the way.

Big fishing pier at about the one mile mark.  We turned around here.  It was a wonderful day for walking, about 78 degrees, cloudy, with slight breeze.  But, as usual, that 2nd mile was not quite as much fun (for me, anyway) as the first.

The Cowboy, off looking for another geocache.  He found several on this trail.

After the trail, we had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant.  I've found it's almost always a bad idea for Texans to eat Mexican food outside of Texas.  This place used processed American cheese and mild red sauce, no chile in sight.  And when they say mild, they mean mild.  Very little spice.  Not bad, just very, very bland.

Then it was off to Wal-Mart to load up for another week.  So there you have our exciting day.  Oh, except I did laundry when we got back to the RV Park.  So we get to eat and wear clean clothes for another week.  Yay.  You may not think that's very exciting, but it's all just part of life on the road.