HUNTSVILLE — Land Trust of North Alabama has expanded recreational access on Green Mountain in South Huntsville with the creation of a 3.2-mile trail. The official opening of Green Mountain Trail makes a new area of the mountain available for public use.
Referred to as Green Mountain North, the area features rocky, beautiful terrain in a forest setting with primary access from Riverview Drive at the top of the mountain. This addition to Green Mountain Nature Preserve is nearby but not connected to the existing and overwhelmingly popular 5.4-mile trail system at Alum Hollow Trailhead on South Shawdee Road (now Green Mountain South).
Land Trust of North Alabama acquired the initial piece of this property in 1997 and pieced together 14 more parcels over the next 27 years to preserve 187 acres of the mountainside. Land Trust staff began planning of the trail layout at the beginning of 2022. Once the proposed path was finalized, the trail building project kicked off on National Trails Day in June 2022.
Throughout the two-year project, the Land Trust hosted 134 work days with 194 volunteers contributing their time, totaling 2,608 volunteer hours. The result of all that effort is a natural surface trail that was built to withstand weathering and heavy foot traffic while also delivering an enjoyable user experience.
“The Green Mountain Trail was built through an existing hillside forest tract which allowed us to make use of the beautiful landscape to create an exciting, purpose-built path,” said volunteer Kevin Pelin, who worked on the project. “The trail has many interesting features for everyone to enjoy both visually and from an exercise perspective. Working on and completing this project has been both a challenging and a very rewarding experience.”
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