Target: Odum Point
Type: Highpoint
State: Alabama

View on Map

The highpoint for Talladega was tough to track down. Do a search and it seems pretty straighforward: Cheaha Mountain is the highest point of both the Forest and the state of Alabama. Great, all done. But when you pull it up on the map you quickly realize that Cheaha isn’t in the Forest at all, it’s in the namesake State Park. Okay, what’s the second highest point, maybe that’s correct. Well, almost every single source I found has a different second summit. They range from 2344 foot Hernandez (also in the State Park) all the way down to 2126 foot Dugger Mountain. Breaking out the topos, I finally determined that the highest point that actually lies in the National Forest is Odum Point. As an added bonus there are no trails to the summit so this was definitely going to be my goal.

For once I arrived in the morning, having driven most of the way the night before. Unfortunately I had to work the first day, so priority one was to find a secluded spot with good signal to set up shop. I spent a day working the Forest a couple of years ago on my way out west so I had an idea of a likely spot. It took me a few tries to find it, but I ended up in a field surrounded by trees, no one in sight, and strong signal. Not a bad office! The weather was perfect so I setup outside and passed a pleasant, if not very productive, day.

It was near dark by the time I was finished so I decided to camp on the spot. I hadn’t seen or heard a single car the entire day. I was about an hour from where I would be hiking the next day so an early night would lead to an early start. I made dinner, then rolled out the hammock for a relaxing evening.

The next day dawned cloudy, the morning sun struggling to shine through. I hit the road after a quick breakfast, heading south for the trailhead that would take me closest to Odum Point without traversing the madhouse that the State Park seemed to promise. It was a nice drive on country roads with the long line of mist draped mountains to the west. Something short of an hour later I turned off of pavement for a short dirt road and the trailhead parking area.

No one else was out, the mist was dropping lower, and the clouds were threatening rain. A sign was taped to the information board announcing an incoming hurricane and warning hikers away. I recognized the name as a storm that had passed through a month before. It would probably rain today, but significantly bad weather was unlikely.

The trailhead was confusing as the most obvious, but wrong, route was to the west, but the correct way was on the east side of the parking area. After a false start the trail is obvious and easy to follow in the first section. Winter left little green except the usual laurel choking every water crossing, but the terrain was interesting and engaging all the same. The lack of leaves revealed the variety of stone and tree rather than uniformity as some places do. The starkness was complimented by the weather, making the scenes dramatic. I passed several waterfalls, short sections tumbling from pool to pool as they rolled down the steeper faces.

I moved higher and the mist continued dropping until I was walking through a thick, wet fog. A sudden huge burst of activity beside the trail caused my heart to skip a beat before it resolved into a flock of turkeys beating wildly into the air. I watched them settle into new roosts, higher up this time. This scene would repeat twice more as I climbed on.

Just before the top of the ridge as the trail started to level off I entered a long section of blown down trees scattered every which way. The carnage seemed recent and my guess at the cause was the hurricane mentioned at the bottom. The trail disappeared in the chaos and the fog made it hard to the find the right way. I figured as long as I kept the drop the left I would be moving in the right direction. After picking my way over, under, and sometimes straight through the mess I eventually cleared it and easily picked up the trail again.

A light drizzle started, not enough to really penetrate but visibility dropped even further. Sound was swallowed in the fog, and I felt like I was pleasantly alone in a small, silent world. Leaving the trail to find Odum Point the terrain turned to low thorny stalks sparsely covering rocky ground slowly rising towards great piles of mossy stone. Scrambling around, finding simple bouldering problems to play on, kicking through the thick mat of leaves, I worked my way to the actual highpoint. Sitting on the highest stone I made lunch and enjoyed the simple pleasures of light rain on my face and the smell of wet earth.

Eventually the cold drove me to start moving again and I made my way back to the trail and slowly down the mountain, savoring the feelings of solitude and contenment. I reached the Jeep in late afternoon. The weather continued to deteriorate and I had a long drive ahead so it seemed a good time to hit the road and start making my way home.