4/24/2023 0 Comments Ditto landingWe were at the other end of that road closure area, which at this end was just mounded up dirt with no visible path through it. Remember the “Road Closed” sign near the entrance? Yup. However, once past the mud, we came up against one more obstacle. We sort of cross-countried it, using the least muddy path we could, so that we could connect up with Aldridge Creek Greenway as we’d planned. There’s no clear marking to indicate that the greenway continued on through Ditto Landing, though Google Maps clearly showed it as going on north. Having explored as far as we could on the greenway in this direction, we retraced our steps back to the edge of the muddy parking lot to decide what to do next. I’d recommend parking at Ditto Landing anyway – there’s lots more parking there. There are parking spots there, but they seem to be intended for the Whitesburg Boat and Yacht Club. We wanted to find out if folks were allowed to park on that end of the greenway, so we walked on down to nearly the intersection with Hobbs Island Road. Pavement continued beyond this, but the standard “bike lane/walker (or runner) lane” markings were gone. ![]() Soon after that, we came to a gate that I think marked the official end of the greenway trail. one of the places that Huntsville Utilities pulls in water from the Tennessee River to eventually turn in to what comes out of our taps. Next we passed the Huntsville Raw Water Plant Substation, i.e. I don’t plan to enter the race myself to find out, but I did find a handy dandy link later at home that describes the event and the course for those who might be interested. As we walked, we wondered if they started the swim upstream against the current, or downstream – and debated the merits of each approach. The other thing I know about Hobbs Island is that there is an annual open water swim event there hosted by Team Rocket Triathlon Club (TRTC). Sounds pretty cool, actually, but I don’t think you can get on the island. All I know about the place is that I’m pretty sure it’s privately owned, and according to Wikipedia it is the site of Chickasaw Old Fields and the home of a couple of Indian mounds. Walking on down the path, we could see the tip of Hobbs Island ahead. Not wanting wet backsides, though, we simply walked down the path. Along the path we passed a couple of sculptures from the SPACES sculpture trail, and a scattering of benches from which, on a drier day, you might want to sit and admire the river from. The views, though gray, were still nice and we agreed that on a prettier day, it would be truly beautiful. We ambled along beside the Tennessee River, which was flowing fast. Once on the greenway, though, all was good and I was feeling better about the day. Squishing and slipping our way, we worked our way across the mud to the greenway path heading out of the south end of the parking lot. It was an absolute sea of mud! Obviously, all the recent rain had flooded the whole area. It was immediately very clear why it had been barricaded off. Strike Three? Still, we are nothing if not stubborn, so we parked by the docks and headed off across the parking lot. ![]() There were barriers blocking off access to that whole end. We found the parking lot alright, but the greenway parking was marked at the far end of the lot, closest to the river. Luckily there aren’t a lot of roads at Ditto Landing and it was easy enough to blunder our way towards the parking lot that that was marked on the map as the “official” one for the Tennessee River Greenway. ![]() We turned into Ditto Landing off Hobbs Island Road, and almost immediately came to a “road closed ahead” sign. It wasn’t a hard rain – more of a drizzle – and so we pressed on. We should have known that the day wasn’t going to go as we’d hoped when it started raining on the drive to Ditto Landing. This seemed like a good time to go check it out, so off we headed, with a plan to walk the greenway along the Tennessee River and then connect up with Aldridge Creek Greenway to cover some of the 4 or so miles of that one we’ve so far missed. We’d walked many of them, but this is one we hadn’t explored before. Instead, I picked a different walk near water – the Tennessee River Greenway.Įarly in our blog’s life, we put up a series of posts that we called “Easy Peasy Hikes.” These were hikes with little elevation gain, a mile or less, and often ended up being hikes on one of the many greenways in the area. I was tempted to go out for it again, but there were no new trails to explore, and I’m pretty sure the cranes will still be there for another few days. Wheeler National Wildlife Center was having its annual Festival of the Cranes, which we enjoyed last time we went. ![]() It wasn’t supposed to rain, though, so I was determined to get out and walk a bit. I had hoped that Sunday, at least, would be a little bit sunny, but it was one of those Alabama winter days that I least enjoy – cold, damp, and the kind of overcast that makes it seem like late evening even at noon.
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