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Occasionally daylight runs out on even the best-planned day hike. Once while hiking near Cheaha State Park, I broke out into a full-blown run – having suddenly realized that I had to get moving in order to pick up the kids at daycare before it closed. A couple of years ago on a Dugger Mountain hike, I ran downhill in my boots for about four miles back to my car. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed tumbling down the trail, often at breakneck speed.

Coming down from a climb up the tallest mountain in the Caribbean – Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic – I ran most of the 13 miles back to the trailhead. At one point, running down a steep, snaking 8-foot-deep gully, I rounded a curve high on an outside bank and went flying sideways through a breach in the gully wall. Luckily I only fell about 10 feet or so and continued my merry trot down the rugged path.

Trail running, in fact, is now one of the fastest growing outdoor activities. Although usually sporting high-tech trail running footwear and not heavy boots, trail runners account for the second highest number of outdoor outings – 1.3 billion outings in 2005 according to a 2006 report by the Outdoor Industry Foundation. The only other activity to outrank trail running is bicycling, which claims the No.1 spot.

Whenever I go to Oak Mountain and hike, about half of the people I see on the longer trails are trail runners. Last summer, during an early evening mountain bike ride on the Oak Mountain Red Trail, I was surprised to encounter a group of high school cross-country runners leaping over logs and huffing up rock-strewn switchbacks.

To road runners, trail running offers a break from pavement and spices up training routines. Runners training for the Mercedes or Vulcan Run events have a wide variety of trails in the area on which to train. Oak Mountain’s Blue, White, Red and Yellow trails offer many out-and-back and loop options. A loop made up of the Quarry, Ridge and Valley, and 5-Mile trails at Ruffner Mountain is a great workout. Other local areas to trail run include the Trussville Sports Complex, the Vulcan Trail and the Homewood Shades Creek Greenway combined with the Jemison Park Trail. Red Mountain Park, a future trail-running venue which will extend southwest toward Bessemer, will help create a 64-mile trail network within 15 minutes of downtown Birmingham (visit www.redmountainpark.org for information).

How well trail running crosses over to hikers depends on individual tastes. Part of the joy of hiking is taking your time and stopping whenever the urge strikes. But since variety is the spice of life, the next time you’re out behind the quarry at Ruffner Mountain, tighten up your waist pack and make a run for it.

Birmingham resident Russell Helms is the author of “60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Birmingham” and “GPS Outdoors.” He can be reached at rhelms@menasharidge.com

The deadline for purchasing the 1,108-acre Red Mountain Park passed Friday with organizers saying they had nothing to show but continued enthusiasm that they will raise $7 million to buy the land from U.S. Steel Corp.

”We are working with U.S. Steel and hope to have something very exciting to announce in January,” said Wendy Jackson, executive director of the Freshwater Land Trust, which is heading the campaign to buy the park.

She said she could not say whether Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel had agreed to extend the option to buy the land atop Red Mountain. ”They continue to be champions of the project,” she said. Efforts to reach U.S. Steel’s executive on the project were unsuccessful late Friday.

Two-year option
Two years ago, the Freshwater Land Trust and U.S. Steel came forward with an idea for a large park that would unite and serve communities on all sides of Red Mountain. U.S. Steel offered the Land Trust a two-year option to buy the property for $7 million, less than half the $16.5 million appraised price.

The company also offered to donate $1 million toward development costs. The gift would be the largest in the company’s history.

Jackson said the land trust is continuing successfully toward its $7 million goal, but the project took a blow when it lost nearly $1.4 million in federal money recently. Congress wiped all of the appropriations for local projects from the budget bill for this year.

”But the fund-raising is going very well, thanks to all our supporters in the community,” Jackson said.

The land trust has raised money from several sources, including the Jefferson County Commission, which agreed to contribute $7 million over several years. The park has also received numerous small, private donations.

The Hugh Kaul Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and Alabama Power Co. also have made contributions, and a grassroots group named the Friends of Red Mountain Park has held several fund-raisers.

The Freshwater Land Trust is not allowed to buy the land with its own money, because its mission is to protect land along rivers and streams.

The park would extend 4.5 miles from Homewood on the east almost to Bessemer, on the crest of Red Mountain. Landscape architects have been holding public meetings to determine the design of the park, taking requests and comments from the public. The park is large enough to accommodate wild areas for hiking, mountain biking and bird-watching, as well as soccer or other ball fields and paths that would be accessible to everyone.

The park would be among the largest urban parks in the nation, surpassing in size some of the nation’s best-known parks, such as New York’s Central Park and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

However, cost could stop the landscape architects from building everything everyone wants in the park. The steep terrain on much of the site makes it extremely expensive to grade enough land for some fields and open areas, for example.

But park planners say they will save millions of dollars by clearing former railbeds and logging trails to make paths. The land was once used to mine iron ore for U.S. Steel’s Fairfield Works.

The park is expected to cost $30 million to $50 million, including land and development. It would be run by a nonprofit commission, and the land would belong to the state.

Eventually, the park’s planners hope it will connect to Vulcan Trail, the Shades Creek Greenway and other trails. At the beginning, though, the primary entrance to the park will be from Venice Road, on the southeast end of the park.

EMAIL: kbouma@bhamnews.com

I attended one of the meetings concerning plans for Red Mountain Park and came away reminded of the story of the blind men and the elephant.

The first sightless man walks up to the elephant, feels the wide side and concludes it is a wall. The next grabs a tusk and says it is a spear; a third touches the tail and thinks it a rope.

Down the line, each man envisions the pachyderm as something else as he feels a different part of its anatomy.

Red Mountain Park is bigger than any elephant and is at least as ambiguous as you consider what it will be. The park covers 708 acres on a swatch that stretches 4½ miles.

The public has attended meetings to tell park designers what they would like to see in the park, which would link communities as diverse as Homewood, Ishkooda and Fairfield. The park is expected to cost $30 million to $50 million, including land and development.

Wendy Jackson is executive director of the Freshwater Land Trust, the Birmingham nonprofit that is leading the push to buy the land on the crest of Red Mountain. She admitted when we spoke that she initially had some serious reservations about going through a public process to design the park. More than once varied points of view have stymied good things from developing here.

“That’s why this has been so heartwarming,” Jackson said, “because I haven’t seen that conflict. We haven’t had the traditional clashes you would expect.”

There seems to be room for grassy meadows for picnics and throwing Frisbees. There appears to be room for bird-watching, mountain biking and running. And the dream is that it will accommodate both the disabled and the able-bodied.

As I made my way to the meeting at the downtown library, a fellow I know through local running events was on his way out. He was beaming at the thought of having a new running course near his home.

When I went into the meeting, I heard several ideas bantered about. One person wanted space allotted for horses. Another suggested a sort of environmental classroom.

The audience at that meeting definitely had a greenish hue. Not that they were big money donors. These folks favored leaving as much of the park natural, clearing only enough to yield space for mountain biking, running and walking.

The original design called for baseball fields and about 18 soccer fields. Jackson said designers are figuring how to make that work.

“The soccer fields are a big question right now,” Jackson said. “We’re talking about some pretty intensive grading to accommodate the fields that were originally proposed in the visioning plan, but we haven’t ruled them out. The designers are working on a couple of creative ideas. Maybe not here but here. Maybe on a piece of property just outside the park, inside the park maybe.

“What we’re looking at is doing some things that might bring the soccer fields to the table so everybody gets what they want,” she said. “These are questions the design team is struggling with. Can we give everybody what they want and right now it seems most people have been very, very happy with what they’ve heard so far.”

Jackson told me the planned unveiling of the design has been pushed back to January to avoid conflicts with holiday festivities. No doubt it will be a welcome gift whenever we receive it.

And if all goes as it has, it’ll be a design where everybody will find what they want.

EMAIL: screnshaw@bhamnews.com

The commission planning Red Mountain Park is showing its plans for the 1,108 acres for the first time today.

The plan includes a 6.7-mile loop around the park that runs along the route of the historic Birmingham Mineral Railroad. The path would travel through woods and open meadows, past Red Mountain’s old iron mines. It ultimately would link picnic grounds and other recreational features.

The public is asked to attend a meeting tonight to tell park designers what else they would like to see in the park, which would link communities as diverse as Homewood, Ishkooda and Fairfield.

The meeting will be 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the downtown Birmingham Public Library.

”The public is going to design what this trail will lead to and the other amenities,” said Wendy Jackson, executive director of the Freshwater Land Trust, the Birmingham nonprofit that is leading the push to buy the land on the crest of Red Mountain. In the past, people have requested soccer fields, mountain biking trails and birdwatching areas.

The Land Trust came forward last year with an idea for a large park that would unite and serve communities on all sides of the mountain. U.S. Steel offered to sell the land for $7 million, less than half the $16.5 million appraised price, and donated $1 million toward development costs.

The land trust is not allowed to buy the land with its own money because its mission is to protect area rivers and streams. However, it is heading the effort to raise money to buy and build the 4.5-mile long park that would stretch from Homewood on the east almost to Bessemer.

The park is expected to cost $30 million to $50 million, including land and development.

Besides the U.S. Steel donation, Jefferson County has pledged $7 million. The land trust also has received federal and private grants for the land purchase, fund-raising costs and development.

A nonprofit commission is expected to manage the park after it has been purchased.

The Hugh Kaul Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and Alabama Power Co. are paying for the team of landscape artists. They are expected to present their final plan in December, after considering tonight’s comments.

Eventually, the park’s planners hope it will connect to Vulcan Trail, the Shades Creek Greenway and other trails. At the beginning, though, the primary entrance to the park will be from Venice Road, on the southeast end of the park.

The trail will have a surface that is suitable for wheelchairs, hikers and cyclists – even vehicles in emergencies. It will be 8 feet to 12 feet wide.

The park’s planners have said using the former railbeds and logging trails for paths will likely save millions of dollars on the rough and steep mountain. The area was once used for mining iron ore for U.S. Steel’s furnaces at Fairfield.

Other paths that may be put into the plan would all connect up to the central loop: an adventure path for hikers and mountain bikers, a scenic ridge path and street level paths.

EMAIL: kbouma@bhamnews.com

Two major urban parks in the planning and an existing park set for a major expansion hold great potential value for Birmingham, a group of regional leaders were told Friday.

“Would it not be nice if our city were known as a green region,” Wendy Jackson, executive director of the Freshwater Land Trust, said in a presentation to about 30 elected officials and staff gathered for their monthly meeting.

State Sen. J.T. “Jabo” Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, sponsors the meetings to foster cooperation on issues that affect people across the region, such as transportation or recreation.

The potential value to Birmingham is that parks are clean, nonpolluting industries that pour $132 billion a year into the U.S. economy, Jackson said. “Parks are powerful economic tools. A host of studies show that parks spur economic development.”

The three park projects:

Ruffner Mountain Nature Center in eastern Birmingham, which already comprises 1,011 acres, plans to expand by about 500 acres and construct new buildings.

The Freshwater Land Trust and U.S. Steel are working to build Red Mountain Park, an 1,108-acre park that would run for 4.5 miles along the ridge of the mountain.

The City of Birmingham is developing the 21-acre Railroad Reservation Park in the heart of downtown. It is to include a paddleboat lake, amphitheater and other amenities appropriate for an urban park. Construction of its 14-acre first phase is to begin within a year.

“Cities across the country would absolutely die to have the opportunity to place 21 acres of park space in the city center,” Jackson said.

The three developments won’t come free. The railroad park is expected to cost nearly $50 million. Red Mountain is expected to cost $30 million to $50 million. Ruffner’s expansion is expected to cost around $20 million.

However, the three already have raised a total of $32.5 million from private donors, grants and public sources, Jackson said.

With the parks, Birmingham has the chance to rise to the top of lists of cities with the most green space, Jackson said, and to build a park, Red Mountain, that is bigger than New York’s Central Park.

EMAIL: kbouma@bhamnews.com