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Make family time unforgettable with 75 outdoor adventures across Alabama—designed to spark curiosity and inspire wonder.
Getting kids outdoors and active in nature provides a wealth of benefits. It boosts creativity, improves physical health, builds confidence, and fosters a lifelong love of nature—not to mention strengthening family bonds! From waterfalls and wildflowers to caves, canyons, and coastal trails, Fresh Air Family: Alabama is your guide to the state’s most rewarding nature experiences for families. Whether you’re hiking to Alabama’s highest point atop Mount Cheaha or descending into the depths of Cathedral Caverns, every destination has been carefully chosen and personally explored by author Verna Gates—founder of the Fresh Air Family nonprofit in Birmingham.
This parent-friendly travel guide is packed with honest advice, fun facts, and thoughtful tips to help you make the most of every outing. Each listing includes age recommendations, accessibility info, local history, and STEAM-inspired ideas to help kids of all ages connect with the natural world in meaningful ways.
Inside you’ll find:
- 75 outdoor destinations, organized by region
- Helpful tips to make each trip a bonding experience
- Age-specific activity ideas and STEAM opportunities
- Nature facts, regional history, and stories that bring each place to life
Created in collaboration with Birmingham’s Fresh Air Family—an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to outdoor education and family adventure—this inspiring travel guide invites you to slow down, look closer, and experience Alabama’s wild beauty together.
Verna Gates has worked for Time magazine, CNN, and Reuters International. She is the author of 100 Things to Do in Birmingham. In 2006, Verna founded Fresh Air Family, an outdoor education program that have served thousands of children and their families. She lives in Birmingham and has been honored as an Alabama Champion.
Northeast Alabama
- Russell Cave
- Walls of Jericho
- Huntsville Botanical Gardens
- Keel Mountain
- Monte Sano Mountain Preserve
- Burritt on the Mountain
- Rainbow Mountain
- Green Mountain
- Blevins Gap
- Three Caves
- Sauta Cave
- Pisgah Gorge
- Buck’s Pocket State Park
- Lake Guntersville State Park
- Cathedral Caverns
- Sequoyah Caverns
- Desoto State Park
- Little River Canyon National Preserve
Northwest Alabama
- High Falls County Park
- Wheeler Wildlife Refuge
- TVA trails
- Cane Creek Canyon
- Freedom Hills
- Tom’s Wall
- Bankhead
- Sipsey Wilderness
- Flint Creek Botanical Area
- Hurricane Creek Park
- Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
- Joe Wheeler State Park
- Natchez Trace Rock Spring Trail
- Bear Creek Canoes
- Dismals Canyon
- Buck’s Pocket State Park
- Shoal Creek Preserve
- Natural Bridge Park
East Central Alabama
- Cherokee Rock Village
- Noccalula Falls
- Horse Pens 40
- Anniston Museum of Natural History
- Choccolocco Park
- Cheaha State Park
- Talladega National Forest
- Chinnabee Silent Trail
North Central Alabama
- Rickwood Caverns
- Horse Pens 40
- Red Mountain Park
- Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
- Turkey Creek Nature Preserve
- Tannehill Historical Park
- Moss Rock Preserve
- Cahaba Wildlife Refuge
- Cahaba River Park
- Ebenezer Swamp and Shoal Creek
- Orr Park
- Oak Mountain State Park
- Flagg Mountain
- Lake Howard
- Lake Lurleen State Park
- University of Alabama Arboretum
- Moundville Archeological Park
- Shark’s Tooth Creek
- Locust Fork
Blackbelt/Montgomery
- Confederate Memorial Park
- Alabama Nature Center
- Wetumpka’s Meteor
- Fort Toulouse-Jackson Park
- Jackson Island
- Perry Lakes and Barton Beach Preserve
- Old Cahawba
- Chalk Cliffs
- Robert Wehle Nature Center
- Red Hills Complex
- Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve and Nature Center
- Tuskegee National Forest
- Donald E. Davis Arboretum
- Chattahoochee River
South Alabama
- Bon Secour National Wildlife Sanctuary
- Lakepoint Resort State Park
- Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge
- Yoholo Micco, The Creek Indian Trail
- Landmark Park
- Forever Wild Trails Beaver Creek
- Conecuh National Forest
- Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Preserve
- Gulf State Park
- Bellingrath Gardens
- Burnt Corn Creek
- Dauphin Island Audubon Sanctuary
- Fort Morgan State Historic Site