North Alabama/Nashville area hikers???

[sam4msu]

I am new to the Huntsville area(Owens Cross Roads) and am looking for good day hikes and 2-3 day hikes. Any suggestions? Also looking for the names of some good outfitters in the area. I go to Nashville now and then to see the sights so outfitters up there would be appreciated also. I have been to Alabama Outdoors in Jones Valley but the kids in there seem more interested in selling overpriced TNF fleece to the "high school honeys" than in helping an overweight middle-aged guy looking to buy or talk about real hiking/backpacking gear!!! Also, are there any hiking clubs in the Huntsville area? I am a member of the North Alabama Land Trust.
Thanks to all

[jlb2012]

recommend PMing MDShiker (aka Stew) or SuperTroll - they are active hikers in the Huntsville area iirc

[BitBucket]

Monte Sano in Huntsville offers several good trails for day hikes (about 10 minutes from Owens Cross Roads) , and Cloudland Canyon over in GA northeast of Scottsboro has some good day hiking also.

Fall Creek Falls up in Tennessee (about 100 miles north of HSV) also has some excellent areas to hike, camp, fish, and golf...

The AT over at Amicalola is only about 4-5 hours away if you want to do several days

There a number of trails in Alabama....Check out the following link...

http://www.trails.com/toptrails.asp?area=10048

[CherrypieScout]

Go check out the Walls of Jerico in North Alabama. Very near the TN line, north of Scotsboro. One of Alabama's beautiful places.
Another is Cloudland Canyon in the northwest corner of GA. Great day hiking

[Cuffs]

HighCountry Outfitters just opened up in The Rocket City, find them... they are somewhat like AO, but a little more gear oriented. Also, there is a new Gander Mtn. I have not been in there, but I know they did offer a backpacking workshop back in September...

If youre up for a drive, Sipsey Wilderness is great (I havent even unpacked from a 2 day trip there!)

[solo29]

www.alatrails.com this is a web site ala hikers, solo

[Ewker]

here is some websites for places close by

http://www.friendsofscsra.org/ Savage Gulf/South Cumberland area near Monteagle

http://www.cumberlandtrail.org/index.html Cumberland Trail near Chatt all the way to Ky

http://www.alabamatrail.org/hikingAL/Sipsey/Sipsey.htm Sipsey very close to Huntsville

[sam4msu]

WOW!!! Thanks for all of the great responses...High Country Outfitters has been a great help to me. They have a guy who did an A.T. thru-hike last year I think and he has proven to be a great source of information.

[Nest]

There is a REI in Brentwood, just outside of Nashville. Another outfitter I really like is Cumberland Transit. They don't have a lot, but what they have is good. They have a basic website that you could search for them to get an address and phone number. Then Sun and Ski Sports inside Opry Mills Mall is ok. They sometimes have things the others don't.

[Lilred]

There is a good outfitters in Nashville on West End Ave. called Cumberland Transit. Ask for Bungalow Bill, he thru-hiked in '96.

[Bearpaw]

REI is a reasonably convenient outfitter just south of Nashville off of I-65, exit 74. I've worked there off and on for 6 1/2 years and we get plenty of Huntsville folks on weekends. The nice thing about it is that if you order from REI.com, you won't have to pay sales tax as there is no REI in Alabama yet.

As for locations, check out the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama and look for the host of books that offer information on hiking in the Cumberland Region of eastern Tennessee. In particular Hiking Tennessee's South Cumberland should give you good options within a couple or three hours from home.

[wagona]

A new store, Guntersville Outfitters, in Guntersville,Ala, is small but interesting. Small, friendly staff are knowledgable. Their stock is limited but they can get about anything.

There are several interesting day hikes and overnighters in the Savage Gulf area around Tracy, Tenn.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

A new store, Guntersville Outfitters, in Guntersville,Ala, is small but interesting. Small, friendly staff are knowledgable. Their stock is limited but they can get about anything.

There are several interesting day hikes and overnighters in the Savage Gulf area around Tracy, Tenn.

Welcome to WB, Wagona. I love the Savage Gulf area.

[Rain Man]

...The nice thing about it is that if you order from REI.com, you won't have to pay sales tax as there is no REI in Alabama yet.....

That's not actually the entire truth, Bearpaw. The purchaser still owes the tax, it's just called "use tax" instead of "sales tax."

You are correct that because there's no REI in Alabama, REI itself has no constitutional responsibility to Alabama to collect and remit the tax for Alabama.

Sorry to be picky, but I'm sure you don't mean to be giving out bad tax advice on behalf of REI.


RainMan

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[Bearpaw]

That's not actually the entire truth, Bearpaw. The purchaser still owes the tax, it's just called "use tax" instead of "sales tax."

You are correct that because there's no REI in Alabama, REI itself has no constitutional responsibility to Alabama to collect and remit the tax for Alabama.

Sorry to be picky, but I'm sure you don't mean to be giving out bad tax advice on behalf of REI.


RainMan

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Actually, I mean you pay NO tax. You would still pay shipping and handling, if this is what you mean by "use tax". But if a customer buys from REI.com (NOT from an REI retail store), and the item is shipped to a state in which no retail store exists, they pay no sales tax.

For Huntsville customers, this means they can save money by buying online for orders of about $110 or more, because the $9.99 UPS shipping fee is actually less than the 9.25% sales tax here in the Nashville/Brentwood area. Add the fact that the customer doesn't have to drive 150 miles round trip, and they come out way ahead.

If you doubt me, ask any Alabaman customer who has ordered this way before. They only pay shipping and handling. They are NOT charged sales tax. This is the same S & H a Tennessee resident would pay if they shipped it to Knoxville or Chattanooga. The difference being the Tennessean would also pay the 9.25% sales tax as well.

If you're implying that an Alabama customer is supposed to track down an IRS official and pay a "usage tax", good luck making that one stick. The State of Kentucky lost a class-action suit several years ago when military service members who bought a vehicle out of state were then charged Kentucky state sales tax when they registered for Kentucky plates. Such actions were deemed imminently illegal. I know. I got money back from it.

Now if a Nashville customer ordered from the Brentwood store and had it shipped to someone in Alabama, there is still sales tax because it was purchased in Tennessee.

[envirodiver]

Bearpaw, I think the "use tax" is that when something is bought on-line out of state and sales tax is not collected, that the consumer is supposed to go to their State Dept of Revenue and fill out the forms and write a check for it...wait I had to catch my breath from laughing so hard.
Yeah I bet that you have to wait in line forever to do that.
But, I did read that the State of Tennessee is checking to find out who's being naughty and nice...with flooring/carpeting in Dalton Georgia and furniture in North Carolina and trying to make people pay it.

[HikerRanky]

According to the TCA (Tennessee Code Annotated), if a person buys a product out of state for use here in TN, the person is liable for paying the tax... TCA Section 67-6-203 is the reference.

Not knowing how the tax laws are written in Alabama prevents me from saying how the example that Bearpaw gave is correct or incorrect.... Also, some web sites, just be be cautious, will impute taxes based upon the destination...

Randy (Located here in Middle Tennessee)

[jasonh]

You dont need to go far I grew up in N Alabama and the Sipsey is outstanding for day or 2 or 3 day trips also my father,brother in law and I are section hiking the AT and have made it to Clingmans dome and would not mind someone else to come along.