Conecuh National Forest is located in the southern part of Alabama, not too far from Frank Jackson State Park. If you want to get technical it is in the Blue Springs Wildlife Management Area. If you’re exploring the forest as more than a day trip, you could opt to stay at either the state park or in the Open Pond Recreation Area within the forest which seems to have both RV and Tent camping options.
My biggest complaint with any National Forest is the lack of decent maps and information on what is contained within. Over time I’ve learned that you can shell out money to buy maps online or find books about such places, but for my sake I usually explore these things in a completely spontaneous manner that does not lend itself to being prepared. That said there are two obvious points that you CAN find easily enough with the help of Google Maps. Read on!
The previously mentioned Open Pond Recreation Area offers camping and a large pond (very small lake perhaps) to splash around or fish in. It’s a great spot for camping, picnicking and has a trailhead for what is known as the Conecuh Trail as well. There’s an old CCC shelter here to hang out in as well. To really do it justice let us just say the day use area is pretty enough that one could imagine someone would throw a wedding on the lawn there. I’ll add the maps I managed to take pictures of to this post as well in the hopes that it helps someone else in the future who is going in as clueless as I did.
The other area that is easy to find is the Blue Lake Recreation Area. There is no camping allowed, although it sure looks like there were camp sites there a few decades ago, but whatever the case, it is now a wonderful access point for Blue Lake. Blue Lake appears to be a spring fed lake with clear water where the recreation area is. There is a bath house to change in, picnic area, ample parking, and you’d imagine the place must be highly popular with day use activity in the middle of any given summer. Although there was a sign about alligators, always present in this part of the country, a dip into the swimming area only turned up brim and bass which were underfoot as I splashed around. I highly recommend this part of the park for a relaxing cool down if you’re hot and sweaty from hiking around.
I didn’t go to hike the forest, I heard rumor of something called “Blue Spring” somewhere in the midst of it but found no evidence, and there are undoubtedly more features in the thing, so best of luck to whomever explores it in the future.
