Oak Park Trail

Rating: Easy
Distance: 2.5 Miles
Fee: Free (Donation Box Available)

CAUTION: Be sure to listen for mountain bikers. Several of their turns are blind and they cannot always see you!

Download Trail Map from the Land Trust of North Alabama website!

Oak Park Trail is a short trail at the base of Monte Sano. The land is owned by the Land Trust of North Alabama. The trail is a great place to take a hike or mountain bike. The trails are built up for speedy bikers with plenty of banks and ramps for those of you who like to bike fast. The trail is fairly easy and is about 2.5 miles.

More Waterfalls

The park trail head at Oak Park. There is a large parking lot for the park.

Google Maps Land Trust of North Alabama: Monte Sano Nature Preserve Oak Park Trailhead or look at our map above!

On our journey, we followed Oak Park Trail (Blue on map) until it ended in a “T” and turned left on Bankhead Trail (Red on map). We followed Bankhead trail until it forked. We turned left onto Buzzards Roost Trail (Yellow on map) and followed the trail until it meets back up with Oak Park Trail. We turned right on Oak Park Trail and followed it back to the parking lot.

Trailhead

This is a well-marked trailhead. Walk between the two baseball fields. Behind the baseball fields is the trail head.

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Oak Park Trail Alternate

The first fork in the trail is between the Oak Park Trail and the Oak Park Trail Alternative. The trail to the left is built up for mountain bikes and the alternate trail to the right is more direct. Feel free to take either trail.

Oak Park Trial Fork

The trail forks again. To stay on Oak Park Trail (Blue on map) take the path to the right, or if you want to do the do the trail in reverse, go left to get on Buzzards Roost Trail (Yellow on map).

Oak Park Trail / Bankhead Trail

When you reach the end of Oak Park Trail, the path makes a “T”. You can turn left and follow our steps on Bankhead Trail (Red on map).

Bankhead Trail / Dallas Branch Trail

The trail to Dallas Branch Trail is hard to see. Dallas Branch trail is the clearly marked trail right in the picture. Dallas Branch Trail is barely visible to the left in the picture. There is a sign that marks the Dallas Branch Trail. Follow the trail to the left Dallas Branch Trail back to Oak Park Trail. Be sure to follow the marked path. There are several paths off to the right that leads back to neighborhoods but do not lead to the parking lot. When you reach Oak Park Trail turn right and follow it back to the parking lot.

Buzzard Roost Trail

Buzzard Roost leads you down a trail to a beautiful waterfall, Dallas Branch Falls. The trail follows the Dallas Branch creek. If you go a bit off-trail you can find another cascade that has a blue tint on the rock and is very beautiful! To get here follow Buzzard Roost. When you cross over Dallas Branch Creek, go off-trail following the creekbed downstream.