Shades Mountain

Last updated
Shades Mountain
USA Alabama location map.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Shades Mountain
Highest point
Elevation 1,109 ft (338 m)
Coordinates 33°25′01″N86°51′04″W / 33.41694°N 86.85111°W / 33.41694; -86.85111 Coordinates: 33°25′01″N86°51′04″W / 33.41694°N 86.85111°W / 33.41694; -86.85111
Geography
Location Jefferson County, Alabama, U.S.
Climbing
Easiest route Hike

Shades Mountain is a cuesta in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. The mountain is bordered by Shades Crest Road to the west, Highway 150 to the south, Highway 280 to the east and Shades Creek to the north. It includes all of the neighborhood of Bluff Park in Hoover, where it summits, as well as portions of the cities of Homewood, Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook.

Cuesta A hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side and a steep slope on the other

A cuesta is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer layer, the whole being tilted somewhat from the horizontal. This results in a long and gentle backslope called a dip slope that conforms with the dip of resistant strata, called caprock. Where erosion has exposed the frontslope of this, a steep slope or escarpment occurs. The resulting terrain may be called scarpland.

Jefferson County, Alabama county in Alabama, United States

Jefferson County is the most populous county in the United States state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census, its population was 658,466. Its county seat is Birmingham, the most populous city in the state. Its rapid growth as an industrial city in the 20th century, based on heavy manufacturing in steel and iron, established its dominance.

Alabama State of the United States of America

Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the U.S. states. With a total of 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of inland waterways, Alabama has among the most of any state.

Contents

Geology

The rocks of Shades Mountain including the "Shades Sandstone" can be viewed readily from Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover, on the north side of Hurricane Creek.

Landmarks

There is a Lovers Leap, a rock outcropping on Shades Crest Road and Brock Gap where Shades Mountain was blasted to make way for rail access. There is also the locally-known Tip Top Grill which has a view overlooking much of the area.

Brock Gap

Brock Gap is a natural pass across Shades Mountain in Hoover, Alabama, most notable as being the location used by the South & North Railroad (S&N) to reach the Birmingham area in the late 19th century from the mineral deposits to the south, spurring economic development in the area.


Related Research Articles

Hoover, Alabama City in Alabama, United States

Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. The largest suburb near Birmingham, the city had a population of 84,848 as of the 2015 US Census estimate. Hoover is part of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area and is also included in the Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL Combined Statistical Area. Hoover's territory is along the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

Bridge Mountain mountain

Bridge Mountain is a mountain located in the Spring Mountain range of southern Nevada. It is located on land managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management as the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, part of the Rainbow Mountain Wilderness. Bridge Mountain is named for the natural feature of a bridge-like natural arch of sandstone near the summit.

San Gabriel Mountains mountain range in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties, California

The San Gabriel Mountains are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east. This range lies in, and is surrounded by, the Angeles National Forest, with the San Andreas Fault as the northern border of the range.

American Discovery Trail long-distance hiking and biking trail across the United States

The American Discovery Trail is a system of recreational trails and roads which collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. It starts on the Delmarva Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and ends on the northern California coast on the Pacific Ocean. The trail has northern and southern alternates for part of its distance, passing through Chicago and St Louis respectively. The total length of the trail including both the north and south routes is 6,800 miles (10,900 km). The northern route covers 4,834 miles (7,780 km) with the southern route covering 5,057 miles (8,138 km). It is the only non-motorized coast-to-coast trail.

Interstate 459 (I-459) is a bypass highway of I-59 that is an alternate Interstate Highway around the southern sides of Birmingham, Bessemer, and several other cities and towns in Jefferson County, Alabama. I-459 lies entirely within Jefferson County. This Interstate Highway is about 32.8 miles (52.8 km) long, and its construction was completed in 1984. I-459 has major interchanges with I-59, I-20, and I-65.

Spicers Gap

Spicers Gap is a mountain pass that is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and was the original route over the Great Dividing Range in the area around Brisbane. Today it is included in Main Range National Park and is a popular destination for campers and bushwalkers. To the south of the gap is Spicers Peak. To the west of the mountain pass is Spicers Gap State Forest. Both the state forest and national park are part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia.

California State Route 35 highway in California

California State Route 35, generally known as Skyline Boulevard, is a mostly two-lane road running along the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains from the low point of Highway 17 near Lexington Reservoir in Santa Clara County to State Route 1 just south of Daly City in San Mateo County, where it crosses SR 1 and loops around Lake Merced to become Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco.

Angeles Crest Highway highway in California

The Angeles Crest Highway is a two-lane highway over the San Gabriel Mountains, in Los Angeles County, California. Its route is to/through the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Angeles National Forest. With the exception of a 1,000 feet (300 m)-long section in La Cañada Flintridge, the entire route is part of California State Route 2.

The Foothills Parkway is a national parkway which traverses the foothills of the northern Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. The 72.1-mile (114 km) parkway will connect U.S. Route 129 along the Little Tennessee River in the west with Interstate 40 (I-40) along the Pigeon River in the east.

Shades State Park

Shades State Park is a state park in Montgomery, Parke, and Fountain Counties in Indiana. It is located 47 miles (76 km) west-northwest of Indianapolis, Indiana.

State Route 149 (SR 149) is a 8.145-mile-long (13.108 km) state highway that connects the south suburbs of Mountain Brook and Homewood with the Southside of downtown Birmingham, in the central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is in the shape of the letter C. Before the completion of Interstate 65 (I-65), SR 149 was the truck route of U.S. Route 31 (US 31) and US 280.

Angeles Forest Highway highway in California

The Angeles Forest Highway is a road over the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, California. It connects the Los Angeles Basin with the Antelope Valley and western Mojave Desert. The highway is also known as County Road N-3 or FH-59 or the Palmdale cutoff; the route numbers are unsigned, but noted on many maps. It is about 25 miles (40 km) long.

Virginia State Route 39 highway in Virginia

State Route 39 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 59.17 miles (95.22 km) from the West Virginia state line near Mountain Grove, where the highway continues as West Virginia Route 39, east to U.S. Route 11 in East Lexington. SR 39 connects Lexington with several communities formed around hot springs in Bath County. In Rockbridge County, the state highway passes through the town of Goshen and Goshen Pass, a gorge formed by the Maury River.

New York State Route 296 highway in New York

New York State Route 296 (NY 296) is a 7.90-mile (12.71 km) north–south state highway located entirely within both the Catskill Park and Greene County, New York, in the United States. It connects NY 23A in the village of Hunter with NY 23 near the Windham hamlet of Hensonville. The route follows a mountainous track between the two locations, climbing up from the Schoharie Creek valley before descending again into the Batavia Kill watershed. NY 296 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York; however, the highway had been state-maintained since the early 1910s.

South Fork Kern River river in the United States of America

The South Fork Kern River is a tributary of the Kern River in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. It is one of the southernmost rivers on the western slope of the mountains, and drains a high, relatively dry plateau country of 982 square miles (2,540 km2) along the Sierra Crest. The upper South Fork flows through a series of rugged canyons, but it also drains a flat, marshy valley before joining the Kern River at Lake Isabella.

Snake Den Ridge Trail

The Snake Den Ridge Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Cocke County, Tennessee. Winding its way up the backbone-like crest of Snake Den Ridge, the trail connects the Cosby Campground to the Appalachian Trail and provides the quickest access to the high peaks of the Eastern Smokies. The trail passes through three forest types— a mixed deciduous forest at its lower elevations, a substantial stand of heath bald on the more narrow sections of the ridge crest, and an old growth northern-style coniferous forest at its higher elevations.

Deep Notch

Deep Notch, sometimes West Kill Notch, or Echo Notch, is a mountain pass in Lexington, New York, United States. It divides two Catskill peaks, both subpeaks of high peaks of the range. The narrow groove between the steep, high slopes on either side is traversed by state highway NY 42 and the Shandaken Tunnel, part of the New York City water supply system. It has been called "striking" and "a marvel of grandeur and beauty".

North River (Cacapon River) river in the United States of America

The North River is a tributary of the Cacapon River, belonging to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. The river is located in Hampshire and Hardy counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. The mouth of the North River into the Cacapon is located at Forks of Cacapon. From its headwaters to its mouth, the North River spans 52.4 miles (84.3 km) in length.

Mount Adams Recreation Area

The Mount Adams Recreation Area is a 21,000-acre (8,500 ha) recreation area in the U.S. state of Washington managed by the Yakama Nation Wildlife Program. The area encompasses an ecologically complex and geologically active landscape. The region features the most rugged side of Mount Adams, including canyons and the Great Gap section of the Mount Adams circumnavigation route, a three-mile trail-less section over two great canyons and many difficult glacial creeks. At 12,276 feet (3,742 m), Mount Adams is one of the major Cascade mountains. The recreation area is on the east side of the mountain and is part of the Yakama Indian Reservation and includes the popular Bird Creek Meadows area.

Barbours Creek Wilderness wilderness area in the U.S. state of Virginia

Barbours Creek Wilderness is a U.S. wilderness area in the Eastern Divide Ranger District of George Washington and Jefferson National Forests of western Virginia, United States. The wilderness area was established in 1988 and consists of 5,382 acres (2,178 ha) of forests in the Appalachian Mountains ranging in elevation from 1,700 to 3,800 feet.