Kings Chapel Trail

Dogs Unknown

The Kings Chapel Trail begins at the Waterfall/Cascade/King's Chapel Trailhead on Aubrey Carr Scenic Drive in Lake Guntersville State Park. The trailhead is on the north side of the road, but the King's Chapel Trail begins on the other side of the road and ends at a closed park road on the other side of Graveyard Hill.

The trail starts on the south side of the road and winds its way up Graveyard Hill towards the King's Chapel Cemetery. There are a few steep climbs and a few rooty sections but the most difficult section of the trail is at about the halfway point, where there you get everything all at once (sustained, steep, rooty, rocky climb). The trail then passes by the Kings Chapel Cemetery and intersects with the Terrell Trail at the cemetery.

At the cemetery, feel free to take a rest (you may want to rest, anyway) and look around. Some of the graves date back to the 1800's and many of them are poorly constructed. In fact, the graves of some children and infants consist of nothing more than a pile of rocks and a headstone. Incidentally, many of the cemetery's occupants have Terrell as their surname. Keep in mind that Lake Guntersville State Park opened in 1947 (as Little Mountain State Park), and that the ownership of the cemetery was transferred to the State of Alabama well before that.

After you're done looking through the cemetery, you can descend down the old wagon road down to the closed paved park road. The Spring Trail begins on the other side of the paved park road and a short run up the paved road will take you to the Cave Trail. Both the Spring Trail and the Cave Trail go to the Tom Bevill Trail, for an extend run. You can also take the Terrell Trail (at the cemetery) for even more fun.