First Church Birmingham has been holding an annual retreat at
Lake Guntersville State Park for the last four years. This year was our first chance to attend the retreat and our first visit to this state park and it really was a great weekend with a chance to connect with good friends and with nature.
We shared a mountain chalet near the lodge with good friends which turned out to be great accommodations! The chalet was a retro style cabin with two bedrooms, a Jack and Jill bathroom, and a huge open living room with a gas fireplace, dining, kitchen area. It also had a wrap around patio porch which was up on the mountain overlooking Lake Guntersville.
We arrived Friday night just in time to see a spectacular sunset and all the active deer along the road to the lodge.
The stars Friday night were amazing and I was quite impressed with what night mode on my iPhone 11 Pro Max was able to capture (below was basically pitch black).
With such a long day, we snuck out early from that evening's church session and met our friends at the chalet to let them in and enjoy what was left of the evening to catch up and get settled.
Both Saturday and Sunday I made a point of getting up super early before anyone else was awake. I wanted time to watch the sunrise, listen to the birds, take some pictures, and just immerse myself in the sounds of nature. I find that there is something very calming about this time of the day, especially when surrounded by such beautiful nature.
Saturday morning's sunrise
A few bird photos from Sunday morning
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| Eastern Phoebe |
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| Downy Woodpecker |
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| Eastern Bluebird |
Our church sessions were held at the Lodge which had an amazing view of Lake Guntersville.
On Saturday, we had the afternoon free of scheduled activities and so we took a hike (to the bottom of the mountain and back!) in search of some eagles. We didn't get very close to any eagles but we did see some amazing wildlife.
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| Eastern Bluebirds were everywhere! |
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| American Robin - I'm still not used to seeing them in February! |
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| American Coots |
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| Turkey Vulture |
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| A view from the water level up to the top of the mountain - you can see the lodge at the top in this photos. The chalets (which are not visible in this photo) are in a line to the right of the lodge. |
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| Lake Guntersville |
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| A closer view of the lodge |
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| American Coot |
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| Killdeer |
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| American Coots |
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| Killdeer |
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| American Coot |
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| Photos of two different bald eagles |
We started heading back to the trail that would begin the climb back, when we noticed this deer just hanging out in the RV park. He didn't seem to mind all the people or dogs nearby.
As I was photographing the deer in the photos above, we noticed cars pausing both directions just up the road so we decided to go check out what all the commotion was about. To our surprise, we came across an entire family of deer just grazing on the side of the road.
Then began the climb back up, first on the shortcut we found, Daniel's Trail which connected with the Lodge Trail we had taken to get down.
On our way to dinner at the lodge, the sunset put on such a show over Lake Guntersville! Fortunately, the food was running a bit late, so I didn't miss anything.
After the retreat was over and before we headed home, we stopped at the Town Creek Fishing Center area in hopes of seeing some eagles. We did not find any eagles but the wildlife did not disappoint.
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| This Great Blue Heron was guarding the overgrown hiking path. |
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| A pair of double crested cormorants |
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Eastern Bluebird
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