A spot at the Cahaba River not at Grants Mill. (Photo by Stephanie Lockhart).Casey Marley - Editor-in-Chiefeditor@insideuab.com
Just down the road from Grants Mill’s Church of the Highlands is a bridge. Beneath the bridge runs swirling water, murky from sediment and Birmingham pollution. On the banks live crimson wasps and fluttering butterflies. It’s an urban haven, a speck of wilderness just south of a freeway.
I checked out this swimming hole for the first time with Kscope’s Photography Editor, Stephanie Lockhart. After intensive research, I came across a webpage aptly called “swimmingholes.org,” which listed “30 places to go natural swimming in Alabama.” Its barebones website that equipped us with the latitude and longitude points to this particular hole could not prepare us for our trip to the benign and serene Irondale spot.
Upon arrival at the parking lot near the bridge’s edge, a man unloaded a kayak from his Volvo—a helpful indication that we came to the correct location.
We made our journey down A gravel trail that runs alongside the river bank. Ahead we saw two men walking back to the parking lot. We regretfully make eye contact. “Hi; Good afternoons” led to an innocent “is the rope swing up ahead?”
They told us it was indeed ahead.
“The water’s cold,” said the man with a cigarette between his fingers. After respectfully declining his offer to “show us the way to the spot,” he told us we would hear people when we got close. We did. It was a happening cove, but unfortunately we did not come prepared with a love of loud country music and the even louder enthusiasm from the swimming hole attendees.
“Another place?” we said in unison. We worked our way back up the path to the parking lot. We stopped by the kayak loading dock, climbed onto some rocks and discussed the swiftness of the river.
The two young men returned unexpectedly. “I thought y’all were going to the spot,” one said with concern. We told them that we had changed our minds. They hovered after the polite small talk stopped. “Do you know if there are any other rope swings on the river?” I asked to break the silence.
“We don’t go to other rope swings because of snakes,” the young man with the cigarette said.
He assured us that the intended swimming hole that we went to is for the most part, copperhead (or water moccasin) free, except for one instance in the previous month when they spotted one swimming in the bubbling water. The quieter young man injected his comment at this: “I let him crawl around my arm,” he said with a grin on his face. His talkative friend laughed.
“Ha—I don’t [expletive] with snakes,” he said pulling a gun out of his swim trunks, waving it around for us to see.
I knew it was time to end this conversation.
“Haha...well... I don’t blame you,” I said, falsely cool. “Well, I’ll see you all later then, thanks for the heads up about the snakes.”
The two men left to “get some weed and [expletive].”
We decided it was time to go.
Quickly we returned to my car and zipped the tiny hatchback down I-459 as fast as its small engine could go. No pictures, unfortunately.
Despite being the prefered hangout of armed drug users, the Cahaba River is a beautiful natural area close to campus.
According to the Cahaba River Society, 200 square miles of its water provide source for Birmingham Water Works Board system, the largest water provider in the state.
Also, Nature Conservancy named the river one of eight “hotspots of aquatic biodiversity” in the U.S. that must be saved.
I would gladly return to the Cahaba River to try out the rope swing and enjoy a free non-chlorinated swimming hole.
Granted, I would bring more friends and wait for summer to end so I could meet fewer people that would normally go there.
I would rate the Cahaba River’s Grants Mill Swimming Hole an incomplete rating in hopes for a better experience next time.
