Hiking in Monte Sano State Park: Head to Northern Alabama!

Monte Sano State Park is known for their mountain air and proximity to Huntsville, Alabama.  This park has amazing hiking and hiking trails, with several ways to stay in the park.  

Whether you want to book a weekend on a campsite, in a cabin or even in a Safari Tent, this is a great place for a weekend getaway.  Or if you just want to visit for the day, you’ll have plenty of trails to choose from for some much needed fresh air.  

This state park has over 22 miles of hiking trails for all different experience levels.  If you’re looking for great trails in the woods, some cool rock features and a great view at an overlook, you’ll love hiking in Monte Sano State Park!

Important Links

Monte Sano State Park website

Trail Map – PDF

Camping in Monte Sano State Park

Monte Sano State Park Camping – Book Camping Here

Campground Map – PDF

Location

Monte Sano State Park is a mere 15 minute drive from Huntsville, AL.  This northern state park is also conveniently located near other major cities, making it the perfect getaway location.

If you are looking to get some fresh air and great hiking in the woods, Monte Sano State Park makes for a great day or weekend trip.  With just a 2 hour drive from Chattanooga, TN, about a 4 hour drive from Atlanta, GA or a 1.5 hour drive from Birmingham, AL, Monte Sano is a great place to getaway without having to use any PTO.  

Fees

Like all Alabama State Parks, there is an entry fee to enjoy this beautiful place.  The fee is $5 per adult, $2 for kids (11 and under), $2 for Senior Citizens (62+) and free for kids 3 and below.   Unfortunately, this pass is only good at whatever state park you purchase said day pass from.  

If you are camping here, you do not need to buy a day pass to enjoy the state park.  All day use areas are accessible with your camping reservation, you just need to show them your parking tag (provided upon check-in).

Time to Spend Here

You might be wondering how much time to spend hiking in Monte Sano State Park.  While the park boasts over 22 miles of hiking trails, many of these trails run parallel to each other.  In other words, you might not feel the need to hike ALL of the trails, you might just prefer to hike a trail or two in each area.  

Personally, I feel Monte Sano State Park is a great day trip park or, at max, a weekend trip.  A weekend will give you ample time to hike in the different sections of the park, whereas a day trip will still give you time to hike the highlights.  

However, I will say the campground is very peaceful if you are looking for a longer getaway where your main focus is to relax and unwind.  So really, whatever amount of time fits your timeline or your budget will make for a great trip to Monte Sano State Park.  

Camping 

Speaking of camping, a Monte Sano State Park camping trip is a great way to getaway at this quiet campground!  There are primitive tent sites, water/electric sites and even full hook-up sites here.  Or if you don’t own a tent or camper, there are Safari Tents and even historic stone cabins you can rent.  

Regardless of your budget, there is a way for you to stay at Monte Sano State Park that will give you the peace and fresh air you need!  Plus, if you stay here, you’ll have easy access to all the hiking trails in the park.  So check out this post with all the details about the campground (including a price comparison!) and book your trip today!

Parking

Before you set off onto your grand adventure of hiking or biking in Monte Sano State Park, you’re going to want to know where to park.  Besides the Lodge parking lot, the Picnic Area parking lot, and of course the parking in and around the campground, there are only 2 parking areas within the state park.

First up, is the Hiker’s Trailhead, which is located here.  You can also enter Monte Sano State Park Main Trailhead into your favorite GPS app.  

The second parking area is the the Biker’s Trailhead, which is located here.  You can also enter Monte Sano Mountain Bike Trail Parking into your favorite GPS app.  

Hiking

Alright, let’s get back to hiking!  As you already know, there are over 22 miles of hiking trails that wind through the park.  You can choose to hike the easy trails, trails with a view or combine some trails for the most amount of miles.  All of these trails make for a great day spent in the fresh air and in the woods.  

Below is the list of trails to choose from and a few quick stats about each trail.  

List of Trails (Easy to Difficult)

• Bog Trail – 0.5 miles – Easy
• Bucca Family Trail – 2.6 miles – Easy
• Fire Tower Trail – 1.6 miles – Easy
• Gravel Road – 1 mile – Easy
• Mist Opportunity Trail – 0.8 miles – Easy
• South Plateau Trail – 3.4 miles – Easy
• Arrowhead Trail – 4.7 miles – Moderate
• Logan’s Point Trail – 1.3 miles – Moderate
• Mountain Mist Trail – 3 miles – Moderate
• North Plateau Loop – 1.9 miles – Moderate
• Portal Trail – 0.3 miles – Moderate 
• Rocky Nightmare Trail – 0.8 miles – Moderate
• Sinks Trail – 1.5 miles – Moderate
• Cold Springs Trail – 0.8 miles – Moderate
• Dummyline Trail – 1 mile – Moderate
• Stone Cuts Trail – 0.8 miles – Moderate
• Goat Trail – 2.5 miles – Difficult
• Bankhead Trail – 1 mile – Difficult
• Keith Trial – 1.2 miles – Difficult
• McKay Hollow Trail – 2.2 miles – Difficult
• Natural Well Trail – 2.6 miles – Difficult
• Panther Knob Trail – 0.4 miles – Difficult
• Tollgate Trail – 0.5 miles – Difficult
• Warpath Ridge Trail – 1.1 miles – Difficult

While many of these trails seem quite short, you will end up having to combine multiple trails if you intend to make a loop.  For example, you might start on the Sinks Trail, and loop back part of the Mountain Mist Trail.  

Whatever way you intend to hike these trails, there is a little bit of something for every level of hiker.  

Our Hike

My husband and I went hiking in Monte Sano State Park one evening after work in early November of 2024.  With only a few hours, we decided to hike a few of the trails that are close together.  

We started by driving to the Overlook that is towards the back of the park, and right next to the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum.  You can park right at the overlook and enjoy the view.  Unfortunately when we were there it had just rained, so there was no view to speak of except clouds.  

After taking a peak at the overlook, we headed to the Biker’s Trailhead and parked our truck.  Right at the back of the parking lot is the trailhead which leads you down into many different trails including the Mountain Mist Trail, the Sinks Trail, the Stone Cuts Trail, Keith’s Trail, the Goat Trail, Logan’s Point Trail, and others.  

Combining Trails

As you already know, hiking in this park will primarily have you combining trails.  We started on the Sinks Trail, picked up the Mountain Mist Trail, eventually got back on the Sinks Trail, then hopped on the Stone Cuts Trail before looping back on the Sinks Trail once more and finally taking the North Plateau Trail back to the truck.  

Yes, this sounds complicated, but we essentially did a backwards S shape before turning the trail into a loop and hiking back to the truck.  It also allowed us to maximize our hiking time and complete a greater number of trails. 

I highly recommend picking up a trail map at the start of your trip as there are many trails that run parallel and loop/cross around each other.  They are all beautiful trails, but you don’t want to find yourself lost in the Alabama woods!

One Trail You Shouldn’t Skip!

If you only have a short window to hike, you will want to hike the Stone Cuts Trail.  This short trail leads you through rocky tubes/open caves and was just a fun and different experience.  

To do this trail, you will need to start at the Biker’s Trailhead, start down the Sinks Trail until it turns into the Stone Cuts Trail.  You will start to see lots of cool rock features as you hike on this trail.  Make sure you stay on the Stone Cuts Trail (The bypass trail goes around all of these rocks and you’ll miss the best part!)

At this point you’ll follow the white markers into these tunnel-like rock structures and wind through the rocks until you hit the Sinks Trail again.  At this point you can either go back the way you came, or turn it into a loop on the Mountain Mist trail and head back to the parking lot.  

Conclusion

While we only had an evening to hike here, the wooded trails were peaceful and a great way to get some fresh air.  With such close proximity to Huntsville, you won’t want to miss hiking in Monte Sano State Park!

As always, feel free to reach out to averagewildexperience@gmail.com with any questions.

-Happy Hiking!