Roland Cooper State Park: Chipmunk and Lakeside Trails (Blog Hike #1039)

Trails: Chipmunk and Lakeside Trails
Hike Location: Roland Cooper State Park
Geographic Location: northeast of Camden, AL (32.05258, -87.24844)
Length: 1.7 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: February 2025
Overview: A double loop on 2 short nature trails with views of Dannelly Reservoir.
Park Information: https://www.alapark.com/parks/roland-cooper-state-park
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=979434
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming March 3, 2026)

Directions to the trailhead: From Camden, take SR 41 northeast 2.5 miles to an unnamed road with a sign for Roland Cooper State Park.  Turn left on the unnamed paved road.  Drive the unnamed road 0.3 miles to its end at CR 43 and turn right on CR 43.  Drive CR 43 northeast 2.9 miles, turning left where Gladney Road angles right, to reach the park entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the park, pay the park entrance fee, and park in the small perpendicular parking lot in front of the park office.

The hike: Located in the remote and rustic area southwest of Montgomery, Roland Cooper State Park consists of 236 acres on the east shore of Dannelly Reservoir, a man-made lake on the Alabama River.  The park came to be in 1969 when the State of Alabama leased land from the Army Corps of Engineers on the newly constructed reservoir.  Originally called Bridgeport State Park, the name was changed in the late 1970's to honor Alabama State Senator Roland Cooper after he was murdered.  This park was one of 4 Alabama state parks closed for budget reasons in 2015, but thankfully it reopened a year later.

            In addition to excellent fishing and other aquatic recreation on Dannelly Reservoir, the park offers a cozy 41-site developed campground and 12 cabins.  The park's rural location makes for great star gazing, and its sky earns the next to best rating on the Bortle scale.  For hikers, the park offers 2 short and easy nature trails, and combining them with a road walk through the developed area of the park forms the hike described here.

Start of Chipmunk Trail

            From the park office, walk back out to the main park road, turn left, and walk a couple hundred feet along the road to find the signed start of the Chipmunk Trail on the right.  Just as the chipmunk is one of the most common animals in the forest, short wooded nature trails like this one are very common in parks throughout the country.  The trail heads due east through dense pine forest, and the forest has enough row-and-column structure to make this area look like a pine planting.

Hiking along the park boundary

            At 0.2 miles, the trail curves right to head south along the park's east boundary.  Red stripes painted around trees mark the park's east boundary, and parts of this trail appear to follow an old road.  After curving right to leave the old road, the Chipmunk Trail ends at the park road near the park entrance 0.5 miles into the hike.

Chipmunk Trail

            Next comes the road walk segment of this hike.  Turn right to walk the main park road back to the park office to complete the first loop.  Turn left to walk past the park office, then turn right to walk through the park's main campground on the campground road.  The signed start of the Lakeside Trail is located near the bathroom building at the north end of the campground loop.

Start of Lakeside Trail

            The Lakeside Trail starts by heading north, but quickly it curves 180-degrees to the left to begin heading south through a narrow strip of land between the campground uphill to the left and Dannelly Reservoir downhill to the right.  The lake makes this trail more scenic than the Chipmunk Trail.  While pines still dominate the forest, some holly makes an appearance in the understory.

Sunset over Dannelly Reservoir

            1.5 miles into the hike, the Lakeside Trail ends at a very scenic lakeside spot with some picnic shelters and a fishing pier.  I did this hike less than an hour before sunset, and the winter sun reflected off of the water like gold.  After admiring this spot, turn left and head slightly uphill on the park road, which in about 1000 feet returns you to the park office to complete this hike.