Conecuh National Forest Forest Road 111 to Brooklyn Fire Tower

Forest Road 111 cuts deep into Conecuh’s longleaf pine ecosystem, threading through sand hills that feel more like the Carolinas than lower Alabama. The route kicks off near the Brooklyn community and winds through pitcher plant bogs and wiregrass prairies before climbing to the Brooklyn Fire Tower—a 100-foot steel sentinel that’s been watching over these woods since the 1930s. You’ll cross Pond Creek twice, both easy fords unless recent rains have things running high.

This is moderate terrain that any stock truck with decent ground clearance can handle, though the deep sand sections will test your momentum and tire pressure knowledge. Best run April through October when the bogs aren’t swamped. No permits needed, and dispersed camping is allowed throughout the forest. The payoff is standing atop that fire tower at sunset, watching red-cockaded woodpeckers work the old-growth pines while the Gulf Coast plain stretches endlessly south.