Dismals Canyon: Franklin County’s ‘hidden’ treasure

One of Alabama’s hidden treasures sits right here in Franklin County and you may not even realize it.

Incorporated and operated as a private 85-acre reserve since 1995, the Dismals Canyon was declared a National Natural Landmark in May 1975 by the National Park Service.

Located at 901 Dismals Canyon Road near Phil Campbell, the Dismals is open March-November each year. Even if you’ve visited the Dismals Canyon before, each time you go, your experience will be different than the previous trip.

For Kevin Cheek, who’s worked at the Dismals on and off for 27 years, has served as Chief Operations Officer since 2024 and lives on-site, the canyon still reveals new surprises every day.

“Even after 27 years, I see discover new things every day. I’ve been playing down there for 50 years,” Cheek said. “About a month ago, I found an Indian marker tree. I looked at the tree and thought, ‘is it old enough?’ But it makes this 90 degree turn, then another turn. So I walked over to it and see where it points and I got chills when I saw it was pointing to a secret passage,” he added.

Alabama ranks as the nation’s fourth-most biologically diverse state and there’s nowhere that epitomizes that more than the Dismals, with its biological diversity not only in flora and fauna, but in its geography, its primeval forests, its waterfalls its place in the history of Paleo, Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians, the stories it tells of early settlers who made the canyon their homes or the tiny bioluminescent insect larvae, the Dismalites, whose bright blue-green glow lights up the canyon walls each fall.

Visitors to the Dismals find a 1.5 mile hiking trail that’s their roadmap through the canyon floor. Self-guided tours are available daily, with night tours during the fall on Friday nights (7, 8pm) and Saturday nights (7,8,9pm).

With the intense heat this summer brought, Cheek said the Dismalites are not yet lighting up the canyon at night, but a week or so of sustained cooler weather should bring their return.

Cheek said you can still see a ‘larvae light’ show, though, with the presence of firefly larvae. Cheek takes night tour visitors to a pitch-black section of the canyon and after a little agitation with his flashlight, the angry larvae shine brightly, their natural deterrent to keep predators at bay.

“I’ll use my flashlight and shake it around and they think I’m a predator and they start letting me know ‘hey, we’re out there and we’re poisonous.’ They really put on a show,” Cheek said.

Cheek said most of the visitors to the Dismals Canyon come from out of state, or even beyond.

“We have people all over the world who have come here. We have a following in Germany, so I started asking them were they coming to Alabama to visit the Mercedes plant, and they tell me they’ve come to our state to see the Dismals,” Cheek said.

During the school year, Cheek conducts guided educational hikes for students. It’s a program he personally put together designed to teach the kids about environmental stewardship.

“It’s about respecting the environment. When you carve into a tree it hurts the tree. And the trees are all connected by their roots, so they all feel it,” Cheek said. “But when you love on a tree, they all feel that, too.

“We are an experiment in environmental stewardship. We have the most unique little ecosystem down there. People ask why the Dismalites are here? The moss, the rocks, the water, the cooler temperature are perfect for them. People from all over our world have told me this is the most unique place they’ve ever seen,” Cheek said.

When you see the kitchen used by settlers, or the Temple Cave, you feel this to be a special place. The Dance Hall is a very unique place. Also, the weeping bluff, with the heart of the canyon crying for her only true friends—the Chickasaw Indians.

“You can feel the sadness there, but it’s also a place of healing. I’ve had a lot of guys with PTSD tell me they feel that healing energy. It’s so peaceful there,” Cheek said.

The Dismals Canyon is open Monday-Thursday from 10am-5:30pm, with the last admission at 4pm. On Friday/Saturday, hours are 10am-7pm, with last admission at 5pm. Sunday hours are 10am-5pm with last admission at 3:30pm.

You can learn more about Franklin County’s hidden treasure, Dismals Canyon, by visiting www.dismalscanyon.com, or following the Dismals Canyon on Facebook or Instagram.