AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Cahaba River is one of Alabama's most treasured wild places—a 194-mile free-flowing river that slips from its headwaters near Leeds all the way down to the Alabama River southwest of Selma, passing through some of the state's busiest suburbs without ever being dammed along much of its length. The result is a rare, unspoiled river of rocky shoals, deep pools and sandy bends that holds an astonishing abundance of life and offers paddling, fishing, hiking and swimming just minutes from Birmingham.↗
What makes the Cahaba genuinely special is its water and its wildlife. The rock shoals that break the river into a rhythm of pools and riffles create habitat for rare species, and the river is home to more than 135 fish species—more than any other temperate river of its size. Each late spring, those shoals erupt in the white blooms of the Cahaba lily, a plant found in only a handful of rivers in the Southeast and the defining symbol of the river.
The Cahaba Lily: Alabama's River of White Crowns
Every outdoor lover who gets to know the Cahaba eventually comes for the same thing: the Cahaba lily, or rocky shoals spider lily. In mid-May through mid-June, thousands of these striking white flowers—each with three-inch-wide petals and a crown-like center—burst from bulbs wedged into cracks in the rocks beneath the current, transforming stretches of the river into a floating landscape of bloom. It is one of Alabama's most remarkable natural spectacles, and a sight found in very few places in the world.
