Falcon Guides Announce Joe Cuhaj's Latest Outdoor Guide - "Hiking Waterfalls Alabama"

Falcon Guides and author Joe Cuhaj are pleased to announce that Joe has contracted to write his 9^th outdoor recreation guide for the publisher. The book will be titled, Hiking Waterfalls in Alabama.

As the title implies, Hiking Waterfalls in Alabama will take hikers of all stripes to some of the most beautiful and secluded cascades in the state. The guide will feature roadside waterfalls that people of all ages and abilities can visit, short easy hikes down a mountain or canyon trail to rushing waters with beautiful blue-green pools, and difficult hikes for more seasoned hikers to some of the state’s lesser known and more remote waterfalls.

Cuhaj says that research for the book is now underway. “The first step is to map out travel plans to visit all of these falls. As of right now, the list is at about 150 waterfalls that I will explore and from that decide the best 50 or 60 to include in the book.”

Of course, waterfalls in Alabama are mostly seasonal. “Yeah, summertime isn’t the prime waterfall watching season in the state, unless there are some decent rains. The best times are in the fall and winter months, maybe into early spring, when there is plenty of rainfall. So, I’ll actually start hitting the trails in September.”

The book is scheduled to be completed by March, 2020.

Cuhaj’s other books for Falcon include:

·     HikingAlabama (formerly Hike America Alabama, now in its 4^th edition)

·     Hiking the Gulf Coast

·     Hikingthrough History Alabama

·     BestDog Hikes Alabama

·    PaddlingAlabama

Joe has also penned a book for Menasha Ridge Press titled, Best Tent Camping Alabama, and a brief history of baseball in the state’s Port City titled, Baseball in Mobile, for Arcadia Publishing. He is currently wrapping up work on a new book for History Press titled, the Hidden History of Mobile, that will be released fall of 2019.

The Great Lemonade War of 1965

Good morning, all. Time for another episode of my short story podcast, "Joe Cuhaj's Shorts". This is a quick one about something we all did as a kid (or most of us, anyway) - make some quick cash with a lemonade stand. It's called, "The Great Lemonade War of 1965".

And don't forget, you can find all episodes at JoeCuhaj.Com. Enjoy, won't you?

The Beat (Heat?) Goes On

Hi, all. Hope you’re having a great summer. I took a short break from the madness of writing but I'm back armed with a full ink cartridge, plenty of blank paper, and a ton of projects.

The completed manuscript for Hidden History of Mobile went in to the publisher, History Press, a few weeks ago. I'm just waiting for the edits to come back so I can look at all the red ink and say, “did I write that? No way. Had to have been someone else!" Only to realize - sigh - it was me. Ah, the editing process.

Anyway, we did decide on the cover photo. I was hoping to use this shot from downtown Mobile. I think it’s a nice photo highlighting old and new Mobile.

But, what do I know? They selected a unique old photo from Mobile’s past to grace the cover courtesy of the Mobile Local History and Genealogy Museum. It’s an interesting shot of a promotional event held by the Mobile Gas Company somewhere in the late 20s, early 30s maybe. A man dressed in a polka-dotted outfit and conical hat is driving a cart pulled by a donkey advertising that residents are “invited”  to the “Old Stove Roundup” where they will give you $13.15 for your old stove then set you up with a credit plan - $1 down, 12 months to pay.

How much are stoves and ranges going for today?

We’re still shooting for a fall release on the book.

Meanwhile, work is just beginning on the new Falcon Guide, “Hiking Waterfalls Alabama”, another title I’ve been dying to work on for years. Trouble is, many waterfalls in ‘Bama are seasonal, so, I’m biding my time writing the front and back matter as I await the fall rains. 

That reminds me of the book I co-authored with my friend (I think he’s still my friend..better check), Curt Burdick. It’s titled, Paddling Alabama, and no, it’s not about corporal punishment – or general punishment, for that matter. It’s about canoeing and kayaking the state. We would be sit at our desks at our day job every Friday afternoon and watch the Christmas tree lights of the American Whitewater website, waiting for the reds on the rivers to turn green meaning that the rivers we wanted to check out were flowing enough to paddle. 

Many times by the time we made it from the Gulf Coast to north Alabama, the rivers had dried up again. At times we thought the book should have been called, “Walking the Rivers of Alabama”.

PS, we have no idea who that is on the cover.

But that was then, this is now, and I’m ready to hit the trail again!

Till next time – cheers!