Picture the day. You roll out of Birmingham on I-20 East before 9 a.m. with the Forester loaded and ready, and you're watching hardwood ridges go gold and crimson from the Talladega Scenic Drive by mid-morning. Lunch is a picnic table at Cheaha's lake overlook. You're home before dinner. The whole thing fits in one tank, one vehicle, and one well-packed cargo hold.
The 2026 Subaru Forester makes this day easier than it sounds, and not just because of symmetrical AWD. Cargo architecture runs the show, so knowing what fits where before you load keeps you calm at the trailhead instead of fishing a squashed sandwich out from under a wet cooler.
The 2026 Farmers Almanac projected peak Alabama foliage between October 19 and November 4. You're reading this at exactly the right moment.
What's the Route?
The anchor is Cheaha State Park, Alabama's highest point at 2,407 feet and about 90 miles east of Birmingham via I-20, and the cleaner approach is Alabama Highway 281 south from Exit 191. That road is the Talladega Scenic Drive, and it earns the name. Hardwoods line both shoulders the whole climb.
Stop two is a short hike at Cheaha's Bald Rock Boardwalk. Stop three on the return is Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, 20 miles south of Birmingham, if anyone wants a second look at the woods before heading home.
| Stop | Est. Drive Time from Prev. Stop | What You're There For | What to Pull from the Forester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Cheaha Lake Picnic Area | 90 min from Birmingham | Lunch at the lake overlook, picnic tables and grills on-site | Cooler, blanket, camp chairs |
| 2. Bald Rock Boardwalk (Cheaha) | 5 min within park | Short hike, summit views, fall color up close | Day pack, water bottles, layers |
| 3. Oak Mountain State Park (return) | 65 min from Cheaha | Optional second trail or Peavine Falls overlook | Grab whatever's left in the rear |
Keep the Cheaha Road alternate (County Road 42 from Munford) in mind as a scenic option winding through Talladega National Forest. That said, the park itself notes the road has current detour conditions on a gravel section, so Alabama Highway 281 is the cleaner call for a day trip.
Stop 1: Cheaha Lake Picnic Area
Load the cooler and the big gear at Cheaha Lake, because this first stop is the centerpiece of the day and it takes up most of the Forester's cargo hold.
The 2026 Forester offers 27.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row. Subaru lists 29.6 in the Base trim, though most Foresters on our lot are Premium or above. Numbers sound abstract until you're actually stacking a 48-quart cooler, two camp chairs folded flat, and a rolled blanket against the rear gate. It all fits, and the extra-wide rear gate opening isn't marketing copy. A standard 48-quart hard cooler slides in square without tilting.
If you bring the dog, move the camp chairs to the floor behind the second row and leave the cooler in the center. Forester has 43.3 inches of front legroom and enough rear knee room that two adults in back still work for a 90-minute drive. You're not sacrificing passengers to cargo.
Cheaha has picnic tables and grills distributed around the lake area. Day use is available with a small per-person fee. Gates open at 7 a.m. and all day-use areas close at sunset, with admission stopping 30 minutes before that.
The Numbered Stops in Detail
Stop 1: Cheaha Lake Picnic Area (Birmingham + 90 min)
Arrive by 10:30 or 11 a.m. and claim a table. Cheaha Lake sits below the summit, quieter than the main visitor area. Eat before you hike. Your back thanks you later. Pack the food cooler with perishables and keep a separate soft bag for non-perishable snacks, trail mix, and water bottles on top, accessible without opening the main cooler. The Forester's flat rear floor makes stacking clean when the second row is up.
Browse available Foresters in Birmingham
Stop 2: Bald Rock Boardwalk (5 min within the park)
The short pull from the picnic area runs up to the summit-area loop. The Bald Rock Boardwalk sits at the highest accessible point in the park and gives you a ridge view across the Talladega National Forest canopy when the oaks and hickories are peaking. Leave the big cooler locked in the car. Pull out a day pack, water, and a light layer. October afternoons at 2,407 feet drop faster than Birmingham does.
Cheaha at peak season gets crowded on the summit loop road, and that's the honest tradeoff here. A compact loop runs through cabins, the hotel, and the main overlooks, and it shows the congestion. Plan to arrive before noon on a Saturday if this is a weekend trip. Weekdays are a different story entirely.
Stop 3: Oak Mountain State Park (return, 65 min from Cheaha)
Looking for a certified pre-owned Forester instead?
Oak Mountain is the largest state park in Alabama at roughly 11,000 acres, located in Pelham, 20 miles south of Birmingham on I-65. It makes a genuine option for the return leg if the crew still has energy. Peavine Falls is a 65-foot spring-fed waterfall reachable by either a short drive to the North Trailhead or a trail hike. By the time you arrive, the afternoon light on the hardwoods is something worth stopping for.
At this point in the day, you'll likely have an open rear cargo floor. Fold one side of the Forester's 60/40 rear seat down and slide in anything that shifted during the Cheaha hike. The flat-folding seat means no lip to load over.
Timing note: Alabama's foliage arrives later than most fall-color maps suggest. The 2026 Farmers Almanac projected peak between October 19 and November 4 in this region. Cheaha's elevation (2,407 feet) pushes color a week or two earlier than the Birmingham metro. If you're going specifically for the leaves, Cheaha earlier in that window, Oak Mountain later, is the sensible sequence.
What to Pack in the Forester's Cargo Zone
Our team keeps a short, repeatable packing list for a Cheaha day trip, and it loads cleanly into the Forester's cargo zone. Build it in this order.
- Hard cooler (48-quart fits clean through the extra-wide rear gate), packed at 50% ice to 50% food by volume, loaded last in the car and first out at the table
- Camp chairs folded flat and loaded vertically along the rear wall (they won't tip in this configuration)
- Rolled blanket placed on top of the cooler, pulled first when you arrive
- Day pack with water bottles, sunscreen, a light layer, and the day's non-perishable snacks
- Dog leash if applicable (Oak Mountain requires a physical leash six feet or shorter on all trails)
One note on the Forester's small-item storage. The center console and door pockets are on the tighter side for a vehicle this size. Keep a separate small tote up front for the things you reach for constantly (phone, sunglasses, trail map, entry fee) rather than relying on the cubbies to absorb everything.
Tweak It to Your Crew
This itinerary as written is built for two adults and a moderate amount of gear, with an optional third stop if energy holds, and it scales cleanly in both directions.
Scaling cargo and passengers: Bigger crews mean the rear seat is full, which means only the standard 27.5 cubic feet behind the second row. A soft cooler and a tote bag per couple still fit fine. Families with kids who need car seat installation should note that the Forester's rear seating is notably wide for the segment (Subaru lists 110.8 cubic feet of total passenger volume, more than a Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V). Car seats don't crowd the remaining adult as much as you'd expect.
If someone in the group needs the Wilderness trim's additional ground clearance (9.3 inches versus the standard 8.7), the Cheaha Road alternate through Talladega National Forest justifies it. The current detour runs on a 14-foot-wide gravel road for 2 miles. The standard Forester handles it fine in dry conditions, though the Wilderness doesn't flinch.
Want to make this a Saturday-to-Sunday instead? Cheaha has 77 hookup campsites in its upper and lower campgrounds. The cargo floor with the second row folded flat opens to 69.1 cubic feet, which is enough for a cot, a duffel, and your full camp kitchen.
Need more room for the full family? The Outback carries more
The EPA rates the standard 2026 Forester at 26 city and 33 highway. The 90-mile drive from Birmingham to Cheaha sits almost entirely on highway. A 16.6-gallon tank and those fuel numbers mean you make the round trip without a gas stop.
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