POWERGRAMS

31 park. Power loves when the rhododendrons bloom each spring. She relishes the times hikers tell about seeing a bear or a wildcat deep in the woods. Highlighting the "wonderful people" she's met since 1981 are Boy Scouts who camp in Cheaha and return years later. Power still remembers her fourth-grade field trip, right down to eating a bologna sandwich from a paper bag at Bald Rock. "When kids aren't getting exposed to the outdoors, they're really missing out," she says. Josh Booker is visiting from Marietta, Georgia, with his wife, Veronica, who's from L.A., and their young boy and girl twins. Booker, 32, is from Mobile and first came to Cheaha as a Scout. He now makes the 90-minute drive with his family every year or so. "It's important for my kids to have some of the same experiences I had growing up," Booker says. "When I come back to Cheaha, most things haven't changed at all. It's a special place." Plans are in place for one of the world's longest zip lines opening at Cheaha in 2018. At least until then, and maybe still afterward, the park's most popular feature year-round will be Bunker Tower. Home to the ground-level CCC Museum, the tall structure has a roofed observation deck with a 360-degree view that eventually entices most every visitor up to the highest place in Alabama. There are 15 windows in the 6-foot-thick stone walls going up the steep stairway to the top, where children for 81 years have marveled in excitement and fear. "I think one of the biggest pleasures is seeing the park through the eyes of a child," Power says. "Some days, we're just astounded by the little things, like a child chasing a butterfly. Working in Cheaha, it's hard to put into words, but a lot of times it's about much more than the paycheck." Top: Several waterfalls flow in and around Cheaha State Park. Middle: Express Trail is a regional favorite for mountain bike and hiking enthusiasts. Bottom: Cheaha Restaurant patrons enjoy sunset while dining on the mountainside.

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