The flora, fauna, and typography of this canyon are not very different from any other hiking area I…read morehave hiked in Alabama. It's very similar to Bankhead National Forest. The size of the sheer bluffs (and many of the rocks) at Dismals is fairly unique, though. We visited this past weekend and I thought the whole experience was okay. It's not a National Park, or a National Forest, Dismals is a "National Natural Landmark" that is privately owned.
The cost in my humble opinion to hike (without a guide) the Dismals *and* take the night tour with a guide is expensive! It was approximately $28.00 per adult. The trail is around 1.5 miles - at least the trail we explored in the daytime before taking the night tour. The creek running through the base was deep enough that there needed to be ways to cross it that were navigable, preferably with handrails. In photos, I've seen concrete blocks, which would have been okay (note, not handrails) but there were no concrete block crossing at areas we needed/wanted to get across the water. There were random pieces of wood, even fallen trees and my husband, who is both a "daredevil" and in great shape, managed to traverse the waters to see the other side, but he did land in the water (on his feet) and absolutely soaked his shoes and socks. The three of us opted to backtrack and not deal with the water. To me, this is very poor planning on the part of the Dismals owners.
The trail map we got from the "General Store" had landmarks which were just "cute" names for the features, like "The Pulpit" and "Witches Den" - to me, they were fairly unremarkable "landmarks."
Fast forward to the night tour which was scheduled for 9:00 PM. We were told to arrive at 8:30 and if everyone was early, we could start early. I did not note the time we started, however, it was about a 45 minute hike. Parts of this hike were in total, 100 percent darkness to ensure we had the utmost opportunity to view the "Dismalites." That's fine, except, I'm not a fan of walking in uneven/unfamiliar terrain in the pitch dark, with my husband dragging me forward in a group of 13 people counting the guide. This was unnerving and I moved at a snail's pace, and held up those who were stuck behind me. Also, I was hanging onto the rail with one hand and couldn't physically rubberneck around to try to catch a view of a glowworm. I think I saw a total of twelve glow worms.
After exiting the night tour trails, we saw firefly larvae that glowed in the shallow water at the entrance to the trail. To me, this was the highlight of the glowing visuals.
Another con is the numerous wooden staircases at the Dismals trail's entrance/exit. There is absolutely no way these are constructed to code! These stairs are so narrow in depth that my size 8 ladies shoes, (which is an average women's shoe size) hung off the edge about 2 inches, forcing me to "duck walk" down the stairs. Even if they are built to code, the stair treads are completely worn off, providing absolutely no traction whatsoever.
The guide told us due to the "drought" the Dismalite glowworms were not out in abundance.
If you keep your expectations low, and really enjoy a sandstone gorge/canyon, and are not risk averse, you will have a nice time here. Our tour guide did a good job providing information that was geared towards the audience which included age ranges from children to senior citizens.
I can't comment on the "General Store" food options because we didn't eat anything there, or the campsites (note, the on-site cabins are closed and unavailable). The sole restroom which is a little walk from the General Store and is clean with a barely working hand dryer and no paper towels.
The parking lot is ridiculously small with each space being beyond small. The owners of the Dismals need to invest in their property to make it worthwhile, easy to traverse, and safe for their visitors.
