| Little River Canyon National Preserve | |
|---|---|
 Little River Canyon | |
   | |
| Location | Cherokee and DeKalb County, Alabama, U.S. |
| Nearest city | Fort Payne, Alabama |
| Coordinates | 34°26′26″N 85°35′44″W / 34.44056°N 85.59556°W |
| Area | 15,288 acres (61.87 km2) |
| Established | October 21, 1992[1] |
| Visitors | 726,239 (in 2022)[2] |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Little River Canyon National Preserve |
Little River Canyon National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located on top of Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne, Alabama, and DeSoto State Park. Created by an Act of Congress in 1992, the 15,288-acre (6,187 ha) preserve protects what is sometimes said to be the nation's longest mountaintop river, the Little River. The canyon was historically called "May's Gulf", "gulf" being a common term throughout the Cumberland Plateau for this sort of feature.[3] Prior to being assigned to the National Park Service, the canyon area formed the southmost unit of Alabama's DeSoto State Park.[4]
- ^ An Act To establish the Little River Canyon National Preserve in the State of Alabama. Pub. L. 102–427, H.R. 3665, 106 Stat. 2179, enacted October 21, 1992.
- ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
- ^ Savage Gulf in Tennessee, or Trenton Gulf nearby in Georgia, now renamed "Cloudland Canyon".
- ^ "History & Culture - Little River Canyon National Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2016-11-04.