The Natchez Trace--

From Shiloh National Battlefield we drove east to enter Natchez Trace. Once on the Trace, we headed north to Merriwether Lewis Campground. We have traveled the Trace before, from Jackson, MS to Cherokee, AL. This time we wanted to see the northern part of the Trace.

This monument marks Merriwether Lewis's burial site. It was erected in 1848, years after his death.

We were lucky enough to get a site at the National Park Service Campground. Unlike others in the park service, this one was free.

For those of you who don't know about the Trace, it was once the major route from Natchez, MS to Nashville. People would take their goods south by river, sell everything (including wood from the boat), then walk home along the trace. There were stands (inns) built along the trace for people to stop and rest. Today's parkway follows as closely as possible the original route of the trace.

As we drove along one of the original Trace roads (dirt) we spotted these turkeys.

Jackson Falls was one of our stops as we traveled north. The falls are at the end of a 900 f00t trail that winds below the parking area.

From the falls we went to the Gordon House Site. It was near the spot where the ferry crossed Duck River.

Near the end of the Trace, is the bridge over Birdsong Hollow. It won an award in 1996 for design excellence. It has double arches which eliminates the need for columns.

We spent 2 nights at Merriwether Lewis Campground before heading south to Tupelo. We stopped along the way to do some geocaches.

One was at Rock Spring. There were stones set in the creek to get to the walking trail.Beavers built a dam across the creek.When we arrived in Tupelo we got off the Trace to find a state park to spend a few nights. It was after 5 when we arrived so the office was closed. We picked a site and went to register the next morning. Unfortunately, all the sites were reserved for the next night (spring break for Mississippi students) and we had to leave. There was nothing else available near Tupelo so we returned to the Trace in hopes of finding a site to camp.

Our first stop was Davis Lake which is run by the Forest Service. They had one site, and it wasn't long enough for our rig and it was on a slope. So we continued on to Jeff Busby Campground on the Trace. We were lucky enough to get a site so we stayed several nights. The campground filled every night.

From our camp site we walked the trail to Summit Overlook.Bob searched the geocache site and found some caches located near the Trace. We visited Kosciusko, MS which is Oprah's birthplace. We found a cache at the Boys and Girls Club building she donated to the town.

We also found a coal mine not far from our campground. We had to answer questions to get credit for this cache.

We enjoyed watching the big trucks hauling coal and dirt. They dwarf the bulldozer on the right.
It was early in the evening so the lights were on on the front of the trucks.
We enjoyed our travels on the Trace. Since we had done the southern part, we retraced our route and exited the Trace in Starkville to head toward the Tenn-Tom Waterway.