This trip is from the northern terminus of Natchez Trace National Road and off it at the southern terminus into Mississippi and Louisiana.
This is the kind of rolling hills the northern end of the Parkway begins in at MM444.
Our first stop was at the Double Arch Bridge (app. MM438). This is such an unusual design.
There are many historical markers. This one (app. MM437) is for the soldiers in the War of 1812 who died along the road. Jackson’s army of Kentucky and Tennessee backwoods men marched this road to Natchez, then went on down the Mississippi River to defend New Orleans, where they defeated a much larger invading British force.
Our next stop was to take a short hike to see Jackson Falls (app. MM 405). Being early spring, it was running good.
There are many places to stop and get out of your vehicle to stretch your legs. We stopped at one just beyond Jackson Falls for a nice stroll in the woods.
There were creeks…
…and small falls along the way, I’m not sure about their exact locations.
There are also places along the Parkway you can exit to see. The first one we left the Trace for was Davey Crocket State Park.
There was a small collection of owls.
Along the Trace there is plenty of uncaged wildlife to see, such as turkey vultures.
The paved road follows the original trail, but is not built directly on it. There are many places where you can get out of your car and walk on the actual Trace (app. MM398). You can tell when you are on the original Trace by the way the path is sunken. So many years of foot, horse, and wagon travel have caused this.
We next stopped to hike down to a ford (app. MM390).
You can see the actual location of the old ford by where the creek runs across rocks.
The path led to the site of an old phosphate mine.
Our final stop of the day was at Merriwether Lewis Campground (app. MM387). There are 3 campgrounds on the Parkway. There are no hookups, but they do have bathrooms with running water. And they are free. So we took advantage of all 3.
Next Location – Natchez Trace Parkway north-central segment
From the North Rim 