NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY DAY OUT

Meriwether Lewis Park

Jacks Branch

Glennrock Branch

A fungus as big as your foot

Purple flowers. Awe......

Happy trails

Wading in the creek

Looks like the end of the trail for us.

Monday we got up early and was greeted by the most pleasant day we had had in quite a while. The temperature was a cool 58 degrees and the sky was nice and clear so we decided it was a good day to take the bikes and find a nice place to ride.

As soon as John Pearson got out of football practice, we picked him up and headed out to the Natchez Trace. We have been up and down the Natchez Trace dozens of times, but we haven't stopped at any of the Historic sites to the north of us. We took highway 20 out to the Trace and went north. Our first stop was the State Line area, then Cypress Creek , Holly and Sunken Trace. All the areas had paths and trails that you could take. It was fascinating to see the old trace and the ruts in the road where long ago travelers had ventured from Nashville all the way down to Natchez Mississippi. The area is still dense with vegetation. I can't even to begin to imagine how people were able to navigate wagons through the area.

Next we stopped at McGlamery Stand, Sweetwater Branch, Glenrock Branch and Dogwood Mudhole. We took a drive out to Laurel Hill Lake which is just a lake for fishing, no swimming or wading. Just to the north of Laurel Hill Lake is a stretch of the old Natchez Trace that extends about two miles. We started to unload the bikes and ride the area. It is a good thing we didn't, we would probably still be trying to get back to the car. There was lots of hills and sharp drop offs along the road. We didn't even realize that we were in such high elevation. The scenery was just beautiful.

Then it was on to Jacks Branch. The kids loved this area because of the water that ran through the area and the flat rocks lining the bottom of the creek. I guess we were lucky that we tramped all over the place, through the weeds and water and didn't see a single snake. I was pretty sure they were seeing us though. After we left Jacks Branch, we drove on to Napier Mine then up to Metal Ford. Lots of fast moving water and plenty of spots to take a dip. To bad we didn't carry our swimsuits. The kids still did a lot of wading and splashing.

Our final stop on the Trace was Meriwether Lewis park and camp ground. Finally a place to drag the bikes off the trailer and ride for a while. We rode down a section of the old trace and back. By this time it was almost 4:00 and time to head back home. We drove over to Summer town hit hwy. 43 and drove down toward Lawerenceburg. When we got to Lawerenceburg we stopped and got a Little Caesar's Pizza ( thank goodness for their $5.00 pizza) pulled over at the first shady spot and ate then headed home. We dropped the kids off at their house a around 6:30 and came home and spent the rest of the evening in the recliner. Another fun but tiring day.

If you get the chance to drive the Natchez Trace at a leisurely pace ( speed limit is 50 miles per hour) there are lots of sights to see and lots of history to be learned. I didn't know that Meriwether Lewis is said to have died from a self inflected gunshot. Amazing!!! I'm not too old to learn something.