Thursday 4-5 Finishing the Natchez Trace Parkway

We're excited

We spent the night in Meriwether Lewis Campground, it is a free campground and there are no hookups. We knew it was going to be cold so before we went to bed last night we turned on the Wave 3 propane heater.  We woke to temperatures in the low 30's. It wasn't bad sleeping considering we had plenty of blankets. When I got up it was about 55 inside so I turned on the furnace for a few minutes to get the chill out of the air. For breakfast I baked crescent rolls, excellent for the cold weather.

Where camped at on The Natchez Trace Parkway

After breakfast we went on a 5 mile hike to Meriwether Lewis Monument. The hike was a beautiful hike through the trees, walking over creeks and through creeks and up and down hills. The trail started just across the road from where we camped. At the beginning of the hike we hiked down a hill and when we got to a creek we had to either cross it by rocks or walk through it. We hiked over 2 miles to the monument. As we were walking around the monument we noticed that it was in a graveyard and some graves had names and others had unknown. A little ways down the road from Meriwether Lewis Monument there was the remains of the Grinder House where Meriwether Lewis died, they are not sure if he committed suicide or if he was killed. The trail going back to the campground was just as pretty, along the way  some of the trail had switchbacks so it was easier. During the hike we disturbed four white-tail deer. They watched us for a little while and then they hopped away. We hiked along a very nice creek and at places we saw a few other creeks feed into it. As we were hiking we hiked part of the old Natchez Trace Trail. We stopped and rested at the picnic area by the creek. We had a super hike on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

A very small waterfall

Meriwether Lewis Monument

Old Building

The creek that runs by the picnic area

When we got back we were tried, we had hiked almost three hours. I was glad that I only wore a light jacket instead of two because I got warm during the hike. The temperature was in the low 40's but when you're hiking up hills you get warm. We rested a little bit and then I made soup for lunch. After lunch we sat around and read.

Larry checked the weather forecast for tomorrow and found out that rain was suppose to come in earlier than they anticipated so we decided to leave. We continued on the Natchez Trace Parkway until the end, which was 58 miles. We stopped a couple of times. The first stop was at Fall Hollow to take a picture of the waterfall. The other stop was Birdsong Hollow, where there is a Double Arch Bridge over the Tennessee HWY 96. While driving the rest of the way we saw more wild turkeys and four people riding horses along a creek. When we got to the end of the Natchez Trace Parkway there were no signs or anything to indicate it was over, it simply fed into other roads. seemed strange.

The two arch bridge

Fall Hollow fall

We drove to Manchester Tennessee and parked the Minnie for the night at a Home Depot. We had a super time driving the Natchez Trace Parkway. 

The Natchez Trace is an old trail that was started by Native Americans and buffalo. It goes through three states (Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee). Later traders would float down the Mississippi River from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez Mississippi to sell their wares. The current was too strong to travel back up the river so they would even sell the wood their boats was made of then they would hike the Natchez Trace back up to Nashville. The Trace became unused once powered riverboats came along and folks could use them to go upstream. As you drive the parkway you can stop and learn the history of the Natchez Trail. It's a very beautiful drive.