Day 15 - Natchez Trace to Decatur, Alabama

[Karen] When we first started talking about taking this 'road trip' and were thinking about what we wanted to see, I added the Natchez Trace as one of the things I wanted to see.  Davy Crockett was one of the first persons to use the old Indian trail which was created by the Chicksaw and Choctaw nations in order to carry their goods to trade with each other. Like the Appalachian Trail it was one of the first transportation highways in the U.S. - first foot and then other modes as they became available. Davy Crockett was for the most part a hunter, explorer and fur trader. He evidently loved exploring the most. He seemed to be fascinated by the wilderness beyond the edges of settled countryside. The Trace is a National Park which is a 444 mile highway and a unit of the National Park system. "In the early 1800's 'Kaintucks' from the Ohio River Valley floated cash crops, livestock, and other materials down the Mississippi River on wooden flatboats. At Natchez or New Orleans, they sold their goods," and their boats and walked or rode by horse back home. We spent a peaceful day driving along this beautiful 2 lane highway which disallows truck traffic and has a speed limit of 50mph.

The Trace starts in Natchez but we joined it near Jackson, MS and followed it to Cherokee, AL although it continues on to just below Nashville, TN.  There are no gas stations or restaurants - only historical monuments or informational pull-outs.

However, there are small towns easy to reach a mile or so off the parkway, where you can find restaurants and gasoline stations.

Burnett Reservoir along the Trace

Flora included coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and Star lilies, water lilies, Mangrove trees, and oaks, firs, and pines. Fauna included deer, Bluebirds and Cardinals.

 

[Kalon] I didn't know anything about the Natchez Trace before we started planning this trip.  But today was probably the most pleasant driving day we've had on this trip: 300 miles of two lane road with little traffic, beautiful scenery, no stop signs/lights, no trucks, and no billboards!  Nothing like this out west.

There are numerous informational pullouts on the Trace along with occasional picnic benches.

 

 

                    The Trace passes lakes, swamps and reservoirs. Water lilies in Burnett Reservoir above.

Occasionally the road passes near the historic "Old Trace" - a narrow dirt walkway through the forest.

I walked up the Old Trace (below) a little and imagined walking from Natchez to Nashville: would have been beautiful but grueling.

By the way, I think only selected segments of the "Old Trace" are accessible.