The Trace, Part II and Natchez Wilderness Preserve May 19-26

After a great tour of the Tiffin factory we returned back to the Natchez Trace Parkway and headed over to the Thousand Trails Natchez Wilderness Preserve campground.  It was nice to get back on the parkway and enjoy the traffic free drive.  We crossed the Tennessee Border chalking up one more state on our list.

With all of the rain, the fields were bright with yellow mustard seed.

Colbert Ferry on the Tennessee River and the John Coffee Memorial Bridge.  The body of water is called Pickwick Lake and is formed by the Pickwick Dam on the Tennessee River.  It is a very popular fishing and boating area.

 Over look from the highest point on the Natchez Trace Parkway.  I think it was about 850 feet in elevation.

 We arrived at the Thousand Trails campground and set up camp for the next few days, using it as a base camp to explore the rest of the Trace.  Many of the pull outs are small and some are close together making it hard to maneuver the motor home and all of the stop and go is terrible on the gas mileage.

Just a few miles from our campsite is Meriweather Lewis Site,a memorial to Meriweather Lewis.  The Grinder House below is a reproduction of the stand  where he was found shot and dead.

The monument over Meriweather Lewis grave site represent a broken shaft symbolizing the untimely conclusion of his death.

 You can hike on part of the Trace in the park.  There is also a nice campground but we didn't stay there because we were at the Thousand Trails a few miles away.

 There are several nice short hikes along the Trace between the Meriweather site and the Northern Terminus.  We stopped at Fall Hollow and were treated to several waterfalls and wildflowers.

Gosh, everything is so lush.  It could almost be Hawaii!

This is an old tobacco barn.  There are still some tobacco leaves that are suspended from the ceiling.  The leaves are smoked dried which is why the barn is not air tight.

 The original Natchez Trace runs behind the tobacco barn for about two miles and passenger cars can drive the two miles back to the parkway.  The road is narrow and there signs of the recent wind storms that had blown down branches and debris.  Not a place for an RV.

The Highway 96 Double Arch bridge is almost at the end of the Trace.  It has won many awards and spans 1648 feet and is 155 feet above the Valley as seen below.

The final mile marker on the Trace.  The parkway is suppose to be 444 miles long but we couldn't find the 444 mile marker.  The parkway actually end at the intersection of Tennessee 100 and there are no signs proclaiming it is the end, which I thought very odd...sort of an anticlimactic end.

 We spent several days at the Thousand Trails campground where Joel worked a few projects between exploring the area around the parkway.  The campground is on the shores of Chief's Creek Lake.  The weather cooperated one day and allowed us to throw the kayaks in the water and spent an enjoyable half day paddling around the lake.

 This Blue Heron was very shy and took off as soon as I clicked the shutter but I was able to catch him in mid air.

 
These turtles were huge!  They had to be 12-14 inches across.

We left the Thousand Trails on Thursday (5/26) to head for Cedar Hill, Tennessee (about 40 miles north of Nashville) to visit my son Jason and his wife Rhonda.  We will be "Moochdocking" (driveway boon docking) through the Memorial Day Holiday and maybe longer.  There are few maintenance projects (oil change and coolant change) that Joel needs to accomplish as well as finish up the installation of the solar system, so that will take a few days, and site seeing in Nashville and surrounding areas.