by Melanie McManus | Apr 14, 2021 | Alabama, Mississippi, Natchez Trace (Hiking) 2021, Tennessee, Trail Journals
I’m super excited to start my thru-hike of the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail tomorrow! A quick background on this hike. Back in 2013, when I first thru-hiked the Ice Age Trail and fell in love with thru-hiking I had a travel writers’ conference in...
by Melanie McManus | Apr 6, 2021 | Mississippi, Natchez Trace (Hiking) 2021, Trail Journals
My first-day itinerary called for hiking about 20 miles (32.2 km) from the southern terminus to the end of the Potkopinu section. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail consists of 62 miles (99.8 km) of trail along the...
by Melanie McManus | Apr 7, 2021 | Mississippi, Natchez Trace (Hiking) 2021, Trail Journals
Today’s itinerary called for hiking nearly 20 miles (32.2 km) to the Port Gibson area. Last night, camping at Coles Creek, was OK. It was warm and stuffy in the tent until the middle of the night, when it got cooler. We heard a lot of owls hooting, and some...
by Melanie McManus | Apr 8, 2021 | Mississippi, Natchez Trace (Hiking) 2021, Trail Journals
Today’s goal was Rocky Springs, the second of five sections of the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail. It lay at the very end of the day. I was excited. Little did I know what this day would bring. The morning went well. It was sunny and warm out, but not too...
by Melanie McManus | Apr 9, 2021 | Mississippi, Natchez Trace (Hiking) 2021, Trail Journals
Today’s hike was from the northern terminus of the Rocky Springs section to mile post 79 – a little under 20 miles (32.2 km). But first, a short recap of last night. The Rocky Springs campground was reasonably full. Strangely, while the bathrooms were open,...
by Melanie McManus | Apr 10, 2021 | Mississippi, Natchez Trace (Hiking) 2021, Trail Journals
Our goal today was reaching the 100-mile (160.9-km) mark, which is in the Jackson, Miss. area. The storm that was predicted did sweep through overnight, so we woke up to gray, drizzling conditions. By the time we headed out, though, the rain had ended. Yay! As Ed and...
