NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY, DAY 4

Since we did actually do about 20 miles to get to the Davis Lake Campground on Wednesday - Thursday was officially the fourth day we were traveling on the NTP. 

As I mentioned last post - we didn't leave until just before lunch. We wanted to drag out the luxury of the campground as long as we could.

Another day - another Parkway shot. Yes, lots of trees along the trace.

Then along came this! Good thing there was a sign that said that there had been tornado damage in 2011 or we really would have wondered why it looked this way.

Three sections of the parkway were heavily damaged, the stretch between mile 204 and 212 were the hardest hit. It seemed to go on forever.

We didn't stop until we reached mile 193, the Jeff Busby Campground. It was far to close and early to spend a night there, so we decided to stop there for lunch. 

We drove up to the exhibit and overlook parking lot at the top of the park. It is at one of Mississippi's highest points at 603 feet.

Always interesting history to read about.

The view - from one of the highest points in Mississippi!

Everyone stretching their legs.

After we ate Cassia and I went for a quick walk down the trail.

Since it was all down we didn't go far because of course we had to go back up too.

Now back on the NTP. I took this picture because at several clearings up to here we kept seeing beautiful magnolia trees - one of our favourites. I finally decided to take a picture of one.

At mile 122 we stopped at the Cypress Swamp. We had read about it at the Tupelo Visitor Center and were pretty excited about it.

 Nice with the boardwalk.

Obviously a very photogenic place. Take a look.

A nice loop walk. We all enjoyed it! Cassia was a bit nervous after we had read that there could be alligators present. None today though.

Definitely our favourite stop along the Trace so far.

A view of the Ross. R Barnett Reservoir just north of Jackson, Mississippi.

Houses lining the canal on the west side.

A view into the other world as we passed through Jackson and Clinton. Nice that this was one of the few glimpses we got. Hard to believe that we drove right past a large city.

Derek and I were thinking that the NTP is like a road version of the movie The Village - a good one to watch if you haven't seen it.

Our timing was spot on. We pulled into the Rocky Springs Campground just before 5:00pm and just before it got dark. Not even sure of the site number.

I'm not sure if it is the time of year or what but the Rocky Springs campground is in need of cleaning and maintenance. Definitely not as nice as Meriwether Lewis.

Another cool night.

Only 54 miles to go Friday morning and our trip down the Natchez Trace Parkway will come to an end.

Sad, really. A nice way to travel.

Next post I'll finish up with our Trace pictures and then let you know what we are up to now. If you are on Facebook you may have already figured it out - if not - stay tuned - I'll do a post on that in a day or two.

Teresa

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