Wild Flowers of The Natchez Trace Parkway

I imagine every season brings its own style of beauty to the forest, fields, meadows, rivers, and streams that make up the 400-mile Natchez Trace Parkway. We were lucky enough to be here in the middle of Spring, and were treated to a fantastic display of wildflowers! We delighted in flowers of red, yellow, white, purple, and blue, showcased in fields, on decaying logs, in shady groves, and popping up in sunny places on the forest floor. Wrapping up my Natchez Trace blog entries is this wildflower display of Butterweed, Crimson Clover, Daisy Fleabane, Dogwood, May Apple, Ox-eye Daisy, Scaly Blazing Star Thistle, White Daffodil, Wild Blue Phlox, Wood Ear fungus, False Solomon's Seal, Bluebells, Wild Rose, and others I was unable to identify, but are beautiful none-the-less.

Natchez Trace Parkway (Mississippi)

As we worked our way across Mississippi we continued to explore portions of the Natchez Trace Parkway. Using a map with detailed descriptions of each mile marker, it felt like we were on a grand treasure hunt, and I found myself eagerly anticipating each stop along the way. The two-lane highway that makes up the parkway has well marked pull outs and picnic areas every few miles, encouraging you to stop for frequent explorations. We discovered diverse ecosystems including a lush cypress swamp and an impressive beaver dam; we saw ancient burial grounds of nomadic Native Americans nestled in a field of spring wildflowers; we took short hikes through groves of alder trees and loblolly pines and longer hikes through parts of the Sunken Trace, an area of deeply eroded trails carved out by thousands of travelers walking on the easily eroded loess soil. Finally, and all too soon, we found ourselves at the end of our journey at the southern terminus of park in Natchez, Mississippi. 

Natchez Trace Parkway (Tennessee)

The Natchez Trace Parkway, a federal park maintained by the National Park Service, has long been on our list of places to visit. Carving out the time to explore this National Scenic Byway worked into our plans to be in Alabama and Mississippi for our last two Capitol visits. Also known as the "Old Natchez Trace", or simply, the Trace, this historical path extends roughly 440 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. It was created and used for centuries by Native Americans (including the Natchez Indians) and later by European and American explorers, traders, and emigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The developed Parkway follows the approximate path of the Old Trace, and parts of the original trail are still accessible to park visitors.

We started the first leg of our journey near the northern terminus of the trail, in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Our RV Park, Falls Hollow, provided easy access to the Parkway, located just across the road from one of the many entrances. The first day out we drove 40 miles north towards Nashville stopping at the many points of interest along the way. We hiked to beautiful waterfalls, sometimes through fields of colorful wildflowers. We were treated to stunning views of hills and valleys (known as hollows, and pronounced "hollers", in Tennessee). We hiked through dense forests along creeks and over bridges. We heard beautiful songbirds, the chirping of the frogs and were sometimes sharing our space with the resident insect life. We also picked up some history lessons along the way. If this is just the first 40 miles, we'll need more than a couple of weeks to take it all in!

Here are some pictures from our first journey on the Trace.