Natchez Trace Day 2

Saturday, March 18

We spent Friday night at the Campground at Barnes Crossing in Tupelo, Mississippi. We arrived after dark but fortunately were able to see well enough to get hooked up. It rained a lot overnight, but by the time we were ready to leave mid morning, the rain had cleared, leaving way for a beautiful, blue-sky day!

Area around Chickasaw Village Site,
covered with spring beauties!

We stopped at MM 261.8, the Chickasaw Village Site, interested in learning a little about the Native Americans who lived in the area. As we pulled into the parking area and looked toward the exhibit, we noticed that the ground around the exhibit seemed to be covered with something blooming. On closer examination, those blooms turned out to be spring beauty. We had never seen it growing in an open field; back home it was usually on the edge of woodlands.

Closeup of spring beauties growing
next to daffodil.

Mixed in with the spring beauty were some other tiny wildflowers. We forgot all about reading about the Chickasaw, but we surely did enjoy their lovely spring beauties!

Wild violets peaked out of the grass.

After seeing these spring beauties, we noticed they were also abundant at almost every other similar stop along this section of the Trace. Spring was upon us. Even though the trees were just beginning to leaf out, we began to see other wildflowers as well. Violets, blue-eyed grass, and a tiny double-clustered white flower we weren't familiar with caught our eye. On a section of the Old Trace, we found blueberry bushes in bloom.

Tradescantia (spiderwort)

Twice during the afternoon we stopped at bald cyprus swamps. Wow! They look our breath away with their majestic, stately beauty. Smoky's comment, with a big smile on his face, "I'm in photography overload!" The first was Cole Creek at MM 175.6. A short trail through the swamp illustrated the transition from swamp to hardwood and was lined with wildflowers. The second, Cyprus Swamp, was at MM 122, and it too was lined with wildflowers.

Bald Cypress and reflections

Detail in the cypress swamp.

By the end of the day, we drug our weary bodies to a campground in Jackson, MS, tired but happy with the day.

--Shann