The Trace Day 3

October  27
All along the Trace we tried to come up with reasons why men moved along the 440 mile route from Natchez, MS north to Nashville, TN.
President Thomas Jefferson wanted to establish a postal road between the end of Daniel Boone's National Road in Nashville and the Mississippi River. In 1801 the Army began blazing a trail called the Colombian Road. Later users would call it "The Devil's Backbone" due to its remote, rugged wilderness and the highwaymen who laid in wait for passersby. Many "Kaintucks" built flat bottom boats and barges to haul farm produce and other merchandise down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and sell the goods and boats in Natchez before walking back north.
The road was a victim of its own success. It pushed western expansion as other roads were built and trade was established up and down the river. This, followed by the advent of the steamship killed the route.

Leaving Tishamonga State Park, we got back on the Parkway and moved south again. My goal was to traverse most of Mississippi and be done with the Trace the next day.

 Part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway or the Tenn-Tom. Its 234 mile man-made waterway that runs from the Tennessee River to the Black Warrior Tombigbee River in Alabama. This is the largest land excavation project in the history of the world requiring the movement of more dirt than the Panama Canal.

 Becky is fascinated by Indian mounds so we stopped at all of them along the Trace.

 This is what the area would look like if it were allowed to grow wild. It forms a natural prairie. 

We stopped at Witch Dance for lunch but didn't see the witches or see the bare spots because the grass was so dry and there were lots of leaves on the ground. 

 An overlook.

Outside of Jackson, MS we drove along the Ross R Barnett Reservoir.

 We drove through Jackson without ever seeing anything of the town just trees.
Late in the day we stopped at another sunken section of the trace. So many people and carts traveled along the path that it wore deep grooves in the ground.

Grumpy Gus don't like to get out of the car or have his picture taken. If it doesn't have a screen he can stare at it sucks.

We ended the day at Grand Gulf Military State Park. I didn't take any pictures of the campground. The Ranger was super friendly and the sites were easy to get into. If you have a larger rig use the upper campground. No campfire tonight because Mississippi has a state wide fire ban due to the drought.