Wall Doxey State Park (Blog Hike #627)

Trail: Nature Trail

Hike Location: Wall Doxey State Park

Geographic Location: south of Holly Springs, MS (34.66282, -89.46454)

Length: 2 miles

Difficulty: 2/10 (Easy)

Date Hiked: March 2017

Overview: A loop hike around spring-fed Spring Lake.

Park Information: https://www.mdwfp.com/parks-destinations/state-parks/wall-doxey/

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=726280
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: Near Holly Springs, take I-22 to SR 7 (exit 30).  Exit and go south on SR 7.  Drive SR 7 south 6 miles to the signed state park entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the park, pay the park entrance fee, and park in the parking lot in front of the Park/Lodge Office.

The hike: Established in 1938 as one of Mississippi’s original Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)-built parks, Wall Doxey State Park protects 750 acres on the main road south of Holly Springs.  The park centers around 60-acre Spring Lake, which as its name suggests receives all of its water from nearby springs.  The park was originally called Spring Lake State Park, but the name was changed in 1956 to honor Wall Doxey, a local politician who served first as a U.S. Representative and then as a U.S. Senator from 1929 until 1943.

            Today Wall Doxey State Park comes across as a park that time has forgotten, which has both positive and negative implications.  On the positive side, the park receives little traffic, and the CCC-built stone buildings give an old-timey charm few places can match.  On the negative side, almost every facility in the park is in some state of disrepair, including the 64-site campground, the group camp, the picnic pavilion and bath house, and the park’s 9 cabins.  The same goes for the park’s only hiking opportunity, the 2 mile Nature Trail encircling Spring Lake that is described here.

Lake view near lodge

            From the parking lot in front of the Park/Lodge Office, walk to the left of the lodge for a fantastic view of Spring Lake, which from here sits about 15 feet below you.  Then turn left and start walking an unmarked dirt path south parallel to the lake on your right.  Next you pass the CCC-built bath house and pass through the picnic pavilion area before leaving the developed part of the park.  All of this time you are heading for the earthen dam that forms Spring Lake.

            At 0.3 miles, you reach said dam, and the trail curves right to cross the dam.  Some bald cypress trees live in Spring Lake’s shallow water, and a swarm of midges greeted me on the warm cloudy morning that I hiked here.  After crossing the dam, the trail curves right to continue its clockwise journey around the lake.

Cypress trees in Spring Lake

            Next the trail enters what appears to be an old primitive camping area or picnic area.  Where other trail options go left, stay right to remain on the trail closest to the lake.  A barely legible sign says “trailhead” at this point, and some old wooden signs also stand in this area.  Some old wooden benches give partially obstructed views of the lake provided you trust the bench to hold your weight.  Spring Lake makes Wall Doxey State Park an above-average birding destination, and I saw a large number of Canada geese and titmice on my hike.

            For the rest of its journey up the isolated west side of Spring Lake the trail rises and falls moderately up and down some lakeside bluffs.  Some wooden steps take you up and over the bluffs, but they also are in poor shape.  Sweet gum and maple trees cover these bluffs, as do some red cedars.

Climbing a bluff

            At 1.2 miles, the Nature Trail descends the last bluff and merges with an old road that enters at a sharp angle from the left.  A few hundred feet later, you reach Spring Lake’s only significant feeder stream, which you cross on a narrow wooden footbridge.  This footbridge seems a little dubious given this park’s general state of disrepair, but it got me across the stream with no problems.

Narrow footbridge

            Now on the east side of the lake, the trail stays on the old road, which features some old stone culverts.  Highway noise from nearby SR 7 filters in from the left.  At 1.75 miles, you reach the park’s cabin area and boat ramp.  Angle left to head up the boat ramp road, then look for the continuation of the Nature Trail that exits right and heads steeply uphill, the steepest hill on this hike.  I passed an armadillo burrowing into the ground in this area.  At the top of the hill, you reach the back of the Park/Lodge Office and the lake view you started with, thus marking the closing of the loop and the end of the hike.