Roosevelt State Park: Civil War Hill Trail et. al. (Blog Hike #1007)

Trails: Muscadine, Civil War Hill, and Rolling Hill Trails
Hike Location: Roosevelt State Park
Geographic Location: Morton, MS (32.32016, -89.67672)
Length: 3.2 miles
Difficulty: 4/10 (Moderate)
Date Hiked: February 2024
Overview: A rolling lollipop loop through pine forest.
Park Information: https://www.mdwfp.com/parks-destinations/state-parks/roosevelt/
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=957132
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming January 24, 2025)

Directions to the trailhead: East of Jackson, take I-20 to SR 13 (exit 77).  Exit and go north on SR 13.  Drive SR 13 north 0.7 miles to the park entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the park, pay the small entrance fee at the gatehouse, and notice the signed start of the Muscadine Trail on the right just past the gatehouse.  Drive another 0.2 miles to the park's lodge, and park in the parking lot in front of the lodge.

The hike: Located in the piney woods just off I-20 between Jackson and Meridian, Roosevelt State Park protects 550 acres centered on 150-acre Shadow Lake.  The park was built in the late 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and it was one of Mississippi's original state parks.  The park is named after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; he established the CCC but has no known ties to this area.

            The park has a very developed feel considering its location in the middle of the pine woods.  Those developments include a 20-room motel-style lodge, a 109-site developed campground, 15 cabins, several picnic areas, fishing and boating on Shadow Lake, a swimming pool, some athletic fields, a disc golf course, and 6 hiking trails totaling 4.8 miles.  3 of the trails can be accessed from the park's main day-use area, and combining those 3 trails forms the 3.2 mile lollipop loop described here.

Start of Muscadine Trail

            There are several points where you could enter the trail system, but this hike starts where the Lakeview and Muscadine trails cross the park entrance road near the gatehouse.  To get there from the lodge parking lot, walk back out the park entrance road past the soccer field.  Just before the park's campground road exits right, turn left to begin the Muscadine Trail by walking through a wooden portal.

            Marked with red paint blazes, the wide single-track dirt Muscadine Trail heads north into the woods on a rolling course.  Pine trees dominate this forest, and many of these trees probably date to the CCC era.  0.5 miles into the hike, the park's Old Campground comes close on the left.

Hiking the Muscadine Trail

            Just past the campground, the orange-blazed Rolling Hill Trail exits right.  This intersection marks the start of the loop portion of this hike.  We will use the Rolling Hill Trail as our return route, so for now you want to continue straight on the red-blazed Muscadine Trail, thus hiking the loop clockwise.

Start of Civil War Hill Trail

            In only a couple hundred more feet, you reach another trail intersection.  The Muscadine Trail continues straight to reach Shadow Lake and a park road, but this hike turns right to begin the Civil War Hill Trail, this park's longest trail.  Marked with blue paint blazes, the Civil War Hill Trail takes you on a rolling course through more nice pine forest.  The ranger at the park office told me this trail gets its name from a Civil War military unit that camped here, but I could not find any details.

Shadow Lake

            Near 0.7 miles into the hike, Shadow Lake comes into view through the trees to the left, but the trail never reaches the lake shore.  Instead, the trail curves right and starts going more up than down before dropping into the ravine that contains Line Creek.  I saw 3 deer in this part of the forest, and the pines make for an amazingly quiet and peaceful setting.

Climbing toward the high point

            After climbing out of Line Creek's ravine, you reach the highest elevation on this hike, which is only about 125 feet higher than the trailhead.  More up-and-down through more ravines and more pine forest brings you to an intersection with the Rolling Hill Trail at 2.4 miles.  The Civil War Trail ends here.  The park entrance road in sight to the left would give you a shorter route back to the trailhead, but this hike turns right to begin the Rolling Hill Trail.

End of Rolling Hill Trail

            Marked with gold/orange blazes, the Rolling Hill Trail goes more down than up as it passes through one final ravine.  At 2.7 miles, you reach the north end of the Rolling Hill Trail and close the loop.  Turn left to retrace your steps on the Muscadine Trail, then turn right on the park entrance road to return to the lodge parking lot and complete the hike.