Natchez Trace Parkway: Mount Locust Inn (Blog Hike #890)

Trail: Mount Locust Trail

Hike Location: Natchez Trace Parkway, Mount Locust Inn
Geographic Location: north of Natchez, MS (31.68572, -91.18833)
Length: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: March 2022
Overview: A short hike around an inn on the old Natchez Trace.
Trace Information: https://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: Mount Locust Inn is located at mile marker 15.5 on the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is located 15.5 miles north of Natchez.  Park in the parking lot in front of the small Visitor Center and restroom building.

The hike: The National Park Service maintains two long roads/parks designed for recreational driving: the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina/Virginia and the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi/Alabama/Tennessee.  Despite similarities in their design and status, the two parkways offer very different experiences.  Whereas the Blue Ridge Parkway features mountaintop views and natural scenery, the Natchez Trace Parkway features the region's history.  I have driven the majority of both Parkways, and I enjoyed my drive up the southern half of the Natchez Trace for my Spring Break 2022 hiking trip.

            Stretching for 444 miles on a southwest to northeast trajectory, the Natchez Trace is one of the oldest overland routes in the lower Mississippi River valley.  Travelers started using this route 10,000 years ago, and in the early days of European settlement this area was known as the Old Southwest.  Most of the Trace's travelers in the 1700's and 1800's were ordinary hard-working people from the Tennessee and Cumberland River valleys.  These people would float their goods down river for sale in New Orleans, sell the raft for timber, and ride horseback overland up the Trace back home.

            Numerous stands or inns along the historic Natchez Trace offered weary travelers opportunities to spend the night.  For travelers going in the usual northbound direction, one of the first inns they would reach was the Mount Locust Inn featured here.  One of the oldest structures in the area, Mount Locust Inn was begun by John Blommart in 1780, and the site housed an inn and farm until 1944.  This short hike explores the inn's building and grounds, and it gives you a good feel for the accommodations experienced by travelers on the historic Trace.

Asphalt trail to Mount Locust Inn

            Start by walking through the breezeway of the Visitor Center/restroom building and heading up the asphalt path.  After only a few hundred feet, turn right to climb some steps to the front entrance of Mount Locust Inn.  The front entrance was closed for repairs on my visit, so I had to walk the brick path around the inn and enter from the back.

Front of Mount Locust Inn

Back of Mount Locust Inn

            Mount Locust Inn demonstrates the typical accommodations afforded travelers on the historic Trace.  From the outside the building appears as a large well-appointed structure for its time and location, but the rooms are small and dirty with uncomfortable beds.  In fact, many travelers preferred to camp outside the inn as opposed to sleep in one of the crowded rooms.  Try imagining you are a traveler from yesteryear walking into this inn after a hard day of walking or horseback riding.

Mount Locust Slave Cemetery

            Exit the back of the inn and walk across the back yard to reach the Mount Locust Slave Cemetery, a somber and lightly marked clearing in the woods.  Of all the people buried here, only 10 of the names are known.  Retrace your steps back to the back porch, and then turn right to head down a gravel path that leads to the Ferguson-Chamberlain Family Cemetery.  Notice the ornate iron fence and numerous large monuments at this cemetery, a noteworthy contrast to the cemetery you passed earlier.

Ferguson-Chamberlain Family Cemetery

            Next the trail turns left and descends slightly to intersect the historic Trace.  Turn left again to begin following the historic Trace.  Walking this direction, you approach Mount Locust Inn the same way northbound travelers did 200 years ago.  Close the loop in front of the inn, and then retrace your steps to the parking lot to complete the hike.

Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge: Route 15 Trail (Blog Hike #889)

Trail: Route 15 Trail
Hike Location: Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge
Geographic Location: south of Vidalia, LA (31.56459, -91.55725)
Length: 2.6 miles
Difficulty: 2/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: March 2022
Overview: An out-and-back on an old logging road through periodically inundated land.
Refuge Information: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/bayou-cocodrie
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: From Vidalia, LA, take SR 131 south 6.6 miles to SR 15 and turn right on SR 15.  Drive SR 15 north 3.4 miles to the unmarked gravel road on the left that leads to the Route 15 Trail parking area.  Park in the large gravel cul de sac at the end of this short road.

The hike: Located across the Mississippi River from the historic town of Natchez, Mississippi, Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge protects 14,668 acres of bottomland hardwood forest along its namesake bayou.  The refuge came to be in 1988 when The Nature Conservancy purchased land from the Fisher Lumber Company and resold it to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The central tract of land offers one of the largest and least disturbed groves of bottomland hardwood forest in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, and the refuge is one of a complex of nine national wildlife refuges in the region.

            Most experts believe the refuge's best trail to be the Old Growth Trail, which as its name suggests leads through the least disturbed part of the forest.  Unfortunately, the Old Growth Trail requires a 3 mile hike just to reach its trailhead, and when I came here a large rainstorm lurked to the west.  Thus, I had to forego the Old Growth Trail and hike the refuge's most convenient trail: the Route 15 Trail.  As indicated by this trail's rather unappealing name, this hike is not the most appealing hike, but its ease of access allowed me to salvage what would otherwise have been a complete washout of a day.

Trailhead for Route 15 Trail

            From the rear of the gravel cul de sac, the unmarked trail heads west into the woods on the bed of an old logging road, which the trail follows for its entire distance.  The surrounding scenery varies from inundated to somewhat drier with small changes in elevation.  While some wet spots will need to be negotiated, in general the old logging road keeps the trail drier than its surrounding area.

Palmettos along the trail

            The forest along the Route 15 Trail exhibits more diversity than you might expect.  Tupelo trees dominate the wetter areas, while sweetgum trees prevail in the drier areas.  Dwarf palmetto is the dominant shrub in the understory, and some yellow asters brightened my path when I came here in early March.  I heard some woodpeckers and other birds, but the greenery is too think to allow me to see many.

Wet area on the trail

            After passing through a particularly wet area, the trail curves left to begin heading more south than west.  Some small stems were growing in the trail on my visit, and this trail will need to be re-cleared in a few years if the refuge wants to keep it passable.  At 1.3 miles, the trail ends at an old logging landing.  The Route 15 Trail connects with no other trails, so your only option is to turn around and retrace your steps to the parking area to complete the hike.  The rain I had been racing started falling about 15 minutes after I made it back to my car, and it continued for the rest of the day.