57.5 mi / 12.5 mph / 1587 ft. climbing
Home: Rocky Springs Campground

Following on our unexpected (but entirely necessary) rest day, we were up at 5:15am, to the motel breakfast (which thankfully opened at) 6, and on the road just after 7 (even while repairing Rett’s completely flat front tire which I just discovered this morning!).  The main goal was to beat the day’s heat, and such an early start would have been completely impossible if we’d begun the ride as originally planned, breaking down wet camp following overnight storms.

The Natchez Trace Parkway intentionally has very few links to the rest of the road network, so rather than heading southwest to the closest entrance (only to return northeast), or riding 8 miles up busy US-61 to the next direct-route entrance, we used a bike-only trick we had been able to scout on our way into Natchez. Where Palestine Road crosses under the Parkway, we heaved our bikes up the grassy slope rising to the bridge. And then we  were on the Natchez Trace!

It was immediately much quieter and classier than the plebian roads below. During our 50 miles on the Trace, just 47 cars overtook us. Commercial vehicles aren’t allowed, so we saw no visible debris on the roadways to threaten our tires, and with no shoulder, any such debris would be quickly swept off the smooth asphalt and absorbed by the close-cropped grass anyway. And there were no dogs! Well, there was one, who trotted up towards us while we were taking a break, got within 20 yards, and, satisfied, turned back to wherever he came from (there are no houses or civilization visible from anywhere on the Trace). Strange!

The day began with clouds low enough to be a misty fog, and that helped the temperature stay at a comfortable 64°F for the first couple hours. But eventually the sun broke through and the day began heating up. 40 miles in, we left the Trace at Port Gibson, the only opportunity to stock up on drinkable water for camp (we cut half-a-mile off our total mileage by realizing that traffic on US-61 was low enough to not require a detour on minor roads). After some debate (and difficult-to-find bagels) at the former Piggly Wiggly, we acquired a bag of ice, a gallon of water, and a couple of Sprites. We filled all of our bottles with ice and water, put the remainder in our 8-liter bladder, and sandwiched the Sprites on top of it to keep them cold.

Sixteen more miles (there is a post marking every mile on the Trace) and we reached Rocky Springs Campground. The first bathroom at the entrance was long out-of-service, as expected. But the one on the campground loop that I expected to be open was also closed (much more-recently, judging by the taped-on signs). Shit. Even if the water wasn’t drinkable, we had still be counting on it to clean ourselves up, and to use the toilet. I thought I might have read that there were two bathhouses, so we continued on the loop, and yes, there was another building, but it was just as boarded-up and vine-covered as the one at the entrance. Shit.

The campground was surprisingly-full before 2pm on a weekday, I guess because it’s free? Likewise, we can’t complain too much about not getting our money’s worth for what will effectively be a night of wild-camping. But just making it to night will be a challenge. The temperature would top out at 85°F, and similar to how we outran the changing leaves of autumn on our ride south, it seems we have outrun spring on the way north. Despite summer-like heat, the plentiful trees have not yet leafed-out enough to provide useful shade, so we needed to position (and re-position) our chairs in the narrow shadows cast by their trunks.

We used some of our precious water for sponge baths, and then migrated over to the more-plentiful shade of the bathhouse that we had decided to set up near despite its closure. I heated up our Indian-food pouch meals (no water, little cleanup required!) for a 3:30pm dinner, but before we even finished them, a septic truck arrived and nearly backed over us before we could gather up our stuff and dash away! At least now we know why the bathhouse was closed. Unfortunately pumping out the tank left the area smelling more like shit than it had before, so we were back to using the tree-trunk shadows for relief.

Finally the sun lowered to a point where it needed to pass through the unleafed branches of dozens of trees before reaching us, so we were free to move about, but that’s when the mosquitos arrived! The quick cooling at least allowed Rett to dive into the tent without overheating, and while they swarmed me like annoying gnats, they were surprisingly bad at actually biting. Still, the annoyance forced me to join Rett in the tent soon after the 7:15pm sunset (for the first time in forever I didn’t put the rainfly on). Darkness finally brought relief, we should have enough water to get us through tomorrow’s ride, and are those fireflies lighting up the trees?