THE BIG EASY

From Pensacola, the plan was to drive to Percy Quin State Park in southwestern Mississippi. We had reservations for one night at the campground there. I’d picked it because it was conveniently located close to where we would be hiking on Sunday morning. However, we decided to improvise. I had never been to the heart of New Orleans, and it wasn’t far out of the way. We made the spur of the moment decision to drive into the French Quarter Saturday evening for dinner. Are we crazy? Yes. We didn’t feel like driving to the campground and setting up camp late that night, but I was able to get a free hotel near Baton Rouge. That would be just as close as the campground, and easier to deal with.

While I drove, Christy researched restaurant options. We settled on Muriel’s, and got the last reservation available, at 9:30. We parked at a hotel for $20 around 8:30. That gave us plenty of time to walk around the French Quarter. First we stopped at a bar and got drinks, because it is perfectly legal and acceptable to walk around the French Quarter will alcohol. From there we wandered around, eventually ending up on Bourbon Street. It was as festive as expected, but Christy had a blister on one foot and wasn’t up for a lot of walking. We headed to the restaurant early, and luckily they were able to seat us right away. We splurged on a wonderful cajun seafood dinner. We were pretty exhausted afterwards, and drove straight to the hotel in Baton Rouge.

MISSISSIPPI MUD

One of my lifetime goals is to do at least one hike in every state. My research on Mississippi turned up a couple of promising areas – Black Creek and Clark Creek. The Clark Creek Natural Area, south of Natchez, has waterfalls. Allegedly there are 40-50 of them. Most are small and almost all of them are off-trail though. Still, waterfalls in Mississippi? That was pretty compelling.

We headed that way early Sunday morning despite a hostile weather forecast. Violent storms were expected starting later that morning, but the worst were predicted to hit that afternoon and evening. Our planned hike at Castor Creek in Louisiana that afternoon was definitely in jeopardy, but I was determined to at least get the morning hike in.

We arrived around 8am, and seemed to have the place to ourselves. We paid the small parking fee and hit the trail. The hike started with a long, surprisingly steep descent. Along the way we passed some impressive large trees and lots of wildflowers. After the initial descent we reached the beginning of the loop trail. We decided to go counter-clockwise, saving the “primitive trail” for the end. According to the trail map, this meant that we would hit waterfall #1 first, and then waterfall #2. After that, we’d get to waterfall #5, then #6, and then #4. That would be followed by several unnamed, unnumbered waterfalls, with waterfall #3 coming last. I have no idea why the waterfalls are in this order. Perhaps that is the order in which they were discovered? They could also use proper names, but numbers are what the park decided to go with.

Waterfall #1 is a nice 25’ sheer drop into a muddy sandstone canyon. After checking it out, we returned to the main trail. A side trail led to waterfall #2, but Christy decided to skip the long, steep descent. It was a good choice, as waterfall #2 is pretty crappy. Actually it might be nice, but there is a large fallen tree on it, ruining the view.

We returned to the main trail again. After several ups and downs, we reached a shelter on a ridge high above a tributary of Clark Creek. Some college kids passed us, and started bushwhacking steeply down towards the creek. I found a primitive spur trail headed in that direction a couple of minutes later. This one looked steep, so Christy decided to wait. I followed the path down to the rim of a canyon. This was sketchy, as a slick, muddy goat path followed the brink. I walked it until I found a safe place to descend. Once in the creek I walked back up the canyon to reach the base of a cool 20’ waterfall. On the way back up I passed the college kids again. When I regained the goat path I followed it to the top of the falls. I found a cheap, old, frayed rope tied to a tree here, dangling down in the waterfall. Nobody in their right might would even think about trying to climb or descend on it.

A thunderstorm rolled through while I was in the canyon. There was a lot of thunder and lighting, but only light rain.

A short distance upstream was another 10’ waterfall. From there, I climbed back up to rejoin Christy. We followed the main trail back down, which reached the creek a ¼ mile or so downstream from where I’d just been. I think it would’ve been easier just to follow the creek! We found a small slot canyon here. It’s only about 8’ deep or so, but only a couple of feet wide. We met two other hikers here, and one of the was wading up the slot canyon. That looked pretty cool, but he really struggled to get out due to the steep, slippery mud banks.

We left the trail here and followed the creek upstream to a fork. At this point, if you go right you’ll come to the canyon and waterfall #5, where I’d just been. We went left. Some challenging rock hopping brought us to the base of my favorite waterfall of the day. It’s 25’ or so, and it forms a true freefall.

We returned to the trail and followed it to Clark Creek proper. This point is right on the property boundary, and there was a rope across the creek, complete with a stop sign and numerous no trespassing signs. The primitive trail is supposed to start here, but I didn’t see it. We walked up the creek a short way, and found a trail that leads back up to the main trail we’d hiked earlier. Christy decided to bail out there. I was determined to finish the hike, so I backtracked and searched for the primitive trail. I found it climbing straight up the bank right at the property boundary.

The primitive trail is well-named. It is steep, muddy, and eroded. The hike to this point had been surprisingly challenging, but the worst was still ahead. The last half of the loop featured a lot of steep, muddy sections with bad footing. I reached another small waterfall, and then passed a much taller waterfall on a tiny stream. After some more ups and downs I dropped down to another tributary of Clark Creek. I passed a stand of bamboo and startled two deer before starting up the creek. I lost the trail at one point along here, but regained it after a few minutes of wandering around. I explored up the creek to a small but interesting natural bridge. A bit upstream was a 15’ waterfall. The cliff next to it had a 5’ ladder propped up against it. The ladder led only to more cliff, which looked difficult to climb. Truly this was a ladder of dubious value.

I backtracked and then hiked a short distance up another tributary to a low-volume, 15’ waterfall. From there I scrambled steeply up to regain the trail. Another long, steep climb ensued, followed by a steep descent. This brought me to the brink of waterfall #3. This one is a nice 25’ drop with a sizeable pool at the base. There were some college kids playing in it, and the sun had just come out. As a result, I didn’t put much effort into photographing that one. In fact, I didn’t even bother with the steep, sketchy descent to the base.

A steep, rugged climb led away from the creek. The final stretch of trail featured some of the nicest wildflowers of the whole hike, including an impressive group of Indian Pink. I finally reached the end of the primitive trail and followed the main trail back up to the parking area. Christy and I had lunch in the car. We were a couple of hours behind schedule. The hike had been longer and harder than expected, but it had also been more scenic than I’d hoped. The big trees, waterfalls, and wildflowers had really exceeded my expectations.

We drove into Natchez and stopped at a cute little coffee shop right on the Mississippi River. It was a bustling little place, and we got iced coffees to go. I checked the weather forecast, which did not look promising. In fact, it looked terrifying. Huge storms with high winds, tornados, and hail were approaching. Driving down into a bayou to hike to Castor Creek seemed like a bad idea. I’d already booked us a free hotel in Texarkana that night. We decided to skip the hike. I’ll have to do a hike in Louisiana at some point in the future.

We drove back roads between Natchez and Monroe, LA. We were in a rural part of north-central Louisiana when we received an emergency alert on our phones. A tornado had been sighted near the town of Mangham, LA. We pulled off at a gas station to assess the situation. The alert stated that the tornado was expected to pass through Mangham at 5pm. It was exactly 5pm. But where were we? Mangham.

The sky was ugly, with some spooky clouds. Luckily the sky began to brighten quickly, and the rain eased. At the next update, the tornodo was off to our northeast, having already passed by. It missed us by no more than a minute or two.

We got on the interstate and drove through Monroe towards Shreveport. Unfortunately storm damage had closed the highway ahead. We got off and took back roads all the way to Texarkana. We finally made it into Texarkana just in time to hit Outback Steakhouse shortly before they closed. We used up another gift card and headed over to the Candlewood Suites. The next day we’d be driving to the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas. We’d be hiking and camping there for several days.

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