Old Trace Walk on the Natchez Trace Parkway

A .4-mile stretch of the original Natchez Trace is located at Milepost 403.7 on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Look for the trail sign on the right side of the parking lot and follow the path into the forest for a .3-mile walk (one way) on the Old Trace. Notice that the sides of the trail are sloped upwards as if the trail itself is in a shallow gully. This is due to the trail once being so heavily traveled that an actual gully was worn into the ground by people, pack animals, and wagons. At the southern end of the Natchez Trace where the soil is much sandier, the gullies are as deep as ten feet.

Sunken section of the original Natchez Trace

This segment of the Old Trace is relatively flat, though there are two small hills. The surface of some sections, especially near the hills, is littered with small, loose rocks, so it’s like walking on the bottom of a creek bed. Farther down, the trail narrows and gets a little overgrown, but that’s not the end. You’ll know the end when you come face to face with a forest. In fact, it is hard to imagine that the Natchez Trace was ever here.