Saturday Nov 5, 2016.   Well, the Yellow Jackets conspired to let us leave camp at half time. Setting aside that familiar disappointment, we looked forward to seeing the remaining portion of the Natchez Trace and then veering off eastward to our next lighting point. As we were leaving the J. P. Coleman State Park, we discovered that the lake on which we had been camping was actually a very large slough of the Tennessee River, down which oozed companionably, alongside occasional vees of woodland ducks, large container barges on their way to the wider world.

We sniggled our way back over to the Natchez Trace to savor the last 70 miles before our planned exit. Given that it was already mid-afternoon and we had lots of football games queued up on the Sirius Radio, we by-passed the many tempting 20-minute hikes to things that don’t exist (I kid you not, one of the entries in the guidebook of attractions reads as follows: “Mile 367.3 Dogwood Mud Hole. There isn’t anything to “see” here, but this marker helps to remind you of what the Trace was like in periods of heavy rain. An often impassable mud hole lies nearly a mile to the south.”), and elected instead just to enjoy the immaculate unspoiled landscape along the Trace. Good choice. It is fine with a capital F. Eventually, we came to a sign saying that the rest of the Trace was closed and directed all traffic to detour. But not before we got a chance to stop, explore, photograph and inspect the wonderful double-pen rough-hewn long cabin replicating Grinders Stand (which means “inn owned by a person named Mrs. Grinder”), in which Meriwether Lewis mysteriously died, on October 11, 1809 at age 35, of two gunshot wounds to his head and abdomen while sleeping alone in his guest room. Many speculate that it was suicide. Others say it was murder or perhaps a really bad side effect of syphilis or malaria. Whichever way, it was a sad end to an amazing explorer and fascinating man. The monument at his grave nearby is a large broken column, a symbol of a life cut short.

Thus off the Trace for good, we wound around on beautiful rural state roads through farms and small towns, heading generally east towards Columbia TN. Brad commented that people in the area seem to have a real sense of pride in their surroundings. I agree there was a remarkable neatness to the countryside — in a backdrop of beautiful fall colors and decorated with only a modicum of things that a Junior Leaguer would deem prohibitively in poor taste.  Good job!

We arrived at 6ish at Henry Hudson State Park near Chapel Hill, TN. It is a pretty wooded campground with lots of people out camping in the great weather.   A group of four men in their 20s and a dog are camping to our starboard side and having a great time. We had pasta and salad for dinner and watched another episode of Foyle’s War (no TV coverage under this heavy tree canopy).

Sunday morning now and we are off for a hike. (We are having trouble getting strong enough wifi signals to post the photographs to this blog. I will add them retroactively as soon as I can. Come back later to see them!)

Meriwether Lewis Memorial

Grinder’s Stand