update on recently opened Black Creek Wilderness section
First post on this site. I thought I would start with an update on the Black Creek Trail through the section that goes through Black Creek Wilderness. I have canoed the Creek several times fron Janice Landing down to Cypress Creek Landing and also down to Fairley Bridge Landing...an awesome experience as well.
We entered the trail on the southeastern end of the wilderness section (about 11:30 am on 12/20/10), off of Melvin Breland Road, and hiked about 3 hours total with a few leisurely stops. Fantastic trail, overly well marked, and beautiful scenery. it was amazing to my buddies and me the work the USFS folks put into clearing the dead trees etc. left from Hurricane Katrina damage (yes 5+ years later). A great job! A humorous scene as an ironic example of government work at its best, included the crossing of a flowing creek with 6 foot banks and no bridge. After a comical, but dry, barely, crossing (not including bare feet), we trudged on down the trail and within 10 minutes came to a nice wooden bridge over a perfectly dry creekbed...Well, anyway, we found a great camp sight on the banks of Black Creek, within sight of a huge sandbar, across the creek and about 40 yards upstream of a small rapids, gurgling water and all.
Watching a full moon rise over the bluff of about 25 feet above the creek was a great site. Was awake to see the lunar eclipse later also, but cloud cover prevented that. The next morning we were up and moving about 9:30 and finished the trek out at Janice landing about 1:00 pm. There were some bluffs as high as 45-50 ft above a side creek the trail meanders around. Overall, some good climbing, surprisingly for south Mississippi. I would like to go back and hike the full trail but if you are looking for a longer dayhike or a one nighter, the Black Creek Trail through the wilderness section would rival most any trail (minus mountains or seacost).
I've done the Juniper Trail in Florida, the Tuxachanie in MS and did Amicallola falls to Neels Gap on the ATback in October. Planning on going back to AT to enter at Neels Gap and make it to NC this spring.
Another Black Creek Trip Report
Finally, I am getting to experience the Black Creek Hiking Trail (BCHT), the Black Creek (BC), a National Wild and Scenic River and the Black Creek Wilderness (BCW). Basically, they are all one in the same and share a very close existence. The BCW consists of 5,000 plus acres and is federally protected. The BCHT goes through the BCW for 10.8 miles and it’s total length (depending on which source/map one goes by) is between 38-41 miles. The BCHT is a designated National Recreational Trail. Canoeing and kayaking opportunities are abound on the BC, which offers about 41 miles, again, depending on which source/map one refers to.
This trip report consists of the 10.8 miles of the BCHT that traverses through the BCW that offers sporadic views of the BC. Our group consisted of myself and four guys that I regularly train and compete with at a local firearms range. We started from the parking lot of the General Jackson Interpretive Trail, which is just about .5 miles from the Janice Landing on Hwy. 29 in Perry County, just Northeast of Wiggins, MS. The weather forecast was near perfect. The temperature during the day was between 70-75 degrees, no rain, and a nice breeze with some wind gusts. The night temperature never got below 65 degrees. The weather was darn near perfect I tell ya!
So, the plan was to hike in at least half way or more, camp overnight, then hike on to the Melvin-Breland Rd. trailhead to be picked-up by our pre-arranged ride. Any mileage figures will be based from Janice Landing to the South towards Melvin-Breland Rd. The white diamonds (a plastic diamond card) nailed to the trees were our guide and navigational beacon. The terrain was much like the Tuxachanie Trail (TT) in Harrison/Stone Counties. The initial distinguishing difference was that the BCHT was not as wide as the TT, so that was a welcomed change. As we headed further in the BCW, I could feel the remoteness that this trail system offered. There are no mile markers on this trail, but I will refer to ‘mile marks’, being when I marked a waypoint for that mile mark on my GPS from Janice Landing. The BCHT parrelled the BC at a distance, it then turned to follow the Beaver Dam Creek (BDC) and the one mile mark was shortly after the BC and BDC intersected. Just past the one mile mark, there was an obvious side trail that I marked as a waypoint. We did not get to explore this side trail as we had much hiking to do on the BCHT, and I will come back another day to do some day hiking and see where this side trail leads. We already knew that this portion of the BCT would intersect with Hwy. 29 at a bridge. The two mile mark was just before the trail came out to the edge of Hwy. 29. This was an easy crossing as one just walks up to the highway, over the bridge and back down into the trail. On the South side of this bridge is a really nice sign to get the obligatory ‘Kodak moment’, which of course, we all did. So basically, the trail has looped around BDC at this point and is heading toward BC. Post-trip, I see that BCHT comes really close to the Florida Gas Line Rd. just behind a church, but I never saw anything that I could remember while hiking. There was nothing particular about reaching the third mile mark, but that I was really warmed-up and stoked about being in the BCW hiking the BCHT. Just before the fourth mile marker, the trail runs right along the BDC and offers some nice views along with the sounds of the water flowing in BDC. The fifth mile marker was right at where the BDC and the BC intersect and we were able to walk down to the creeks’ edge. Oh yeah, we took a break and enjoyed the scene. Somewhere between the fifth and sixth mile marks was a nice area to camp along the BC. Apparently, some other folks thought so as well. No one was there, but there was a table built out of limbs and a basket built out of vines. One of the guys referred to it out of something the Blair Witch Project. Well, moving on along, somewhere between the sixth and seventh mile marks was a major blow down on the trail that was impassable, or was not worth trying to pass, so we bush whacked around it. Thankfully, Spring had not kicked in yet and the bush whacking was minimal. Just before the seventh mile marker, we started looking for a camp site for the night. There were some nice offerings, but the bluff over BC was very high and would have made it somewhat challenging to obtain water. There was another point where the BCHT came right along the BC, so we hike on. At around eight and half miles, we found a really nice area to camp in. This location was on a high bluff overlooking BC as well, but BC also interested with Mill Creek (MC), which was also easily accessible and MC was our water source for filtering. In addition to this location being a really cool camp site location, someone had already established a fire ring.
Thanks to one of the guys that was with us, he brought two rib-eye steaks marinated in some type of Teriyaki seasoning, four potatoes and some sour cream and butter. So he made a grilling rack out of bamboo and cooked the steaks over the coals. On top of a Mountain House Meal (Beef Stew), each of us had half a rib eye steak and potato, which was a cool way to end the night. The next day was going to be a short hike out for about two miles or so. We were not in a rush to hike out because of the short distance we had to go. So, we were able to take our time in the morning as well. Because I left my GPS on just a little when we arrived at camp the afternoon before, mile maker nine and ten may not be as accurate as the other mile marks I logged. Somewhere between the ninth and tenth mile marks was a huge drainage with no crossing. This drainage was way larger than the other several bridged drainages and it was odd that there was no bridge built over it. It may very well have had a foot bridge over and may have been washed away because there were several large trees cluttered up about 30-40 feet down from it. Thankfully, those cluttered trees ended up in way that they made it possible to cross this drainage. Other wise, this would have been a difficult crossing. The remainder of BCHT at this point became rather wide and I suspect this portion may have been an old forestry road bed, but nonetheless, it was a beautiful wilderness to backpack and hike through. On both ends of the BCW portion, there were large information boards about a tenth of the mile in or so with of course, information about the BCHT and the BCW along with a ‘Visitor’s Registration’ box, which had no slips available to fill out. During this trip, the only people we encounter going the opposite were a large group of Boy Scouts from Covington, LA. I think they were Troop 193 and there were about 20 of them or so. It was nice to see them out and about. During my hikes in the De Soto National Forest, I have seen more Boy Scout Troops from Louisiana (Covington and Mandeville areas) than anywhere else. As a matter of fact, I have yet to see any from Mississippi on the trail. This was a great introduction the BCHT, BC and the BCW for myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it and yes, it was quite a challenge. I am already planning my next outing somewhere along this trail system. Not only was this a great Walk in the Woods, it was a great Night in the Wilderness.
SMSP