Black Creek Trail near Hattiesburg, MS

[WaitingInTheWeeds]

Thanks for the write up! Question about the proximity of the trail to the creek. I'd like to do a bit of swimming on my hike, are there any campsites near the creek?

Even though the trail follows the path of the creek (generally speaking) it actually doesn't come very close to it except in a few spots. You could camp of course at fairly bridge landing (though I'm not sure about swimming there as I didn't go down near the water). A great spot to camp is on the sandbar that I mentioned which is about 3 miles or so from fairly bridge landing and would also be a good spot to swim. You could also camp at the intersection of beaver dam creek and black creek and maybe swim there too.

As for the rest of the trail; you'd have to ask someone else b/c I do not know.

[SMSP]

WaitingInTheWeeds - Nice trip report as well. Looks like you hiked about 11-12 miles your first day. I am guessing the campsite the ranger indicated was likely the one we camped at, which was about 2 miles from Melvin-Breland Rd. going North. I have been busy and havent had time to be on WB much. I could have posted the GPS coordinates I logged prior to your trip, I'll attach the file to this post for whom ever interested.

Too bad you didnt have anybody else go with you, a one way trip could have been done. From Beaver Dam Creek and Black Creek to Janice Landing is about 5 miles.

I'll look at my calender and post when I may have some time to do more on Black Creek.

SMSP

[SMSP]

Looking to do an Overnighter on Black Creek on Sunday (4/24) & Monday (4/25).
Havent chosen a route/section yet. Open to any ideas. Would be willing to do Wilderness section again.

Any takers?

SMSP

[chili36]

It is a little too hot for me to tackle it until November or December.

[Bear Cables]

So happy to hear the Black Creek Trail is in such good condition and people are enjoying the hikes. I haven't hiked it since Katrina. We had planned to a couple of years ago but the spring rains had the creek at flood level and over much of the trail. For those who plan to thru hike it, you can arrange a shuttle with Black Creek Canoe Rental in Brooklyn. I might use this trail to introduce my older sister and nieces to backpacking. We always used it as an intro to backpacking trail with our Scouts and Venture Crews.

[hikebikemike]

Any info on the section above the BCW from Janice to Brooklyn? Planning an out and back next weekend, hiking up and floating back to Janice. I'm a seasoned hiker, but will be my 10 year old boy's first hike and just wondering if there is anything I should be concerned about. I'll put up a report when we get back. Thanks!

[hikebikemike]

The section from Janice Landing to Brooklyn is pretty rough. The trail is largely overgrown in most sunny places (maybe one-quarter of the trail) with knee to shoulder high grass and LOTS of thorny vines, and there is a 6-8 foot wide water crossing about 2 miles in without a bridge. Parts of the trail are quite nice, though. There is a nice sandbar side trail about five miles in, and another off a gravel road about 10 miles in, both of which we camped at. There are others too, of course. Our pace was slow, covering just over a mile an hour, mostly due to high grass and heat. We only came across one small cottonmouth at a small creek crossing, which slowed us down even more as we trudged hesitantly through the tall grass at my son's request

The last mile or two before exiting out onto the road gets a bit hilly, by our flatland standards anyway, but was a nice hike for me coming off of the AT a couple months ago.

Brandon at Black Creek Canoe Rental said the last time he heard the trail was bush-hogged was in the spring, and it showed.

We got lucky and caught some rain which cooled us down and raised the river level by about a foot which helped our float back down. We camped at the sandbar just downstream from Moody's Landing and it is high and nice, with sugar sand up top and gravel at the bottom. Not sure if it s accessible by trail as we didn't notice as we hiked.

We enjoyed our hike/paddle and will be back to do it again, and some fishing, in the spring when its cooler!

[SMSP]

Thanks for the follow-up report. I've yet to hike that section. The pattern of mowing the trail in the Spring and nothing in between seems to be the way DeSoto does it, which has been the pattern on the Tuxachainie Trail as well, which is part of the DeSoto system. I hike the Tux Labor Day 2010 and it was overgrown and then the following Spring, it was nice and groomed widely.

Any GPS coordinates on above mentioned highlights?

Was that water crossing a wet one? Or, were there any logs to walk on over it?

Did you find the trail hard to pick-up at Hwy. 49?
I saw some clear cutting in that area right where the trail crosses Hwy. 49.

Thanks for the update!

SMSP

[hikebikemike]

No GPS, unfortunately. The water crossing was knee deep for me, and intimidating for my son. I helped him gather his courage and he made it though. There were a few logs, but unsteady, and a small fallen tree made it a little challenging. No real problem though.

We didn't cross 49, as the trail spits you out onto a FS road which we followed to Pete Anderson Loop and ultimately to Ashe Nursery Road which took us into Brooklyn. My son had had enough of the trail so we followed the road, even though the trail paralleled it for a small chunk after you turn on to P A Loop.

[blackwater slim]

Left hwy 29 parking lot at 12:30 pm yesterday 9/17/11. Hike aprox. 5 miles in by about 4:15 pm. Included a short swim in Black Creek on the way. We had a little bit of Fallish weather the past two weeks or so. It was gone. The temps rose above 90 as we hiked in. It did drop down to about 68 or so at night but the humidity was up so didn't feel that "Fall feel"...It is, still technically summer in south Mississsippi. Anyway, as the reports above say the grass and weeds are knee to shoulder high in most of the distance we hiked. There were some areas covered in leaves that were really nice. There was also an area where walking in knee deep water for 15-20 yards plus another area with a stream too wide to hop across with no bridge or big log did require some wading. Yes gore-tex lined hiking boots, when flooded, don't let water out, just as well as they don't let water in...so a stop to drain boots and squeeze socks was necessary. (On the way out I tried the "step into the trash bag to prevent water in the boots" trick...In spite of a few small holes worn in the bags as I walked it did the trick. Some water but not much, as I didn't have to drain my boots as I had before)
The damage from Hurricane Katrina is still evident in the dead trees and the subsequent undergrowth throughout the forest. Also, the more recent evidence of tropical storm Lee was amazing. Ten to twenty inches of rain left dirt, from the areas flooded, all over the leaves and grass where it flooded. It would be scary to have been out in the woods when that happened as there were many places we walked through that the water had been 10 and even 15 feet deep in those places. Back to the grass...always, in warm weather, in this part of the world leads to thoughts of snakes. Well, we found some...two black racers spotted along the trail without stepping over them. Two venemous (one cottonmouth about a foot long, and one copperhead or about a foot and a half long) were discovered by me. I was walking behind both of my hiking buddies on the first and behind one of them when seeing the second snake. Both times, I saw the snake across the footpath (in the grass) between my feet as I stepped over them. Scary..however dangerous it could have been had I stepped on them, or not,...re-affirmed at least a little, that they are shy and more scared of us than we are of them. No, I'm not sure I "really" believe that either. Whew!! I will probably at least try on some snake boots the next time I go to a sporting goods store.
The mosquitoes were the biggest nuisance...and they were bad for the most part. Big ones...would cover a dime if they landed on it. So, as I type this I have several bites. I had a small pump spray bottle of bug spray, never expecting to need it...remember we've had some cool weather. By the time I shared it, we all (three of us) had enough to keep us from being carried away by the squadren of them...barely.
Approximately 5 miles in we found a nice, somewhat established area to camp, high on a bluff above the creek. We were able to get down the bank and swim Saturday evening.
We saw two kayakers going down Saturday about 5:00 pm and that was the only folks we saw the whole trip. We started hiking out about 8:30 am today and were out about 11:15 as we only took a couple of quick water breaks on the way out.
All in all, a good trip, but it was hot, mosuitoes were bad and the grass on the trail was a nuisance. It seemed as if the USFS may be trying to re-route the trail around some low areas, but we followed the diamond blazes and got what we got.
We hope to thru-hike the BCT this winter!!!...when there are no mosquitoes, snakes and hopefully the grass has died and gone.

[rowe]

Thanks for the info, I am looking for a GPS track of the Black Creek Trail, you wouldn't happen to have kept that data from your hike would you? I am making a map. Or if anyone else has any data. When I finish it I'll post it here.

SMSP: I'll ad your way points if that is ok.

http://g.co/maps/n8hn7

There is what I have so far, (Mostly the float trip) a work in progress but it is shaping up. I hope I am going to find the extreme upstream part soon; I have it somewhere I think. I do not know if I have a copy of the Cypress to Fairly stretch, I may have to make a float trip just to get the data again LOL!

Thanks so much to anyone who would like to add any data,
Rowe

[blackwater slim]

sorry rowe, I don't do the gps and all that....I try the regular old map and follow the blazes. I wish the maps for the black creek trail would show a little more detail..its hard to tell exactly where you are with what they provide. More power to you on your pursuits!

[WHITEFOX]

Is anyone available and willing to do a little work (one day at a time) in clearing some of the overgrowth in the Wilderness section of The Black Creek Trail in Mississippi?

[bpitt]

Is anyone available and willing to do a little work (one day at a time) in clearing some of the overgrowth in the Wilderness section of The Black Creek Trail in Mississippi?

I'm willing to do some work sometime. I was thinking of getting a volunteer group together or something. The trail could be a really nice place if it was given just a little attention. I was just on the trail a couple of days ago. Did a short morning hike with the oldest daughter. We started just outside Brooklyn and did an out and back.

I was on a portion of the Wilderness section back in the spring and it needed work then. I did note the other day that the Forest Service had been doing some bush-hogging on the sections outside of the Wilderness area. Some of the erosion pole thingy's, not sure what they're called, are also missing and some had been pulled up by the tractor. There also needs to be some bridges replaced, but I don't know what their timeframe on that is, or even if it's in the 'budget'.

I was thinking of reaching out to the Forest Service and try to get a better feel of what their goal/intentions are, and what kinda money/timeframe they have, and go from there. See if they'd be willing to work with volunteers to speed up the process.

[WHITEFOX]

I contacted the forest service a couple of months ago, and they said that I could go in with hand tools into the Wilderness Section. So I have been enjoying a few hours hike and trimming from the southern end.
I don't have any time schedule, just trying to enjoy a little R&R doing my favorite pastime, before the climate gets too nasty again sometime in May. (usually).
I hope to go back for a few hours this Monday Jan 2nd.

[WHITEFOX]

I also hiked and camped this spring along the Black Creek Trail.
On my first overnighter, myself and a friend couldn't find the trail, from the Fairly Bridge Trailhead, so we drove along hwy 29 (i believe) until we found the north enterance of the Black Creek Wilderness.
We hiked for a couple of hours, and lost the trail. So we camped there for the night.
A couple of weeks later, I went to the southern end of the Wilderness Trail, and found it to be in just as bad shape.
The forest service told me that I could go in and using only hand tools, trim the trail.
It is a little work, but very rewarding and theraputic, as if you are a hiker already know.
The Wilderness section is supposed to be about 10 miles, so I don't think that I will make it all this year, but my goal is to either make it to the section that tangents the creek itself, and or
create a couple of nice campsites along the way.
I hope to make it out there this monday jan 2nd.
Thanks for responding.

[bpitt]

I'm out of town till late next week, but I do plan on visiting the Wilderness Section then. Like you said, by May it's way too hot. I've got axe, hatchet, kaiser blade, and small hand saw. I'll see what I can do with that.

[WHITEFOX]

I worked on the southern end of the trail last week 1-2-2012.
When it was time for me to leave, I decided to pack up, and hike deeper into the trail to see just what lay ahead for me.
Within about 100 ft the trail opened beautifully, and looks like it would need very little maintanence.
Very pleased with this developement.
I hiket to a deep creek with a small waterfall, with no bridge so I don't know what lies ahead of that.
I can't make it this weekend 1-6-2012, but will try to go back next saturday weather depending, and maybe finish that 100 ft or so, and hike
beyond that creek to access just how far it is negotiatable.
As I stated before, I hiked it from the upper end and lost the trail somewhere and came to a road.

[WHITEFOX]

I plan on working on clearing the last few feet of the southern end of the entrance to Black Creek Wilderness this saturday. 1-14-2012.
I will be wearing my hunter orange pack cover and cap. If any of you are using the trail this season, be sure to wear your hunter orange.
Walmart sells a vest and cap, and I bought a pack cover from Bass Pro Shop very reasonably, I believe about $7.50.

[WHITEFOX]

I finished trimming the south end of the Black Creek Wilderness section.
When I came to that deep creek, I found a tree off to the right, spanning the creek. There was much growth around the tree, but I
was able to cut it away and walk across to the other side.
Once on the other side I continued, and found the trail needing "some" grooming, but not as bad as I had encountered at the beginning.
My goal was to make it to the Black Creek, and within about 30 minits I was talking to 3 campers/hikers at a campsite which over looked the creek.
I enjoyed speaking to them at length, and since I had made my goal for the day, I walked back to the trail head parking where we were both parked.
My next goal is to hike back to that area, and scout the creek for more good campsites right above or on the creek.
I am working my way to a thru hike of the Black Creek Wilderness.
I am a little confused about the true length, as the map that I have claims that it is 10 miles, but the area that I made it to today "above the creek" as shown on the map
is about 5 miles.
I know that I had not hiked 5 miles.
It was a beautiful day for a hike and that is all that counts.