Calling all hikers in the 'Sip......

[Smoked Toag]

Need some info on the below trails, with these being the basic questions:

1) Are the trails maintained well?
2) Can you actually hike, rather than mountain bike?
3) Will I catch a 7 mag to the head during hunting season?

- Rocky Springs Trail, near Port Gibson
- Shockaloe Trail, near Forest in Bienville NF
- Ridgeland Bike Trail
- Noxubee Trails up near Ackerman
- Yockanookany - I think this is just the trail that runs along side the Trace north of the reservoir

Then I also see Tanglefoot, the rails to trails deal. Is that pretty safe? In Mississippi you never can be too careful about what part of town you're in, especially with kids.

 

[Dawg_4_lifes]

I can speak for the Tanglefoot trail. It is very safe and nice.

 

[Jack Klompus.sixpack]

Noxubee trails:
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes

 

[Rezdog]

Ridgeland trails is open for both but predominantly mtb.
Yockanookany is trail walk/running only.
Rocky Springs is closer to Utica than Port Gibson. Hiking only
Nox is open for both but is also a WMA so wear orange during hunting season.

 

[Ernest T]

Shockaloe Trail, near Forest in Bienville NF

Can’t speak of the trail but would definitely wait till after deer season

 

[NTDawg]

Ridgeland trails is open for both but predominantly mtb.
Yockanookany is trail walk/running only.
Rocky Springs is closer to Utica than Port Gibson. Hiking only
Nox is open for both but is also a WMA so wear orange during hunting season.

I haven't been on the trail at Rocky Springs but I would wear orange if was around Utica. My brother in law was in his truck driving through a pasture an idiot saw movement through the trees and shot through his passenger door. Bullet fragments went in the right side of his body including his face.

 

[johnson86-1]

I haven't been on the trail at Rocky Springs but I would wear orange if was around Utica. My brother in law was in his truck driving through a pasture an idiot saw movement through the trees and shot through his passenger door. Bullet fragments went in the right side of his body including his face.

That is a staggering amount of stupidity. Please tell me he was at least convicted of something serious.

 

[eckie1]

I’ve been murdered twice on 3 of those trails…

Need some info on the below trails, with these being the basic questions:

1) Are the trails maintained well?
2) Can you actually hike, rather than mountain bike?
3) Will I catch a 7 mag to the head during hunting season?

- Rocky Springs Trail, near Port Gibson
- Shockaloe Trail, near Forest in Bienville NF
- Ridgeland Bike Trail
- Noxubee Trails up near Ackerman
- Yockanookany - I think this is just the trail that runs along side the Trace north of the reservoir

Then I also see Tanglefoot, the rails to trails deal. Is that pretty safe? In Mississippi you never can be too careful about what part of town you're in, especially with kids.

Only got the dreaded Rear Admiral on the others.****

 

[Shmuley]

Hiked/Backpacked Shockaloe probably a half dozen times over 5 years. 22 mile loop trail. As trails go in Mississippi, it's fairly well maintained until you get maybe 13 miles in. And then it goes pretty much to **** and is difficult to navigate for a good 3-4 mile stretch. The last 5-7 miles is back to groomed. It's flat, boring and typical of Mississippi hiking. There are no primitive or "back-country" campsites. No rock rings. There is camping at the trailheads. Chicken rendering plant is within a mile of the trailhead. Imagine the smells. The water is sketchy and difficult to filter. Two feet off the trail lives the thickest stands of briars on planet earth. The trail snakes around private properties. Hunters abound. Dogs abound. Plantation pine and limited hardwood stands. There are areas that are "pretty" if pine stands suit your fancy. Too much around it close by to give you any sense of isolation.

We use this trail for nothing more than basic prep for legit backpacks out of state.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

I haven't been but hear that Clark Creek is nice: https://www.mdwfp.com/parks-destinations/state-parks/clark-creek/

The best scenery in the state is in the Northeast corner, but i don't know of any good trails up there. Tishomingo has a well developed trail, but not very challenging.

 

[dawg0204]

Red Bluff just north of Columbia is pretty neat.

 

[LandArchDawg]

Tanglefoot Trail is a rails to trail project that would be great for running or biking, but I would not call it a hiking trail. Being an old rail corridor, it is flat with long straight runs and long curves. Check into the Mississippi State Parks for good, safe, well-maintained hiking trails. Tishomingo State Park has hiking trails with terrain.

I would also recommend venturing into Tennessee, Shelby Forest State Park just north of Memphis has a lot of challenging terrain and trails.

 

[Bill Shankly]

Tishomingo State Park is the best in NE Miss.

 

[Smoked Toag]

I haven't been but hear that Clark Creek is nice: https://www.mdwfp.com/parks-destinations/state-parks/clark-creek/

The best scenery in the state is in the Northeast corner, but i don't know of any good trails up there. Tishomingo has a well developed trail, but not very challenging.

Yeah look like state parks it is, to avoid the hunters. And yes, Tishomingo is very nice, but looking for more things in central MS.

 

[Shmuley]

Central MS has virtually nothing that you're looking for. There is a decent trail near Wiggins roughly 100 miles south of jackhole at a little community called Brooklyn. Black Creek Wilderness Trail. This is the only designated Federal Wilderness Area in the entire 17n state. The wilderness area section of the trail runs about 10-12 miles as part of a much longer trail system. It's NOT a loop trail. We typically backpack this as a two day out and back. It's slightly better than Shockaloe. But the water situation is ridiculous despite the fact that virtually all of the trail follows the Black Creek. Access to water is difficult given the steep banks. The creek is tea colored due to tannins. It filters only slightly better than Shockaloe. The two redeeming qualities of this hike are the flora/fauna/old growth timber and abundant raptors. Dusk brings out the raptors and they are impressive. And they will scare the **** out of you if you aren't expecting it. Beware the ticks. Beware the 17n armadillos.

 

[NTDawg]

That is a staggering amount of stupidity. Please tell me he was at least convicted of something serious.

Nope we knew them and BIL had hard time to get them to pay for the damage to his truck

 

[GloryDawg]

Off subject but what I would like to do is take a canoe from the Ross Barnette damn to the coast. I think is is one more damn south of Jackson like the lower head damn in Leake county that I would have to pick the canoe up and move around. Camping out along the trip. I think that would be fun.

 

[Junction John]

It must be possible, I know a guy who has jet skiied the Pearl all the way down to the coast more than once. Not sure why, but he has.

 

[Smoked Toag]

Central MS has virtually nothing that you're looking for. There is a decent trail near Wiggins roughly 100 miles south of jackhole at a little community called Brooklyn. Black Creek Wilderness Trail. This is the only designated Federal Wilderness Area in the entire 17n state. The wilderness area section of the trail runs about 10-12 miles as part of a much longer trail system. It's NOT a loop trail. We typically backpack this as a two day out and back. It's slightly better than Shockaloe. But the water situation is ridiculous despite the fact that virtually all of the trail follows the Black Creek. Access to water is difficult given the steep banks. The creek is tea colored due to tannins. It filters only slightly better than Shockaloe. The two redeeming qualities of this hike are the flora/fauna/old growth timber and abundant raptors. Dusk brings out the raptors and they are impressive. And they will scare the **** out of you if you aren't expecting it. Beware the ticks. Beware the 17n armadillos.

Yeah I've been on hikinginmississippi.com and hard to find much. You done the Ackerman trails? I've heard good things about them, but obviously not going to go out there now with the hunters.

Are people hunting in federal wilderness areas? I guess I could probably look that up.

 

[Smoked Toag]

Off subject but what I would like to do is take a canoe from the Ross Barnette damn to the coast. I think is is one more damn south of Jackson like the lower head damn in Leake county that I would have to pick the canoe up and move around. Camping out along the trip. I think that would be fun.

Jackson's raw sewage might melt your canoe.***

 

[Bill Shankly]

Tanglefoot Trail is a rails to trail project that would be great for running or biking, but I would not call it a hiking trail. Being an old rail corridor, it is flat with long straight runs and long curves. Check into the Mississippi State Parks for good, safe, well-maintained hiking trails. Tishomingo State Park has hiking trails with terrain.

I would also recommend venturing into Tennessee, Shelby Forest State Park just north of Memphis has a lot of challenging terrain and trails.

I've biked parts of the Tanglefoot. It's great for biking, it would be pretty boring for hiking.

 

[Bill Shankly]

Yeah I've been on hikinginmississippi.com and hard to find much. You done the Ackerman trails? I've heard good things about them, but obviously not going to go out there now with the hunters.

Are people hunting in federal wilderness areas? I guess I could probably look that up.

If you want to branch out of state but not TOO far the Sipsey Wilderness in North Alabama is really good. There are trails for all levels there, but it IS a designated wilderness, with all that means. Some of the trails are not marked that well, and there is almost no cell phone service. My son has done a bunch of them. He says many of them are quite challenging. I went on one with him last winter. That one wasn't too bad, but it was wet in spots. That one was heavily used so picking the trail out was fairly easy in most places. My son recommends an offline usable GPS Trail map app if you try even the easy ones there, though. There were a couple of spots where the trail was a bit hard to pick out.

 

[Smoked Toag]

If you want to branch out of state but not TOO far the Sipsey Wilderness in North Alabama is really good. There are trails for all levels there, but it IS a designated wilderness, with all that means. Some of the trails are not marked that well, and there is almost no cell phone service. My son has done a bunch of them. He says many of them are quite challenging. I went on one with him last winter. That one wasn't too bad, but it was wet in spots. That one was heavily used so picking the trail out was fairly easy in most places. My son recommends an offline usable GPS Trail map app if you try even the easy ones there, though. There were a couple of spots where the trail was a bit hard to pick out.

Yeah I've been looking there too. I know Alabama Power maintains some of those trails. But.....hunters.

 

[Shmuley]

Never done Ackerman. Hunting is allowed in designated federal wilderness areas with permits. Never seen hunters in Black Creek Wilderness. We wear orange and never think twice about it.

 

[Shmuley]

We've done Sipsey probably 10 times over 5 years. Never seen any evidence of hunters. Sipsey is the closest legit backpacking experience to Central MS. Good trail maps, good blazing, excellent campsite dispersion, excellent water sources for 80+% of the trail routes. Old growth, big *** timber throughout. Some impressive rock formations and falls. It's 50,000 acres, so isolation is possible. No motorized vehicles allowed on trails. Raptors in abundant supply. Can still be snaky this time of year.

 

[Rezdog]

I haven't been on the trail at Rocky Springs but I would wear orange if was around Utica. My brother in law was in his truck driving through a pasture an idiot saw movement through the trees and shot through his passenger door. Bullet fragments went in the right side of his body including his face.

Dang, I'm originally from Utica. But that is not surprising to be honest.

 

[The Fatboy]

There are lots of great trails all over Alabama. I use an app called All Trails.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

Off subject but what I would like to do is take a canoe from the Ross Barnette damn to the coast. I think is is one more damn south of Jackson like the lower head damn in Leake county that I would have to pick the canoe up and move around. Camping out along the trip. I think that would be fun.

There is another damn at Lefleu's Bluff, you can see it from the Waterworks Curve on 55 in Jxn. Easy to get around though.

 

[Go Budaw]

Jackson's raw sewage might melt your canoe.***

You mean the city water supply?