Date Visited: 4/4/2019
Jeff Busby park was named after Mississippi Congressman Thomas Jefferson Busby who on February 15, 1934 introduced a bill authorizing a survey of the Natchez Trace. Thanks to his efforts the Natchez Trace Trail became part of the National Park Service four short years later.
The campground at the park is one of the three free campgrounds along the Natchez Trace.
Our original plan was to camp here for the night, but after a survey of the campground we felt it catered more to big RV rigs. Not to mention, that the 18 pull thru sites were all taken and unless we were willing to plead for a shared corner of one of the long driveways we were out of luck. Imposing on other campers is not really our cup of tea and with tornado warnings forecast for the area later that evening, we decided to camp elsewhere for the night.
However, we weren’t going to let the rapid change in plans discourage us or keep us from enjoying the park. At 604′ in elevation (one of the highest points in Mississippi) we took the drive to the top of the park to check out the scenery and learn what we could about the surrounding terrain.
It’s hard to imagine that 50 million years ago this area was layers of land and mud before these overlying sediments and early upheavals of the land “tilted” the landscape forming sandstone and shale. Over time the shale eroded leaving the sandstone formations that are today’s ridges. From the top of the park here on Little Mountain you can look out for twenty miles over the valleys and ridges that now comprise this geologic landform called the Wilcox Series.
We decided to skip the two trails at this park. One is a short .5 mile loop trail through a shady hollow that takes about 20 minutes to complete. The other is the Little Mountain Trail. It’s a 1.6 mile trip up and down / out and back between the campground and the summit.
After satisfying our need to learn a little about the history and geography of the park we headed up the trace in search of a place to stay for the night, but first we took one more stop for the day.
Until next week…
Jeff Busby Park Natchez Trace Pkwy, Ackerman, MS 39735 33.416382, -89.258525
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