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Biking the Natchez Trace
The scenic, beautiful Natchez Trace Bike Ride for the metro area is in Ridgeland off Pear Orchard. You see two separate views while biking. From Pear Orchard there are many beautiful homes plus the everyday commuter traffic. Once you enter the parkway along the reservoir, the view completely changes. You feel like you’re in your own world because it’s just you, your bike and nature—the perfect biking experience. In addition, it’s safe for bicyclists all along the Natchez Trace. Bicyclists travel the Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez—more than 400 miles. The Old Natchez Trace predates back to Columbus’ voyage of 1492. On May 21, 1934, Congress approved money to pay for surveying the route and determining if a Natchez Trace Parkway should be built. Construction of the parkway began in June 1937. On May 18, 1938, the parkway became part of the National Park Service.
--Skyla Dawn Luckey
(Best of Jackson, Best Urban Bike Ride 2006)
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Nothing says “relaxing expenditure of energy” like a good bike ride, and Jackson has a number of places to go for that. The new bike trail in Fondren is a remarkable development that takes a biker along a scenic path laden with the food and drink outlets dotting the area—which really means something in July. Another fine spot is downtown Jackson. Yeah, that’s right. Downtown Jackson. Wanna know why? Because downtown Jackson, after 5 p.m. is a ghost town with no cars, few hills and an endless sprawl of concrete. It’s a biker’s dream, which even comes with a restaurant or two.
And forget what Ben Allen says about crime. Me and my rotten kid have been biking down here since he was 4. He even abandoned his training wheels downtown, and the worst crime we ever suffered is the smell of the occasional bum talking about his car that ran out of gas somewhere up the road “and do you please have 50 cents to help me gas it up, sir?” Way I see it, either do some penance for a past sin by coughing up a couple of jinks, or ask him to show you his car. Either choice dispenses with the transient.
But, by far, the best scenery to be had on a biking tour can only be offered by the Natchez Trace.
The Trace, by comparison, hardly qualifies as “urban,” though. Don’t look for drinks, not unless you’re into pond water. Daytime riding is fun, especially if you’re taking the southern path toward Natchez, which is full of hiking trails and a waterfall or two. But nighttime riding in summer is … otherworldly. When the sun goes down, the frogs wake up. This isn’t the kind of nighttime twittering you get in the city, with just a cricket or two looking to get it on next to your doorstep. This is the real stuff. A warm night on the Trace, especially in a spot with heavy tree coverage after a good rain, is an ear-blasting cacophony of racket. And a real city slicker will never understand how bloody black the whole world can become without streetlights. It’s dark. It’s scary. Take a friend. A lone biker on an empty trail in the black of night is the stuff of bad horror movies.
Also, take a small tent and camp out until morning if you like. Much of the land along the Trace is owned by somebody, but me and my tent have yet to be run off by a squatter-hating farmer.
--Joe Jackson
(Best of Jackson, Best Urban Bike Ride 2004)
