Vicksburg, Mississippi to Natchitoches, Louisiana

April 18, 2022

Vicksburg, Mississippi to Natchitoches, Louisiana

17 April 2022: Easter Sunday

I tried to ID this thistle and the closest I could come was “Yellow Thistle”.
Lots of them in the mowed shoulders along the freeways. Look at this spikes!

This scary looking bug is an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper.
He was a good 2 inches long!
The thistle was covered in them!

Jack. In the pulpit. For Easter Sunday.

One of the trail markers. Apparently what is now a little pathway through the forest and along a creek used to be a major pathway for settlers and commerce in this area. We hiked along for about 1.7 miles; it was in the low 80s and 75% humidity.

Interesting: the tree fell over the path, then the bark fell in pattern, underneath the tree.
I wonder how long it’s been this way?

Little Sweet Betsy trillium

We noticed there was a naming protocol in the area: first, is it big or small? Secondly, is there a characteristic that it has? Third, what is it?
We crossed over Big Black River on our way to Natchez Trace.

Little Sandy Creek

My little friend posed for us

We’d originally set out to see the Owens Creek Waterfalls—an Easter day hike to it before the rains came. We found the parking lot and then, to our surprise, found the falls. the best photo angle was from above, or twenty steps down to the lower creek, there was another shot. We give you both!

While this photo makes it look like it could be a big waterfall, in actuality, it was only about 15 feet from the creek to the top of the falls. Like what we have on our creek downstream from us at home!

18 April 2022: Travel day to Natchitoches, LA

We had a bit of a sleepy morning; it was actually COLD—in the mid-50s. I keep seeing these signs saying that the bridges ice over first and to be careful. It never occurred to me that icing on bridges could be a problem in mid-Mississippi and Louisiana! We crossed over the Mississippi River into Louisiana and saw one (really big) barge as we were crossing over.

Meanwhile, back in Ohio, Fleur finally has decided to challenge Bailey, Matt’s 2 year old dog. This could be fun; she may not want to come back to be with us after all the excitement at Matt’s house!

We drove into town for dinner out tonight. Had the Crawfish Platter (me) and Swamp Platter (Dan) at Mama’s Oyster House. Our entrees included local delicacies such as alligator (oh! Did I tell you we saw a HUGE alligator in the road when we drove over today? Dan said it was 12 feet long; I said about 9–either way it was HUGE…but, I digress…), crawfish etoufee, fried crawfish and frog legs. And, of course, hush puppies. It was wonderful; washed it down with an amber lager brewed in NOLA.

After dinner we walked along the river. Talked to a young lady visiting a friend here; she was from Arkansas and really personable. The sculls belong to the rowing team from Northwest Louisiana University. The turtle was adorable. It is a beautiful evening here. And no storms in sight!