Tuxachanie

Hike Name: Tuxachanie Location: southeast MS Length: 14.2 Submitted by: Rankin Date Submitted: 11/12/07 Rating:	more Mississippi trail reviews Mississippi national parks Mississippi state parks
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Description
Backpacked the whole trail from POW camp thru parking at trailhead on Hwy. 49 first time since Hurricane Katrina. According to the Ranger Office, they are finished clearing the trail of hurricane debris. The lake and immediate area around the POW camp is very clean and restored. However, the first mile and a half heading north of the camp is still very torturous. The path is still much littered with fallen trees and debris washed up by the creek that it parallels. The fun fades real quickly after climbing over about the fiftieth fallen tree. After the initial trek out of the jungle, the trail begins to get fun and scenic again. Somewhere around the first forestry road the trail crosses, it takes a slight detour from the map and runs concurrent with one of the Big Foot Horse Trails. This route differs slightly from the map as it goes around Rattle Snake Creek, instead of through it. Once you get near Duck Pond you will be back on the original trail. The next few miles of trail are mostly as depicted on the map and are restored very well. As you approach Airy Lake, the trail makes another detour west of the old route. This new route runs more along the low land side of a creek as opposed to the ridge of the land where it once ran.

Airy Lake park and grounds are very well restored, bathroom facilities and running water are available there. The Copland Spring just south of Airy Lake is clean and running. I refilled my water bottles there. No tablets, no filter, no problems.

As expected, the walk from Airy northward was very much as depicted on map and very clean. We camped along the trail between Forestry Road 415 and 415-A. There are very nice cleared areas just south and north of 415-A. Nothing but pines and palmettos in this area and plenty of open ground (sand)

The trail north of 415 is on the old narrow gauge rail road bed (now dismantled) Walking from this point north is as it has always been for the next several miles. The Bridge at West Creek has been replaced by a new steel bridge just north of the old one. Once over the bridge and up the hill the trail still takes a significant post Katrina detour south wayyyyyyyyyyy around a swampy area. The old route went through the swamp and was on an elevated board walk all the way through. I don’t know if the long range plans are to replace the board walk or not! Once back on the original path, it’s just a short distance to the trail head on Hwy 49.

My suggestion for the time being is to start or finish on the Big Foot Horse Trail area through the trail head on 49. This takes in all the scenic area and only skips a mile or so of not so nice walking.

The 12 mile marker post is located at the POW camp lake and the 0 point is at the trail head on Hwy 49,,,,,,,,, Our GPS logged 14.2 miles with a sample rate of one sample every six seconds. I can believe the extra two or so miles are accurate with the three detours.

Still all in all, a very nice walk with plenty of water (refill) in the middle of your path.

Directions to Hike
Hwy. 49 maybe 12 miles south of Wiggins and POW camp off of Bethel Road.

Contact Information
601-928-5291

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