The hikers-only trail follows Black Creek through the coastal plains of DeSoto National Forest. The best section of trail is the 10-mile segment that snakes through the 5,000-acre Black Creek Wilderness. From the segment's start at MS 29, I hiked through a sun-dappled canopy of lodgepole pines, magnolias, oaks, and dogwoods then rambled for several miles across shallow drainages and modest ridges. Good backcountry campsites abound. Choose between hardwood stands and piney uplands.
After crossing Beaverdam Creek via the MS 29 bridge, I descended into the Black Creek floodplain. Here, the trail follows a Native American travel corridor used for thousands of years. Ascending from the floodplain to the top of multicolored bluffs, I watched the creek morph from wide placid stream to narrow frenetic chute and back again. Creekside hiking provides a great opportunity to keep an eye out for wildlife, or just to find a cozy sandbar, close your eyes, and listen to all the critters around you.
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