Anyone clinch the entire Natchez Trace?

[roadman65]

I was wondering if anyone has ever clinched all or even part of the Natchez Trace Parkway between Natchez, MS and Nashville, TN?  I noticed that even though it is built to the same standards as the Blue Ridge Parkway, it is not like the NC- VA motor road at all.  For instance it has direct access to the interstates it intersects unlike the Blue Ridge that requires the use of a Breezewood (although in this case one road is not a full freeway or even super two) to have access between the two roadways.

I also imagine that to travel the whole length of the Natchez Trace takes half the time it does to clinch the Blue Ridge Parkway. Even though they are almost the same length, the Natchez Trace is not as winding and seems to have a higher speed limit on it as the BRP has a posted 45 its entire length.

Anyway, has anyone clinched it at all?  Also does the road have gas on it or do you have to exit the road at large cities where they have signs letting you know which exit has fuel and other services?

[leroys73]

Sure have. Last summer by car with wife, daughter, granddaughter and my dog. I think the northern half, which I have done twice, is more interesting.  It is still on my list by motorcycle. 

[froggie]

I've done it all.  Not in one trip, but I've done it.

It's still a long trip...max speed limit is 50 MPH, there are a few sections with a lower limit (especially the northernmost end), and it's quite lengthy.

There is one gas station/general store I recall in a recreational area south of Tupelo.  Otherwise, yes you have to depart the parkway to get gas.

[cpzilliacus]

There is one gas station/general store I recall in a recreational area south of Tupelo.  Otherwise, yes you have to depart the parkway to get gas.

First time I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway (in the mid-1970's, from Roanoke, Va. to Asheville, N.C. only, before the Linn Cove Viaduct was built), there were gas stations at pretty regular intervals on the Parkway itself (at the time, the concession owner sold Amoco fuels). 

When I next drove it (the entire length of the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Front Royal, Va. to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina in the 1990's), all of the gas stations were either boarded-up or entirely torn down.

Wonder why? Having the gas stations would seem like a source of revenue for the National Park Service. 

[Brandon]

There is one gas station/general store I recall in a recreational area south of Tupelo.  Otherwise, yes you have to depart the parkway to get gas.

First time I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway (in the mid-1970's, from Roanoke, Va. to Asheville, N.C. only, before the Linn Cove Viaduct was built), there were gas stations at pretty regular intervals on the Parkway itself (at the time, the concession owner sold Amoco fuels). 

When I next drove it (the entire length of the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Front Royal, Va. to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina in the 1990's), all of the gas stations were either boarded-up or entirely torn down.

Wonder why? Having the gas stations would seem like a source of revenue for the National Park Service. 

Maintenance.  Each gas station needs to have the underground storage tanks (USTs) registered with the agency that regulates them in the states that they are in.  In addition, most of the older USTs were single-wall steel prone to rusting and leaks.  Most modern ones are double-wall fiberglass.  Many gas stations went out of business instead of choosing to upgrade in the early 1990s when USTs that could not be corroded underground were required.  A side effect of this is that you are very unlikely to encounter water in your gasoline or diesel fuel anymore.

We're still cleaning up older gas stations like those in various Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) programs across the country after they were abandoned.  The older steel USTs would leak and contaminate an area around and downstream from the gas station.  It could be that the NPS decided that the gas stations were more of a liability than an asset along the Parkway due to the concerns of registration and contamination.

[hbelkins]

My brother started out on it when he was traveling to somewhere in Mississippi or Louisiana, said it was boring as hell and nowhere nearly as interesting as the BRP, and bailed

[roadman65]

Obviously this road needs to be clinched in stages as the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I rode that in NC and I did it from US 52 to Asheville in one sitting, and it was long.  I did stop at Linn Cove Viaduct as well as Mount Mitchell, so it was not too bad then.

The roads are not for through travel and most likely the National Park Service did not intend for someone in Nashville to go to Louisiana to use it for a fast way to get between the two.  It was developed as an exploring corridor just as the Blue Ridge Parkway was opened mainly so people could access various recreation areas and explore scenic mountain views. 

I think that we ourselves are the only ones that would clinch a route like these two for the sake of clinching it.  Even then, I would think that after hearing these posts, I would think we would clinch it still in two or maybe even three sittings.  Furthermore, if anyone one here in the road community would even consider doing the whole Blue Ridge Parkway in one sitting you would be looking for one long boring and tiring journey as well!  Although, I think that doing the whole Blue Ridge Parkway is not a bad idea, still I would break the journey up and do it in two separate road trips so I can enjoy the drive much better.

[jpi]

I only have the nortehrn most 10 miles near Nashville and a few miles around Tupalo, MS Steph and I often talked about clinching all of it some time since we live on the other side of Nashvile from the northern end of it.

[hbelkins]

One of our last vacations as a family was late in my college years when we set out to drive the BRP. We took US 33 across the mountains from Weston, WV, so we could visit the town in West Virginia that bears our family name and overnighted in Harrisonburg, VA. The next morning we drove out to Skyline Drive and then took it and the BRP south. I believe we made it to the Boone, NC area that day. I don't think the Linn Cove Viaduct was finished yet. The next morning it was so foggy and visibility was so poor that my dad bailed at Asheville and we ended up taking I-40 and the US routes to Cherokee.

[cpzilliacus]

One of our last vacations as a family was late in my college years when we set out to drive the BRP. We took US 33 across the mountains from Weston, WV, so we could visit the town in West Virginia that bears our family name and overnighted in Harrisonburg, VA. The next morning we drove out to Skyline Drive and then took it and the BRP south. I believe we made it to the Boone, NC area that day. I don't think the Linn Cove Viaduct was finished yet. The next morning it was so foggy and visibility was so poor that my dad bailed at Asheville and we ended up taking I-40 and the US routes to Cherokee.

Skyline Drive and the BRP are gorgeous roads - my only gripe is that the BRP should have been extended north from Shenandoah National Park across the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, Maryland and into south-central Pennsylvania (where the Blue Ridge comes to an end).

The Linn Cove Viaduct was (finally) completed sometime in the early-to-mid 1980's.  Not for nothing does the National Park Service call it the "signature" structure on the entire parkway.

Too bad that you did not drive the segment between Asheville and Cherokee - in some ways, I think that is the most spectacular part of the entire parkway (at least on a clear day).

[oscar]

I tried to clinch the entire Natchez Trace in 1986, as part of my first cross-country road trip. Back then, there were gaps near its south end, and its north end was near Columbia TN.  Alas, heavy fog forced me off the NTP at US 82, and I didn't return to continue my northbound trip on the NTP until Tupelo.

[hbelkins]

The Linn Cove Viaduct was (finally) completed sometime in the early-to-mid 1980's.  Not for nothing does the National Park Service call it the "signature" structure on the entire parkway.

Too bad that you did not drive the segment between Asheville and Cherokee - in some ways, I think that is the most spectacular part of the entire parkway (at least on a clear day).

My dad and I went back to the Linn Cove Viaduct in the late '80s. I have also driven US 221 in that area, and oddly enough, the BRP is a much better road than US 221, which winds along the side of the mountain.

Theoretically, I could clinch that portion of the BRP between Cherokee and Boone in a single day trip. Might be a worthy endeavor sometime around the first day of summer.

[froggie]

Back then, there were gaps near its south end,

The southern end into Natchez wasn't completed until the early 2000s.

[robbones]

I have only done the section from the I 55/ I 220 interchange to MS 27 near Utica.

[Road Hog]

I did a short sidetrip on the NTP on the upper end south of Nashville. Speed limit was 45. Riding that for 400 miles would absolutely blow, but think of the gas you'd save, removing the need for stations on the parkway.

[froggie]

Not all of it is 45.  Most of the Mississippi segment is 50 MPH.

[Avalanchez71]

I only have the nortehrn most 10 miles near Nashville and a few miles around Tupalo, MS Steph and I often talked about clinching all of it some time since we live on the other side of Nashvile from the northern end of it.

The thing goes through my county but it so out of the way and I live in a rural area as well.  I drove the Nashville, TN to Tupelo, MS section.  I did another portion from Jackson, MS to somewhere north, however, I did it at night and can't recall when I got off of it due to the deer.

[GaryV]

I'm sure there are a number of keel boat crew members who clinched it, long before it was paved and made into a parkway.   

[golden eagle]

Not on one trip, but I've clinched it. I did the Jackson-to-Nashville segment in 1999. I then drove from Jackson to Natchez in 2005. Except for the Jackson area, it's a very boring drive.

[wriddle082]

The summer after I graduated high school (1994), I took it from its northern terminus at the time (TN 7) to Tupelo, then US 45, US 72, US 43, and other roads back home.  Was my first trip ever to MS.

Over Easter weekend of 2005, my dad, stepmom, and I took the freeways to Jackson and the NTP all the way back home.  I remember that weekend clearly because it wasn't long after we got home that a tragedy in our family occurred.

Later that year, I was working in LA after Katrina installing new telecom equipment for BellSouth, and on one of the few days I had off, Froggie and I rode on the first few miles of it in Natchez.

So at this point, I need to clinch it from Natchez to the north side of Jackson and I'll have it all.

[SSF]

the only noteworthy stretch between Tupelo and Jackson is the stretch around MP 200 that was hit by tornadoes 3 years ago.

[froggie]

Well it's not bad where it goes by the Ross Barnett Reservoir near Madison...