Friday March 20 - Nathan Bedford Forrest and Pinson Mounds State Parks, TN - 5 miles hike

We headed out of Nashville around 9 am along US-70 towards Memphis.  After checking in at Johnsonville Historic Park and finding out that a tornado had reduced their hikeable mileage down to just 2.5 miles we proceeded on to Nathan Bedford Forrest park.  This park also had a lot less of a trail network than it did before the tornado.  So we did the 3 mile loop that was open.  That loop was a hike I'd done (as part of the 5 mile loop I think) back when I lived in TN around 2004.  The Pilot Knob trail was lovely and had some good ups and downs.




The cabin was so cute and had an amazing view down to the Tennessee River.  We didn't stay there or anything but it sure looked inviting.

As we continued West we were hoping to find another hike of similar length because the 3 mile hike was high on quality but low on quantity. The weather was getting worse but it looked like it would be ok at Fort Pillow State Park which was a place I liked walking in the past.  Unfortunately, that park would have extended our driving day out until like 6:30 pm which was too far.  So we ultimately ended up at Pinson Mounds State Park which is, appropriately enough, in Pinson TN.

It rained on and off but we still got in a very enjoyable 2 miles plus a very hefty climb up one of the taller mounds.







After that little walk we headed on into Memphis to stay with my friend Rob.  He had friends over for dinner so there were a total of 5 of us.  It was a nice evening with some people I hadn't seen since I lived in TN and I was surprised how quickly 11 pm came around.

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