Back to Jeff Busby

So what did I do Friday? I made the trip to Jeff Busby, and ran up Little Mountain not once but twice. Yeah, about a year ago I did it the first time. That is when I met John Scneider in Stewart, Mississippi. I went in this time and said, "It couldn't happen twice." 

The older lady behind the counter asked, "What?"

I reminded her of meeting Bo Duke there. A huge smile broke over her face. "That was something, wasn't it? We haven't seen him since."

The summit of Little Mountain

I got to the park and started running about 10:00 a.m. First I warmed up by shuffling through the campground. Then I started up the hill. It is a big one, but I don't think it is as big as the one on Humphrey Highway. I went up once and shuffled back down. I went up again and descended once more. 

After that I decided to explore a road that I had been looking at on Google Maps. It had a locked gate on it but I figured that was to keep other people out. I climbed over the gate and it didn't take long for me to realize I was on a hunting camp. I passed a house that had three other small buildings that had been dumped onto the yard. 

That is the background is a huge strip mine.
Who knew we had those in Mississippi?

After a bit, I came to another gate. Huh? When I crossed it, I quickly realized I was on the lignite mine. I could see a huge open mine that must have covered a couple of square miles. Also I could hear a horn that sounded like it might have been a signal that a truck was loaded. Figuring that they wouldn't take kindly to me tresspassing, I headed backover the two fences, back to the park. Once back on the park, I decided to get the rest of my miles on the Trace.

Tell me to do it without telling me to do it.

I headed south for a little over a mile until I found a little road that peeled off the Trace to the east. A sign announced that the road had been closed. I had to see for myself and I crossed not one, not two, but three gates within a hundred yards. And just like that, I was back on the Red Hills Mining land so I turned around and left. I crossed the Trace onto the gravel road on the other side and shuffled up it for a while before turning around and running back to the park. Back at Jeff Busby, I had 10.02 miles and some tired legs. I tapped out and went home.

A new road I found. I can't wait to come back
and explore this one more fully.

One thing I learned is that the Trace itself is a nice place to run. It had lots of shade, the traffic is low, and the traffic is slow. It's pretty and occasionally a lonely gravel road peels off and goes into parts unkown. I will be coming back soon to summit the mountain, to run the trace, and to explore some new roads.