Find the top rated birding trails in Hattiesburg, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Mississippi has a real jewel in the Longleaf Trace. Parked at the Jackson Road station and covered from mile marker five to mile marker 20 for a 30 mile roun and like the smooth surface of the trail itself we’re all in good shape. All in all this is a very, very good rail trail and I thoroughly enjoyed my ride.
Good shade. Some bumps but mostly marked. Stayed out of Hattiesburg.
We had a great two day ride weather was great and trail was great also.
Beware of the downtown area. Very few drivers stopped for us in crosswalks. I also had one driver sharing the bike lane with me. If that bothers you, start at mile 5
Completed the trail over three days to take it all in. Great trail and worth the drive to ride
This trail is awesomely maintained with beautiful rural America scenery. We rode from Hattiesburg to Prentiss and all the restrooms and water stations were open and clean. A must do rail trail, what a wonderful trail and a real asset to the communities it goes through.
The trail is very well-maintained and a good asphalt surface. Repaving just done from Hattiesburg and north. That part of the trail is lovely and scenic. We found the rest of it rather boring. No scenery other than trees and brush. Lots of shade. We rode by some rather sketchy places and there were some dogs running loose barking at us. All the trailhead restrooms are locked up in the northern 2/3 of trail. The towns are very small. The addresses on the trail website are not exact, but close by—just follow the brown signs. We were camped at Lake Jeff Davis at Prentiss.
Flat, peaceful and shady. Very nice ride
23 June 2023 - Sumrall to Carson Overall, this is a lovely place to ride. The trail is mostly covered with shade and offers scenic views of the Mississippi countryside. We enjoyed a serene ride with almost no traffic along the way. The trail is asphalt that is in fairly good repair. However, roots have bulged the trail in a few places and create rather large bumps. These are easy to dodge but are not well marked. There are bathroom stops at all the little towns but the Bassfield and Carson rest rooms were locked (this would have been a 5-star review otherwise). .
The Longleaf Trace is in the process in the near term to be paved in certain areas. See photos of a flyer stating to follow the Longleaf Trace’s Facebook page. Here is the latest posting:
Due to some weather delays on current projects the contractor was unable to start as we had hoped. A new project date has not been confirmed at this time. Sorry for any inconvenience and again we appreciate your understanding and patience throughout this process.We are excited to soon start repaving the Longleaf Trace from Hattiesburg to near Apostolic Road past the Sumrall Station. The repaving will be done in sections and we will update closures here on our Facebook page. On May 15th the trail will be CLOSED at the Hattiesburg Gateway to the 59 Overpass for repaving. Thank you all in advance for your patience during this process!
The trail is tree canopied for 98% of the trail as we started in Prentiss and finished up in Hattiesburg at the Southern Prohibition Brewing Co. Due to the tree cover causing shadows it was hard to see the rough trail conditions caused by tree roots causing asphalt heave even as they were marked by bright colored paint but the paint had faded over time. You need to stay focused on the trail versus sightseeing along the way.
There plenty of rest stops on the trail to include “rain stops” with overhead cover when you experience inclement weather while on the trail. The rain stops seemed to be located near the populated areas.
Mileage was marked with a mile maker every mile which is helpful if not using GPS.
Once they pave the areas needing attention, this will regain a 5 star status this Hall of Fame trail deserves again
We road round trip from Jackson Station 2x. First to Eply & 2 weeks later to Sumral.
Enjoyed every Minute. There are a few rough patches, in broad day light easy to see, but second ride was late evening & shadows were low, not enough to cause a problem but a surprise.
Over all, Ill do it again next time I come this way.
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