Review: The Butts Park trail system is located in southwest Jackson directly adjacent to the Clinton city limits, between McRaven Road and I-20, on the north side of Bobby Butts Park. Travel south on Springridge Road in Clinton (exit 35 I-20) approx. 1.5 miles. Turn left (east) onto McRaven Road and travel .3 miles. Turn left to enter the park off McRaven Road at the Tee Time golf driving range (6615 McRaven Road), go .3 miles and turn left at the t-intersection by the old water tower, and follow the gravel road .4 miles to the gravel parking lot( 32 deg 18'31.79" N, 90 deg 18'58.33 W). The main 6 mile trail is marked with black on orange directional arrows and begins at the double steel pipe gate by the mountain bikers/runners picnic table 150 yards west of the gravel parking lot. This is the racecourse for the annual Mississippi College Fellowship of Christian Athletes Endurance Challenge Duathlon held in April. Several side trails allow a variety of rides and increase the total length to 7.5 miles. There are several exit trails marked with black on yellow arrows. The trail is all woodland singletrack, most of which is suitable for beginners. Several steep drops, a narrow bridge, and challenging climbs, all of which can be bypassed, make this system fun for intermediate riders. The heavy clay soil does not drain well so allow for several drying days after a rain. A dedicated group of volunteer trail stewards have invested hundreds of man-hours to armor and drain wet spots and improve the sustainability of this system which is shared by trail runners and mountain bikers. The now abandoned, historic Mississippi Basin Model, built by the US Army Corps of Engineers to model flood events in the entire Mississippi River watershed, is directly south of the trails. Begun in 1943, the site work was done by German prisoners of war imprisoned at Camp Clinton.

Review: I rode this trail a couple of weekends ago when I visited my parents in Clinton. It's nothing technical or difficult but was rather enjoyable. It wasn't too well maintained and I ran through a massive spiderweb. I didn't have any trouble with the trail markings as there is really only one way to go. I didn't see a single soul on the trail so don't expect to be rescued if you had a flat or something like that. The final section had some pretty nice flowing downhill that was really fun.

Review: I thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm still a beginner rider. I rode the red arrowed trail it defiantly pushed me to the limit but as a beginner I would recommend this trail to many people. Only draw back I really saw the arrows can be a little miss leading when the trails cross each other. But for me the trail paths were pretty clean an well drawn out, was a great ride though defiantly be back!

Review: "bikecowboys" previous post review of this trail is dead on how I feel. Great fun trail and horrible markings and random arrows...?? This place could be much better with markings. As for the gate to start at ...start at the chain link fence gate that has a sawn off telephone pole next to it. Its right next to the gravel parking lot like the directions up above say. Once thru the gate dont go immediately left follow the old paved road a little bit and there are trail 2 or 3 trail heads on the left side as you go along this paved road. Other than that...its just random trails everywhere and you need to use your internal compass to get back..

Review: Rode this trail today. This trail has a lot of potential. There is no tech difficulty on it but there plenty of opps to jump and go fast. Most of the trail has good flow but what it does not have is a way to figure out which way to go. There are orange blazes on trees but who knows where you are supposed to start. The directions on the site here say "start at the vehicle gate" but there are two gates...one on each end of the parking lot. I spent more time trying to decipher the trails than I did riding. If the trail had some decent directions about where to start and which trail was the main trail so that you could know that you were staying on it the ride would be much more fun. Now that I have at least some idea about what's out there I would probably stop and ride it again when I am in the area. I would have given it a 4 with better marking.

Review: Awesome ride. I'm just getting into MtBKing and I loved it, even after eating dirt shortly after getting started on this trail. I recommend it to all the MS riders looking for a short adventure.

Review: Amazing trail. Great speed and good jumps, not hard to ride but its fun.

Review: Great trail, never a lull in the ride including several sections of up-n-downs, jumps, and long down hill straightaways to really burn out a fast run. Well ridden trails make it easy to gain and maintain momentum. Great track to build endurance and set personal goals.

* Review edited 11/10/2008

Similar Trail: The Ridgeland Trails