- Joined
- Jun 16, 2010
- Messages
- 1,111
My buddy and I decided to go on a day hike at the Bogue Chitto State Park, located on the Bogue Chitto river. We heard there was a large gorge in the park and multiple lakes and streams flowing off the river. I was even more excited that it was near my home and had major elevation changes. You don't see that very often in Louisiana. I loaded up my new Mystery Ranch ASAP and hit the road.
We arrived at the park around 10:45am and stopped at the ranger station for a quick bathroom break. The ranger station and many of the lodges/gathering areas had been recently refinished and I was quite pleased with the quality of the park. The park rangers were very kind to us and I really enjoyed the ranger station interior. It would make a neat man cave!
The trail head was really a sight to see! The stairway leading down onto the boardwalk in the gorge was very neat. Something I don't see very often in my neck of the woods. It was nearly a 60 ft descent to the boardwalk below.
The boardwalk eventually lead out of the gorge and the uphill trek began. The park is kept up well and the majority of the trails are gravel covered. You can see the black barrier they put down, here.
We were on our way to the river, when we got lost. Somehow, we hiked about 2 miles in the wrong direction and wound up a vacant assembly hall. I pulled up the map and we took a wrong turn on the loop, so we made the best of it and enjoyed the very cool playground. My buddy climbed to the top, but with my bad back and long legs, it wasn't happening for me. The view from up top was pretty neat.
We finally made it to the river, sort of. The trail ran along a cliff near the river, so we stopped to enjoy the view.
I took my Shannon Carter Urge along for the ride.
We decided not to go to the actual "Day Use Area" due to the amount of people we saw flying down the road. I was hoping for a quiet stop by the river, but it was full of young college kids and ice chests full of booze. I can't blame them, I did the same thing when I was 21. We made the uphill loop back to the car and had some nice views along the trail.
On the way back, we noticed the other side of the board walk, which seemed to be covered by sand and clay from a possible landslide. It looks quite sketchy from up above, so we decided not to check it out this time. It appeared as if it may have flooded a few times in the past.
We arrived at the park around 10:45am and stopped at the ranger station for a quick bathroom break. The ranger station and many of the lodges/gathering areas had been recently refinished and I was quite pleased with the quality of the park. The park rangers were very kind to us and I really enjoyed the ranger station interior. It would make a neat man cave!
The trail head was really a sight to see! The stairway leading down onto the boardwalk in the gorge was very neat. Something I don't see very often in my neck of the woods. It was nearly a 60 ft descent to the boardwalk below.
The boardwalk eventually lead out of the gorge and the uphill trek began. The park is kept up well and the majority of the trails are gravel covered. You can see the black barrier they put down, here.
We were on our way to the river, when we got lost. Somehow, we hiked about 2 miles in the wrong direction and wound up a vacant assembly hall. I pulled up the map and we took a wrong turn on the loop, so we made the best of it and enjoyed the very cool playground. My buddy climbed to the top, but with my bad back and long legs, it wasn't happening for me. The view from up top was pretty neat.
We finally made it to the river, sort of. The trail ran along a cliff near the river, so we stopped to enjoy the view.
I took my Shannon Carter Urge along for the ride.
We decided not to go to the actual "Day Use Area" due to the amount of people we saw flying down the road. I was hoping for a quiet stop by the river, but it was full of young college kids and ice chests full of booze. I can't blame them, I did the same thing when I was 21. We made the uphill loop back to the car and had some nice views along the trail.
On the way back, we noticed the other side of the board walk, which seemed to be covered by sand and clay from a possible landslide. It looks quite sketchy from up above, so we decided not to check it out this time. It appeared as if it may have flooded a few times in the past.
