Entry 142: The Quiet Trails, Ancient Earthworks, and Swamp Air of Louisiana State Parks
February has a way of slowing things down. The crowds thin out, the air feels softer, and places reveal themselves in a more honest way. That is exactly what I found on a recent trip through Louisiana, where I spent time at Chemin-A-Haut State Park, Poverty Point State Park, and Palmetto Island State Park. Each stop offered something different. One felt still and quiet, one carried the weight of its history, and one wrapped me in the thick air of the Louisiana landscape. Chemin-A-Haut State Park Tucked into the hills of north Louisiana, Chemin-A-Haut feels like a place that does not need to prove anything. The park sits along Bayou Bartholomew, one of the longest bayous in the country, and the landscape carries a mix of hardwood forest and gentle slopes that you do not always expect in this part of the state. The park itself has roots that stretch back to the 1930s, when the Civilian Conservation Corps helped shape many of the original structures. There is a sense of that history s...
