Dates: Mar. 9-10, 2024
Locations: Sabine NWR, Kisatchie NF, Cane River Creole NHP, Sabine NF, Angelina NF, Davey Crockett NF, Sam Houston NF
Sometimes things just fall into place nicely. I spend a lot of time perusing my map of USFS/NPS sites, and had realized that I hadn't touched too much around Houston, including all four of Texas's national forests within a few hours' drive. Then when my good friends Vijay and Elizabeth invited me to their wedding reception in Louisiana, I saw the opportunity for a road trip weekend to string some things together. Throw in the fact that it was my birthday weekend and I was excited to celebrate my friends, my birthday, and see some really good trees in one fell swoop!
Setting out from Houston, my only goal was to make it to Lafayette, LA before total darkness. On the way I stopped at Sabine NWR wetlands where I hiked along the boardwalk trail through the marshy grasses, seeing pelicans, a deer, and sadly no gators. It was windy and cold out, a nice change of pace for the gulf coast.
Perfectly spaced pelicans by the causeway.
The mazelike waterways- no gators were spotted.
Above: Swamp puppy
Below: Gator watch.
Boardwalk in Sabine NWR wetlands.
Continuing on, I had strayed from the I-10 superhighway and was enjoying the state highways until I realized I was low on gas- then the next 3 gas stations I passed were all long abandoned and I realized this coastal Louisiana area was more backwoods than I thought. I finally limped in to a station with my low fuel light very well lit to avert the crisis. In Lafayette, I slipped into the venue just as things got rolling, finding other friends from NASA to hang around with until Vijay and Elizabeth came from the ceremony and the party got rolling! I ate my fair share of Louisiana soul food from fried catfish to gumbo and even did a tiny bit of dancing. Then as people drifted off to their hotels, I hopped back in my car and drove into the middle of the Louisiana backwoods.
Natchitoches, Louisiana is one rural, dark place. Driving the winding road into Kisatchie, all light faded away and I went a long time without seeing any other cars. It was coming up on midnight and I knew I was solidly in the National Forest land, but the only concrete landmark I had was Longleaf Vista, which had a sign for no overnight camping or parking. So I doubled back on the now foggy road and simply found a two-track I could pull off onto.
Parking my car, the front wheels sunk a few inches into mud and a bank of fog rolled in to obscure my surroundings. In other words, it was spooky. I folded down the Malibu backseat and rolled out my trusty foam pad and sleeping bag, stretching my legs into the trunk. It was not exactly comfy, but it was good enough. Staring at the car roof, I was genuinely worried I would see a face or some eldritch horror emerge from the fog pressed against my rear windshield. I could almost hear the banjos from Deliverance playing as I drifted off to sleep...
Waking up in the morning, I was greeted by a horrible headache and nausea, with incredible dizziness as I got up to survey my surroundings in the daylight. Happy birthday to me... no matter what, I had to get back to Houston today so I was going to have to drive. I figured I would start by driving to the nearby longleaf vista, the most visited area of Kisatchie.
Above: Vibrant Azalea
Below: Kisatchie's Longleaf Vista
Mottled shade and morning sun in the longleafs.
The longleaf vista hike was underwhelming, just a slightly higher viewpoint of pine trees than anywhere else. The drive on the other hand, was lovely. Shadows and sunlight painted a soft scene through the unique longleaf pines.
A juvenile longleaf pine - long leaves indeed.
The shady longleaf vista road felt nostalgic.
Despite feeling awful, I wasn't about to waste the opportunity I'd given myself by driving all the way out here and sleeping in my car in a haunted forest (and I still had to get back home). I forged on with the plan and drove the half hour to Cane River Creole National Historical Park. A free self-guided walking tour took me through the grounds of the Oakland Plantation where generations of farmers (enslaved and then tenant) worked the French Creole cotton plantations here.
Where's the TV?
1860 one-room cabin.
Sprawling Live Oak blankets the small cabin in shade.
The sprawling Southern Live Oaks all over the plantation were truly majestic, covered with moss and draping their windy branches over the yards of the various historic cabins.
Above: shade on the porch of former slave housing.
Below: moss and ferns overgrowing the oaks.
Another Live Oak spreading its limbs.
The main home was an anachronistic wonder - rooms with manually operated ceiling fans (worked by slaves), but the kitchen was decked out in 1950s formica and chrome, evidence of the family that continued actually living there into the 1990s before the NPS acquired it.
The tree-lined front lawn of the Oakland Plantation house.
Above: Unusual- a fridge in a plantation.
Below: the 1950s kitchen
Wrought iron gates of "Oakland Plantation 1821"
About the time I decided this walking in the sun wasn't making me feel any better, I started staggering back to my car, where I ended up throwing up in the parking lot, which did not add a lot of confidence for the remaining 5 hours of solo driving to be done.
Starting my drive home from Cane River, I felt pretty horrible but the sun was shining, the air was fresh, and the breeze was blowing. If I pretended to not be sick, I would've really enjoyed the road trip I'd set up for myself. I rolled down the windows and took it bit by bit, with stops along the way as I drove through Sabine National Forest on the LA-TX border, including the huge Toledo Bend Reservoir where I pulled off for a nap. Then on through Angelina National Forest before the more familiar Sam Houston ushered me back into town.
Shadows dapple the classic National Forest sign
Evidence I was in Angelina NF, however briefly.
Angelina National Forest on a perfect spring day.
Texas-sized: the 65-foot Sam Houston statue.
Rolling back home, there was no cake to save this birthday so I just went straight to bed. A tough weekend, but I was glad to have made the most of it. I definitely owe those national forests a revisit- at least to do some hiking. Texas has much more in store for me still!