Hiking Near New Orleans (Baton Rouge, Jackson: living, safety, moving)

[BrooklineBiker]

Hi everybody,
I’ll be visiting New Orleans, LA the week of December 4 and would like to do some dayhiking on nature trails.
Can anyone recommend sites (e.g., state parks, wildlife refuges) within a 2-hour drive of NOLA for seeing birds and other local wildlife? Also interested in seeing interesting southeastern trees & plants (bald cypress, Spanish moss, live oak, etc.). Can anyone recommend some places to do that?

[Schwartzmann]

I used to live in New Orleans. It is surrounded by marsh. Most wildlife areas are accessible only by water. When my parents came down to visit, we took a boat tour through the swamps... bald cypress everywhere. Since you are interested in hiking, however, your best bet would be the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, which is higher in elevation than points south of the lake.

In New Orleans itself, City Park is acres big and has plenty of areas for walking, lots of live oaks, although I wouldn't vouch for its safety (it's been years since I lived in the city). Audubon Park is a nice walk, as well, and safer... and has live oaks and bodies of water with some water birds. Both are what I would call "manicured"... but it gets you off New Orleans' auto-congested streets into a degree of nature. If I remember correctly, I think you would see Spanish moss hanging from live oaks in both parks.

[aab7855]

You could check out Jean Lafitte State Park, it wouldn't be too far of a drive and you'd see some amazing swamp landscape. Tunica Hills is farther out (past Baton Rouge) but still an option

[rgathrights]

Originally Posted by BrooklineBiker

Hi everybody,
I’ll be visiting New Orleans, LA the week of December 4 and would like to do some dayhiking on nature trails.
Can anyone recommend sites (e.g., state parks, wildlife refuges) within a 2-hour drive of NOLA for seeing birds and other local wildlife? Also interested in seeing interesting southeastern trees & plants (bald cypress, Spanish moss, live oak, etc.). Can anyone recommend some places to do that?

You are looking for Fontainebleau State Park.



TRAILS:

4.8 mile hiking trail
1.2 mile nature trail



WIKI HISTORY:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontainebleau_State_Park





Please note its hunting season right now in Louisiana (lots of hunters moving about public lands) and the alligators are not active due to the cold weather.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Not gonna be much hiking, man. Anywhere in the surrounding area. That's one thing I learned the hard way when I moved to Jackson, MS (just flat as can be). Look for the state parks with hiking trails, but for the most part, it's walking, not hiking. Wildlife is scenery is a different story, and Fontainebleau is good for that.

Got to get above the I-20 corridor to find much real hiking, unfortunately. And really even farther than that.

[BrooklineBiker]

Hi folks,
Thanks for your replies. I'm ok with sea-level nature walks as long as they are at least a few miles in length, Longer is better

[WhoDatInMD]

Originally Posted by aab7855

You could check out Jean Lafitte State Park, it wouldn't be too far of a drive and you'd see some amazing swamp landscape. Tunica Hills is farther out (past Baton Rouge) but still an option

I also recommend Jean Lafitte State Park. A couple years ago I took my wife on one of its natural surface trails and we saw a nice selection of wildlife.

[cBach]

Jean Lafitte National Park is the best hiking around New Orleans.

[BrooklineBiker]

Thanks everyone!

[Tom Lennox 70]

Tickfaw State Park in Livingston Parish is nice. Some of the trails are boardwalks through the swamps and forest but there's a 3.5 mile long dirt trail that follows the Tickfaw River and then curves around through the forest.

Fountainbleau is also nice and has trails along the Lake Pontchartrain shoreline.