Cypress Island Preserve: Levee and Boardwalk Trails (Blog Hike #557)

Trails: Levee and Boardwalk Trails

Hike Location: Cypress Island Preserve

Geographic Location: east of Lafayette, LA (30.20251, -91.90025)

Length: 5.5 miles

Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)

Date Hiked: January 2016

Overview: A flat out-and-back on levee and boardwalk along the west shore of Lake Martin.

Preserve Information: https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/cypress-island/

Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From downtown Lafayette, take SR 94 east 2.3 miles to SR 353.  Turn right on SR 353.  (Alternatively, take SR 94 west 5.2 miles from Breaux Bridge and turn left on SR 353.)  Drive SR 353 south 5.3 miles to the preserve Visitor Center on the left.  The Visitor Center is unsigned, but you reach it immediately after passing Rookery Road.  Park in the gravel lot in front of the Visitor Center.

The hike: Owned and operated by The Nature Conservancy, Cypress Island Preserve protects 9500 acres around Lake Martin (also known as Lake la Pointe) in south-central Louisiana.  The preserve lies on the western edge of the ancient Mississippi River floodplain, and it boasts one of the best bottomland hardwood forests in the entire lower Mississippi River valley.  The preserve also features one of the largest waterbird rookeries in the country.  The rookery combined with the semi-open waters of Lake Martin make Cypress Island Preserve a top-notch birding destination especially during the spring.

            In the early 1950’s private landowners constructed a 5 mile levee around Lake Martin with the intention of opening the area to public recreation.  The eastern half of the levee features gravel Rookery Road, some swamp tour operators, and some fishing/boat ramp sites.  The western half of the levee travels through less developed areas, most of which are now owned by The Nature Conservancy. 

The western half of the levee contains the Levee Trail featured on this hike; the preserve’s short Boardwalk Trail is added for a little variety.  Parking lots at both the north and south ends of the levee allow you to do this out-and-back hike as a two-car shuttle if you wish.  The preserve is open every day, but parts of the Levee Trail are closed in late summer and early fall for alligator nesting.  The season restriction is not very restrictive: I would not even consider doing this hike in the summer due to heat and bugs.

Visitor Center trailhead

            The hike starts at the Visitor Center, which has some nice exhibits but only opens on weekends most of the year.  From the front porch of the Visitor Center, take the gravel trail with wooden berms that heads to the left (east) away from the picnic pavilion.  Notice the brick stilts on which the Visitor Center sits, a reminder that you are only 10 feet above sea level.  Some large Spanish moss-draped live oaks live in the Visitor Center’s front lawn.

            Very quickly you cross gravel Rookery Road and begin the preserve’s boardwalk.  The short U-shaped wooden boardwalk explores the cypress forest at the southern end of Lake Martin.  The shallow algae-covered water attracts many birds, but the thick cypress forest restricts your sight lines.

Southern end of Lake Martin

            At the west end of the boardwalk, you arrive back at Rookery Road.  To get to the Levee Trail, turn right and walk a short distance down the gravel road to the Levee Trail’s south trailhead on the right.  The trailhead is unsigned, but the yellow iron vehicle gate and portal make it hard to miss.

Levee Trail's south trailhead

            The Levee Trail heads north northwest with Lake Martin on your right and a water-filled borrow pit on your left.  As you would expect for a levee, the trail is dead flat and nearly dead straight.  As you head north, the cypress forest starts to thin, and better sightlines for bird viewing open up.  The bird tally from my visit included blue jays, wrens, sparrows, cardinals, chickadees, red-winged blackbirds, herons, gold finches, an egret, and a roseate spoonbill.

            At 1.3 miles, you reach an extension of the levee that protrudes out into the lake on the right.  The extension provides your best view yet of open waters.  Continuing north, the preserve’s Nature Trail exits to the left and drops off the levee 1.8 miles into the hike.  The Nature Trail explores an area that was clear-cut in the late 1970’s but has now been reforested with hardwood trees such as elm, ash, oak, pecan, and tupelo.  You can add on the Nature Trail if you wish, but many of the interpretive signs are dirt-covered because the trail floods during times of high water.  Thus, the preserve’s best hiking option remains the Levee Trail.

Hiking the Levee Trail

            The levee curves right as you approach the more open waters of northern Lake Martin, and soon Ruth Canal appears on the left.  On my visit the waters of Lake Martin were dark and foreboding while the waters of Ruth Canal were muddy brown from runoff.  I saw the spoonbill in the canal near the northern end of the trail.

Northern end of Lake Martin

            At 2.8 miles, you reach another yellow iron vehicle gate and portal, this one marking the north end of the Levee Trail.  There is also a wooden fishing pier here that makes a nice place to sit and rest while observing the lake, and the parking lot that serves this fishing pier lies just beyond the portal.  You can make a complete circumnavigation of Lake Martin on foot, but hiking the eastern half of the levee requires walking a narrow gravel road that sees significant vehicle traffic.  Thus, I chose to turn around and retrace my steps along the Levee Trail to return to the Visitor Center and complete the hike.

Chewacla State Park: Deer Rub/Mountain Laurel Loop (Blog Hike #556)

Trails: Deer Rub, Eagle Scout, Troop 30, and Mountain Laurel Trails

Hike Location: Chewacla State Park

Geographic Location: south of Auburn, AL (32.54940, -85.47650)

Length: 2.9 miles

Difficulty: 6/10 (Moderate)

Date Hiked: January 2016

Overview: A loop hike, mostly easy but with a couple of steep rocky sections, featuring Chewacla Falls.

Park Information: https://www.alapark.com/parks/chewacla-state-park

Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: In east-central Alabama, take I-85 to US 29 (exit 51).  Exit and go south on US 29.  Drive US 29 only 0.3 miles to Shell Toomer Parkway and turn left on Shell Toomer Parkway.  Drive Shell Toomer Parkway 1.6 miles to where it enters the park.  Pay the nominal entrance fee and continue straight on the main park road as it bends uphill around the park’s lake.  Park in the Upper Pavilion parking area at the very end of the main park road.

The hike: The tall, stately, mature trees, elaborate stone buildings, and narrow, winding park roads give away this park’s 1930’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) history.  Included in the CCC’s contributions are 6 stone cottages that were recently renovated and made available for rental.  Hardwood floors, stone fireplaces, and modern appliances make these cottages attractive places to spend the night.

At only 696 acres in size, Chewacla State Park offers numerous recreation opportunities in a small package.  The park’s amenities include the aforementioned 6 cottages, a cozy 36 site campground, a group camp, and fishing and swimming in a 26 acre lake.  Even better, all of these facilities are located within a few miles of Auburn University and I-85.

            For outdoor enthusiasts, the park features 27 trails, but many of the trails were built by the Central Alabama Mountain Pedalers for mountain bikers.  6 of the park’s trails are designated as hiker optimized trails, and the loop described here makes the most of these trails.  (Aside: I have no idea what qualifies a trail as “hiker optimized,” but it sounds appealing to me.)  This loop also features a visit to the park’s main natural attraction, Chewacla Falls.

Upper Pavilion trailhead

            The hike starts in front of the Upper Pavilion at a red wooden sign that says “Trail to Falls.”  The trail drops straight down the steep hillside over a jungle of protruding roots and rocks as it loses 140 feet of elevation in just over 0.1 miles.  The rough terrain demands caution, but with slow and careful stepping most people can get to the bottom without incident.

            At the bottom of the hill, you reach the base of the dam that forms the park’s lake.  Even though the waterfall formed by water spilling over the dam’s 34-foot spillway is man-made, the sights and sounds are pleasant to the eye and ear, so much so that some people mistake this spillway for Chewacla Falls.  To get to the real Chewacla Falls, you need to turn left and begin heading downstream.

Dam spillway

Next comes the hardest part of the hike as the trail heads downhill through a boulder field that lies beside the real Chewacla Falls.  The trail through the boulder field is poorly defined, so you have to pick your way downstream using whatever route looks most feasible.  Some steps and boardwalk here would improve accessibility to the falls and prevent further damage from foot traffic to off-trail areas.

At the end of the boulders you reach the base of the real Chewacla Falls, which is more of a cascade.  From your position on the east bank of the creek, the main branch of the waterfall is hidden by a rock outcrop, so you will need to wade out into the creek to get a good view.  With sufficient water, Chewacla Falls makes a very scenic attraction.

Chewacla Falls

After viewing the falls, exit the falls area by continuing downstream through a gash that has been cut into the rock cliffs.  The single-track dirt trail becomes better defined as you pass the confluence of Moores Mill Creek that you have been following and the much larger Chewacla Creek.  The park map calls this trail the Deer Rub Trail though nothing on the ground indicates such.

Chewacla Creek

            The trail curves left as it heads upstream with Chewacla Creek on the right.  An older path stays very close to the creek, but the official trail has been rerouted further away from the creek due to erosion issues.  Some white paint blazes keep you on the official trail.  The sounds of an active quarry located just outside the park boundary can be heard from your right.

Where another branch of the Deer Rub Trail exits left and heads uphill, stay right to remain near the creek.  At 0.6 miles, you hear what sounds like another waterfall off to your right, but you soon see the real sound-maker: water spilling into the creek out of a drainage pipe from the quarry.  Next the trail narrows as it climbs up and over a bluff before returning to near creek-level.

Climbing over a bluff

            After topping the bluff, you need to turn right to stay on the hiker optimized trails where a spur to the mountain bike trails continues straight.  If you reach a wooden post bearing the number 8, you have missed this turn by a few hundred feet.  The Deer Rub Trail stays in the lowland creekside forest as it passes over some seasonally wet areas.

Wet area

            The trail curves left and climbs gradually to reach another intersection with a mountain bike trail.  This intersection is also marked by a wooden post bearing the number 8.  Turn right to continue the gradual climb.

At 1.6 miles, you reach a major trail intersection where the Deer Rub Trail ends.  To continue the loop and head for the Mountain Laurel Trail, keep walking straight (northwest) to continue the gradual climb.  This trail is a mountain bike trail called Tiger Woods.  At this point I noticed the pattern that the newer mountain bike trails are well-signed and easy to discern while the older hiking trails are poorly marked and harder to follow.

Mountain bike trail intersection

Just before reaching the park road, turn right on the faint Eagle Scout Trail to get back on the hiker optimized trails.  A wooden post bearing the number 4 marks this intersection.  If you reach the intersection of the Tiger Woods and High Gravity mountain bike trails, you have gone about 100 feet too far.

The faint Eagle Scout Trail maintains a fairly level contour on the hillside as it curves left.  After crossing the easier to discern Tiger Woods bike trail again, the trail crosses a small creek and curves right to reach its end at the Troop 30 Trail.  Turn left and then right to begin the Troop 30 Trail.

Cascade in Moores Mill Creek

The well-signed Troop 30 Trail drops steeply to reach the bank of Moores Mill Creek right beside a small but pleasant rocky cascade.  The trail curves left to head downstream with the now still waters of the creek on your right.  As I slogged through a streamside sandy area, I realized that this hike is a microcosm of all Alabama hiking: the rocky area near the falls is similar to the mountains of northern Alabama, the rolling terrain in the middle is typical of central Alabama, and this sand slogging is similar to the areas along the Gulf of Mexico.

Under the park road bridge

2 miles into the hike, you cross the main park road.  The trail changes names here from the Troop 30 Trail to the Mountain Laurel Trail.  Also, although you drove across the road bridge to your right on your drive to the trailhead, you probably did not notice the graceful CCC-built stone arches that support the bridge.  These arches are clearly visible from this angle.

Where mountain bike trails exit left and head uphill, stay right to remain on the Mountain Laurel Trail.  The final leg of this loop is mostly a flat creekside hike with occasional wet or rocky areas.  Soon you reach the backwaters of the park’s lake, and shortly thereafter the park’s playground and picnic shelters come into view across the lake to the right.

Chewacla State Park lake

At 2.8 miles, you reach the dam that forms the park’s lake.  You could descend to the base of the spillway to close the loop, or you could turn left on one of the connector trails near the dam area.  Either option leaves a short uphill hike to return to your car in the Upper Pavilion parking area.  If you happen to be here late in the day (as I was on my first visit to Chewacla State Park in 2008), an overlook at the west end of the Upper Pavilion makes a spectacular place to watch the sun set over the central Alabama plains.