Here There and Everywhere

The Creole Nature Trail! At Last!

We were all ready to hit this trail once before, but weather forecasts for the week we had it planned were full of thunderous storms and lots of rain, so we postponed.

This time, circumstances all came together fortuitously. AdventureMan had a conference in nearby Baton Rouge, and the temperature and humidity dropped dramatically. We had clear skies, no mosquitos, and glorious weather. As we left the Coffee Call in Baton Rouge, we were grinning from ear to ear.

You gotta love these smart phones. Better than a map for letting you know where you are and where you can turn off to get where you want to go. We wanted the Creole Nature Trail, which is a loop, Louisiana Road 27.

Shortly after we started down LA 27, we came to a US Fish and Wildlife Station, and there we met Sarah, who was a Student Conservation Associate, working for several months at the site. She had all kinds of good information, and was delighted to share with us. We laughed; she told us she was from “the other LA”, Los Angeles, and she had experienced culture shock coming to the backroads of Louisiana, but she had adjusted, learned a lot, and she loves the place.

This is their website: Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

We started at Cameron Prairie, which had a three mile drive and a stop with a one mile boardwalk. The boardwalk was gorgeous, and beautifully kept.

As AdventureMan focused on some alligators, I enjoyed the birds, and the colors:

We don’t know what this bird might be. It was huge. Maybe a Red Shouldered Hawk.

We had the park entirely to ourselves, except for one car that came – and left! We could have spent hours, but it was after lunch time when we left, and we were hungry!

October 29, 2014 - Posted by intlxpatr | Beauty, Birds, Customer Service, Education, Environment, Exercise, ExPat Life, Geography / Maps, Road Trips, Travel, Wildlife | alligator, Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, Creole Nature Trail, egret, ibis, SW Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex, US Fish and Wildlife Service, waterlily