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Allen • Jefferson Davis • Acadia |
Dates Visited
Conditions
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These three parish highpoints were done as we drove from Houston toward Lafayette, Louisiana. The theme for today was rain, and lots of it. Still, we had fun.
We entered into Louisiana from Texas, after a muddy (and frightening) visit to the highpoint of Hardin County, Texas. The day had started rainy when we left Houston and it stayed that way, never letting up. Once inside Louisiana, we stopped and had lunch at a Dairy Queen in De Ridder. We canceled about a half-dozen other county highpoints due to the rain, and kept mianly to the ones with paved road access. Our first attempt inside Louisiana would be the easy highpoint of Allen Parish.
From De Ridder, we journeyed east along State Route LA-112 for a number of miles to its junction with northbound LA-377. We turned onto route 377 (which was in pretty bad shape) and drove a bumpy three miles or so to the top of an obvious rise on the road, just north of the Sixmile Church. The highpoint is off the road to the east in the woods. In heavy rain, I opted to scout the woods for the highspot then call out for Beth, who was sitting in the truck, all comfy and dry. I can't say I found anything obvious, just the usual slight bulges in the land. I called Beth over and we stepped on a couple likely spots, snapped a photo and got on our way, with the Jefferson Davis Parish highspots next on the list. The rain never let up and came down in buckets, easily an inch-an-hour pace, as we headed east.
By the time we got to the towns of Elton and Barnsdall along US-190 in northwest Jefferson Davis Parish, we'd been on the road for about 5 hours amid a consistent downpour of heavy rain. From the Allen Parish highpoint, we made our way down through Kinder, then east to Elton and Barnsdall. Five areas comprise the potential highpoint of Jefferson Davis Parish: one large area north of Barnsdall along the parish boundary and four smaller areas just south, of which it is likely that most or all of these four have been artificially built up by roadbed construction. Nevertheless we visited the southern areas as best we could. Heavy, heavy rain kept our extra-vehicular activities short. Of the four southern areas we felt some berms along a dirt road might be as high as anything.
The northern area we saved for last. We went up and over the railroad then north about a half-mile to a slight bend in the road, where a small stand of large, mature trees stood to our north. The map had us within the 55-foot contour and the ground near the trees seemed to be a good 2-3 feet higher. However, the heavy rain and horrific mud made even stepping this short of a distance difficult. We tagged the high ground and walked up on nearby high ground where the footing was better, then got moving. Ironically, the railroad bed is higher than everything but definitely man-enhanced. Beth was slightly bemused by this highpoint. This was just a primer for the next one: an 11-pointer a few miles down the road in Acadia Parish. The rain stayed heavy.
This was the fourth "highpoint" of the day, although this one, like neighboring Jefferson Davis Parish, only reaches 57 feet above sea level, give or take a few millimeters. Today had been a long drive, somewhat difficult mentally due to the incessant driving rain, which (a) made driving go slow, for obvious reasons, among them we couldn't see more than 50 feet some times, and (b) pounded on the truck's roof making for quite a din. Our destination was Lafayette, about 20 miles farther, but I couldn't resist visiting the highspots of Acadia Parish along the way. Beth, bless her patient heart, could have very easily given this one a miss, but she allowed me to indulge in my silly hobby and even helped with the map navigation. Extra neck rub for her!
The skinny on Acadia Parish: eleven separate areas reach 55 feet above sea level, clustered in the parish's northeastern corner near the towns of Pitreville and Church Point. Two areas near Pitreville are very large, covering many square miles and include three separate spot elevations of 57 feet: one at the northeast corner, another about a quarter-mile to the west, and another about two miles to the southwest. The remaining areas are much smaller and some, I suspect, are man-made, or man-enhanced, by road building over the years. However, numerous county roads and state highways criss-cross over these areas so it's just a matter of driving all over the place and making as reasonable a determination of the high areas by visual inpection and map reading. I imposed a rule for us to visit each of the 57-foot spot elevations, drive as much as possible and call it good.
We came into the area along eastbound US-190 to the community of Swords, and followed state routes LA-752 and LA-751 south to where LA-751 junctions with LA-358. This is the northeast corner of the parish and one of the 57-foot spot elevations. We got out and looked around. Totally, completely flat. The second 57-foot spot elevation was visited a few moments later, westbound along LA-358. About a mile later we came to the junction with LA-1103 at Pitreville, which is just a locale, not a town. South along LA-1103 put us inside one of the bigger areas. At a corner in the road I shot the photo (thumbnail, left).
We went south some more then started the process of picking off the various areas. The third 57-foot spot elevation is found along Wagon Road just south of a thicket of natural woods, which was higher by about a foot than the road, so in my opinion, this one area is the likeliest natural highpoint of the parish. We also toured Pamela and Gobert Roads and got back out onto LA-1103.
Next, we proceeded to Church Point and visited the small areas scattered about the town and the immediate area. They are all fairly small and probably not the highpoint. We got slightly turned around on the roads and made some unplanned detours, but finally we found ourselves north of town along LA-35. A re-route of the highway confused us, since our map was apparently not up-to-date, but we finally found the various areas. The last one was the pair along Plaquemines Road near the parish boundary. The rain stayed light for most of this journey, which took a total of about an hour to complete. From here we drove into Opelousas and Lafayette and treated ourselves a fine Cajun dinner at Prejean's, a famous restaurant and music hangout along Interstate-49 north of Lafayette. I dug into some gumbo while the both of us ate alligator for the first time ever.
From here we spent a few enjoyable days in and around New Orleans, including Christmas Day when it snowed. We had an amazing time in the city. We did one more simple parish highpoint, in St. John the Baptist Parish. Read about our New Orleans fun and the neat plantation tours via the aforementioned link.
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(c) 2004, 2012 Scott Surgent. For entertainment purposes only. This report is not meant to replace maps, compass, gps and other common sense hiking/navigation items. Neither I nor the webhost can be held responsible for unfortunate situations that may arise based on these trip reports. Conditions (physical and legal) change over time! Some of these hikes are major mountaineering or backpacking endeavors that require skill, proper gear, proper fitness and general experience. |