St John the Baptist Parish is located about 30 miles west of New Orleans in the low, swampy bayou country of southern Louisiana. Finding highpoints in this area is rather difficult! Most of the bayou parishes, especially those that are along the Gulf of Mexico, rarely exceed 10 or 15 feet of elevation, and any natural ground sticking up out of the water has usually been built upon and altered. Levees are everywhere and often are the highest points of these parishes. But given that they are man-made, they are not required to visit in order to claim the parish highpoint. On the other hand, it's not uncommon for a bayou parish to have dozens of 'natural' areas, spread hither and yon amid thick forest and crossed by watery barriers, or a single area covering many square miles of territory. What's a highpointer to do? Frankly, not much. The highpoint of St John the Baptist parish is an exception, as one little spit of land, apparently natural, reaches 25 feet of elevation. This land is located along the Mississippi River near the town of Wallace, and judging by its shape on the map, probably not man-made nor altered. Even so, a levee runs nearby, with spot elevations of up to 34 feet. This would be a rare case of needing to descend, believe it or not, to get to the highpoint.

Beth and I actually arrived in the area three days earlier, coming to the towns of Gramercy and Lutcher on the 24th - Christmas Eve - to view an amazing spectacle: dozens of massive log pyres lined along the levees, set alight as the sun set, to herald Christmas. Apparently this is a tradition dating back over a hundred years. We arrived about 2 in the afternoon and pretty much camped out in the truck until 7, when the pyres were lit. Thousands of people were in attendance, walking along the levees and taking in the sights, as were we. The weather was very cold - mid 20s - and the fires felt great! We stayed until about 10 p.m. at which time we left to get to our hotel in the nearby community of Laplace. The highpoint was very close to these pyres but we decided to visit it on Christmas Day instead. At least that was the plan.

Christmas Day broke with freezing rain, sleet and snow. Much of Interstate-10 had been shut and all main bridges were closed due to ice conditions. This shut us out from the St John highpoint and forced our hand: we got our butts into New Orleans before they shut the whole Interstate. We made the slow, slick drive into New Orleans, during which time we came across two wrecks. Fortunately the drive wasn't far and we spent the day at the Harrah's Casino near the French Quarter, where we both won about $80 and thereby got our meals and other treats essentially for free. We had a nice Christmas Brunch at the Casino buffet, and later, watched a movie, again using our winnings to pay for the tickets. It snowed most of the day, the first significant snow in New Orleans in 15 years and the only time it had ever snowed on Christmas Day here! The next day was much nicer, with temperatures in the 50s, and we spent that day touring the French Quarter in town, plus some sightseeing of the city at large.

So, it wasn't until the 27th - Beth's birthday! - that we could get back to nabbing the St John highpoint. We drove back along Interstate-10 to the Gramercy exit, went over the huge bridge spanning the Mississippi River, then east a bit along LA-18 to a dirt road that went up onto the levee and down to the highpoint area. We followed the road as it turned right but our progress was stopped by hefty mud and some earth-moving equipment. Still, we were in the 25-foot contour. We got out, looked around, checked to see if anything was significantly higher (nothing was), and got moving. Highpoint, done. While parked momentarily on top the levee, we got out to at least make it 'seem' like we were up high. We spent the rest of the day touring old plantation mansions than made the long drive north to the city of Natchitoches, the oldest settlement in Louisiana.