Louisiana Hiking Club

Si Louisiana Trail Blazer

2016 Second Quarter

page 1 - 2

President’s

Message

page 3

CampFest

page 4 -5

Sicily Island

Hills

page 6

Backbone Trail

page 7

Becoming an

Outdoor Woman

page 8

Fontainebleau

State Park

The President’s Message

Another March has come and gone. I would like

to thank all the members who contributed to making

CampFest a success! It really does take a village.

We had record numbers this year and I am already

looking forward to next year. There is always room

for improvement and I received some great

suggestions from one of our members via email:

“Chicot State park and the conference center seems

to be a very good site for the Camp Fest. With the

Arboretum and the reservoir, plus the trails, there

was plenty to do for all. The various scheduled

activities were appropriate for a Camp Fest. The

following are some thoughts making Camp Fest more

welcoming to newer people and how to provide more

information about club activities. The foremost

suggestion would be to have name tags for everyone.

Without name tags and hometowns, the opportunity to

meet people was greatly reduced.

On Saturday night, I liked the pot luck meal since

there were so many homemade dishes. However, there

could have been much more information provided after

the meal before members scattered. An example would

be a description of upcoming monthly club meetings

and their programs. We had assumed that major

upcoming outings would be described such as the

club’s base camp this June in Acadia National Park.

It would have been appreciated if an announcement

had been made saying anyone interested in Acadia to

meet afterwards over in a designated corner.

There are a whole host of other outdoor

activities that could have been announced and

described. The master naturalist program, for

example, although Jack Reily had been there in the

afternoon. Birding festivals that are occurring next

month – Mandeville’s Nature Center and Grand Isle

are two. Paddle Bayou Lafourche is the most

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ambitious four-day paddling event in Louisiana each year.

Nature centers and arboretums have numerous programs in

coming months. [My wife] really wanted to meet others from

New Orleans who would want to share rides to the meetings.

One way to do that would be to ask all the Baton Rouge

members to stand, then all the greater New Orleans members to

stand, Lafayette, etc. And then for the non-Baton Rouge

groups to get together afterwards to meet each other in case

members wanted to car pool to meetings. Introduce all the

club officers with a description of their duties. Introduce

charter members of the club – and the newest members. Of

interest would be to determine who came from the most

distance to the Camp Fest – and the least. Who has come every

time, or the most often?”

I thought all of these suggestions were spot-on and I am

looking forward to seeing these welcomed additions to

CampFest in 2017.

If you have any ideas for CampFest, whether it be

seminars, ideas, or improvemtns, please contact our CampFest

coordinator, Sharon King. Until next March...

See You on the Trail,

Katherine Gividen

Upcoming 2016 2nd

Saturday Hikes

May 14th Port Hudson State Historic Site Jackson, Louisiana

June 11th Allen Acres Pitkin, Louisiana

July 9th Kincaid Lakeshore Trail Kisatchie National Forest, Louisiana

August 13th Clear Springs Recreation Area Homochitto National Forest, Mississippi

September 10th Bogue Chitto State Park Franklinton, Louisiana

October 8th Sam Houston Jones State Park Lake Charles, Louisiana

November 12th Chicot State Park Ville Platte, Louisiana

December 10th John Thornhill’s Christmas Hike Tylertown, Mississippi

3

CampFest 2016 – Chicot State Park

by Janie Doucet

Chuck Cantrell teaching knot tying Christi & Erin preparing for the Ramen Cook-Off

Christi – Winner of the cook-off

Katherine demonstrating stoves, water filters, & gear. Plus, how to

light a stove with a gum wrapper & a battery

Good food cooked by the Dutch Oven Cookers of

Lake Charles

Christi with the cook-off judges (including Chef

Avery Kyle, runner-up of MasterChef Jr.)

Katherine & her (our) chef

Erin, another winner

4

Sicily Island Hills Wildlife Management Area

by Michael VanEtten

Sicily Island Hills WMA, now called

J.C. Sonny Gilbert WMA, is a scenic

natural area located west of the small

town of Sicily Island, LA, and NE of

Harrisonburg, LA. Size is 7,524

acres. Most people go into the WMA

from the NE corner (via gravel road off

of Hwy 915), but there is also a south

entrance. Visitors are to fill out a self

clearing check-in permit card upon

arrival. I was informed by a LA

Department of Wildlife & Fisheries

employee that you should have a valid hunting or fishing license with you before

entering, but you can check if

there are certain situations

where you don't need one (such

as over, or under, a certain age,

etc.).

There are three dedicated well-

marked hiking/nature trails with

several other trails that allow

ATV/UTV's on them

during certain times of the year

which are also nice to hike along. The hiking/nature trails are called the Big

Creek Trail (7 miles long), the St. Mary's Falls Trail (north end), and the Rock

Falls Trail (via south entrance). Each of the two waterfall trails are less than two

miles long. All three trails

are quite impressive, but

fairly rugged with elevation

changes, creek crossings,

etc. All three trails have a

well marked trailhead sign, a

gravel parking area, and all

are fairly well marked with

both paint marks and small

metal signs on trees. Rock

Falls waterfall may be the

highest falls in the state (less

than 20 ft. high), but St Mary's Falls is also very nice.

5

Consider bringing bug spray and hiking poles.

It appears that 5 of the 7

venomous snakes in LA

can likely be found in the

Sicily Island Hills area.

There are two primitive

campgrounds (one at the

north end, and one at the

south end) within the

WMA. Signs mark the

approved camping areas.

There is no fee to camp,

and the grass was cut, but very primitive (no bathrooms, no water, no fire rings,

no trash cans). LHC member

Jonathan Trumps knows of a

private campground with showers,

restrooms, and electrical hook-ups

that is located just north of the

WMA at the west end of Hwy 915.

Hikers may want to avoid the

WMA. A map of the WMA is helpful

to have with you, and can be

downloaded from LA W&F website.

6

Backbone Trail, Kisatchie National Forest

February 13, 2016

by Janie Doucet

This is a very flexible trail. It is a nice trail that can be an easy weekend trip, a day

hike, or hiked in combination with the Caroline Dormon Trail (11.7 miles). The Backbone

Trail can also be hiked as a loop with a pretty 2.5 mile road walk. Immediately, across the

street from the south trail head of the Backbone Trail is a large parking area which is also

the north trail head of the Caroline Dormon Trail.

Our 2nd Saturday hike along the Backbone Trail in Kisatchie N.F. Someone said

that there were 35 members for the hike that was lead by Emilise. It was a beautiful, cool

day walking along many streams and rock outcroppings.

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BOW - Becoming an Outdoor Woman 2016

by Debbie Hodge

I signed up for BOW this year not really knowing what to expect. The classes I ended up enrolled in were outdoor survival, Louisiana animals, GPS, and outdoor cooking. I learned a lot in outdoor cooking as well as GPS, but the real challenge was the outdoor survival class.

After having just attending "Redundant Rick's" class at CampFest, I was the most prepared person in my outdoor survival class. Thanks Rick!!!!! Other than the nails and the pencil that my BOW instructor insisted I have, my kit was already complete. Luckily, I had already practiced with my fire starter as it turned very cold that night. Down in the 40's is not so bad if you actually

have a real tent and, more importantly, a ground pad. But none of those luxuries for us. Instead, we were each given a thin sheet of plastic, a black trash bag, and a silver emergency blanket. We made our "shelters" and then started attempting to make fires with very wet wood as it had rained heavily the night before. Most of us

did get our fires going eventually and settled in for a very long night. The majority of us did survive the whole night without sneaking back to the warm dorms. Was it fun- YES. Would I recommend this particular class to others- YES. Would I recommend BOW- YES!

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Second Saturday Hike – Fontainebleau State Park

by Jack Reilley

photos by Janie Doucet

Second Saturday Hike, April 9, 2016

Fontainebleau State Park 27 hikers came out

on a beautiful morning to hike the trails.

Some did the out and back and some added

the nature trail to the route. A few spots on

trail were muddy, but everyone got past these

wet areas. We stopped on the bayou for a

break about half way through. All and all, it

was a very nice hike.