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
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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.