Louisiana: Chicot State Park Delivers an Abundance of Natural Beauty

Lake Chicot serves as the centerpiece for the largest and most beautiful state park in Louisiana.

Beautiful. Lovely. Amazing. Stunning. Spectacular. Gorgeous. Dazzling. What’s the best word to describe Chicot State Park? We couldn’t decide after seeing the park’s 6,400 acres of rolling hills and water. While struggling to describe its unforgettable beauty, we found it easy to achieve consensus on one description—it’s our favorite state park in Louisiana. Here’s a fact. It’s also the state’s largest park. We recommend making this scenic and fun park a priority destination for an adventurous road trip.

CHICOT LAKE

The park’s centerpiece is the 1,643-acre Chicot Lake, which has clear, cool water bordered by cypress, beech, pine, oak and other trees. The lake has yielded record freshwater catches of largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill and red-ear sunfish. For a fee, you can use the park’s boathouse, three boat launches and boat rental facilities to support your fishing expedition. The Chicot State Park website provides additional information about boating and fishing as well as other services such as lodging and camping.

Hiking Trails

A 20-mile hiking trail encircles Lake Chicot. We hiked part of the trail and enjoyed the diversity of scenery along the way and small hills to climb. The trail was easy to find and comfortable to hike. Be advised that we found insect repellent to be essential.

LOUISIANA STATE ARBORETUM

Located within Chicot State Park, the 300-acre Louisiana State Arboretum is a living museum of trees. You’ll be able to walk on up to six miles of nature trails through a mature beech and magnolia forest. The arboretum includes a diverse landscape that allows many of Louisiana’s indigenous plant species to grow there. It also features an outdoor classroom and placards with the names of the trees, shrubs and flowers growing along the trails. The arboretum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no admission fee.

LODGING AND CAMPING

Lodging features 15 deluxe cabins (up to eight people) and two lodges (up to 14 people).

The park includes two large campgrounds in the north loop and the south loop for RV/trailer camping with about 200 spaces available that include water and electrical hookup. The primitive camping area has space for 40 campers. A group camp also is available with a kitchen/dining hall and a dormitory that sleeps up to 52 people.

Other Park Features

Chicot State Park includes a water playground for younger visitors or anyone needing to cool down. It also has a swimming pool, conference room, fishing pier, fish cleaning station, comfort station, pavilions, picnic areas and dump station.

ARLA’S SHOCKING MOMENT

Arla: While walking on a bridge that crosses one of Lake Chicot’s many coves, we stopped to take photos. Linda helped me sit on the bridge’s railing to pose with the stunning cove in the background. After Doug shot a couple of photos, he abruptly stopped and pointed behind me, saying, “Check it out! There’s a gator watching us.”

I turned around to see the alligator directly looking at me as it slowly glided closer and closer to the bridge. With only its eyes and nose above the water, it appeared to be trying to sneak up on us. Well, too late! Doug had spotted it. After glancing at the water below me, my next thought was somebody could get snatched by a gator here!” Of course, that somebody would be me if I fell off the railing, so I carefully climbed down and moved to a safer position.

The alligator started to follow us along the bridge as we continued our crossing, but it gave up the pursuit when I made it clear that I had no intention of going into the water and becoming a gator snack. Disaster averted!

Linda and Arla take cover after their close encounter with a noisy deer in the woods.

LINDA’S TAKEAWAY

Linda: During my walk with Doug and Arla through Chicot State Park, I listened to the steady sound of leaves being crunched under our feet as we hiked. The sound reminded me of our past autumn forest hikes in the beautiful North Carolina mountains. This familiar, comforting sound suddenly turned into a loud noise of leaves being destroyed by heavy, fast moving feet and dozens of branches being snapped off trees. Was it a wild animal or human? In that moment, I didn’t care what it might be. My body took over and led me to seek cover. I ran in the opposite direction of the thunderous noise.

Doug walked over to check on me and then asked, “Did you see that giant deer? He was the biggest deer I’ve ever seen in the wild, but he ran off before I could take a picture.”

Chicot State Park is memorable because I experienced an authentic “flight-or-flight” reaction. I have used the expression in conversations about “what if” scenarios, but I never knew how I would really respond when faced with an unexpected fearful situation. Now I know—run for my life!

Doug’s Historical Highlight

Under the direction of the National Park Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps significantly developed the area around Chicot Lake. As you might know, the CCC was a voluntary public work relief program that operated across the U.S. for young unemployed, single men from 1933 to 1942. Louisiana State Parks added Chicot State Park to its system in 1939.

GEE WHIZ FACTS

Chicot State Park offers mountain biking enthusiasts 20 miles of trails, which is the longest series of bike trails in the Louisiana State Park system. Trails at other parks run 2 to 5 miles in length.
The park also has an 8-mile canoe trail.
The Louisiana State Arboretum is the only preservation area in the state with plants marked throughout six miles of trails.
Being in central Louisiana, Chicot State Park lies at the heart of one of America’s main migratory bird routes, which is why park visitors are likely to see and hear a wide range of birds.

PARTING SHOTS: TURTLES AND TREES