Knobby bald cypress tree knees along the water’s edge, wading birds and songbirds at every turn, fishing for the evening meal — this is life at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park.
In the middle of the Atchafalaya Basin, it is “the largest river swamp in the U.S. that is as wild as it is scenic,” according to the Louisiana State Parks website. The entire basin offers a wealth of outdoor opportunities, and Lake Fausse Pointe State Park is the perfect place to begin exploring this vast wilderness.
My long-ago introduction to the area was a three-night stay in Cabin 7, a long weekend away with my mom and then-young son. At age 5, my son was obsessed with the Amazon River, and this was the closest thing to that wild experience: exotic birds and bugs and reptiles.
Twenty years have gone by, and not much has changed. Lake Fausse Pointe still offers overnight stays in a selection of 18 cabins. Each cabin has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a screened porch and access to a fishing pier. After launching their fishing boats or canoes, guests can tie up at their pier, giving easy access to the water for boating — but not for swimming. Alligators are often lurking in the water and sunning themselves on logs throughout the park’s waterways, so be sure to stay in your boat.
Lake Fausse Pointe State Park is the perfect place to begin exploring the vast wilderness of the Atchafalaya Basin.
The full kitchen in each of the cabins is the perfect place to start the day with a self-catered breakfast including coffee, of course. Dining options include a table for four inside the cabin or a picnic table on the porch. After a long day, cooking on the outdoor grill is a terrific way to wind down.
But what about lunch? Pack a picnic lunch and explore the park by foot, bike or boat. The park has several miles of roads that are great for biking or walking, plus several miles of hiking and mountain bike trails. On the first Saturday of each month, the Cajun Creole Cookers offers free Dutch oven cooking demonstrations — with all the delicious treats ready to be sampled at noon.
During your exploration of the park, you’ll find benches, picnic tables and a playground plus a splash pad available on warm days year round. While most folks think of splash pads as only a summer activity, Louisiana natives know that winter can be the best time to enjoy the outdoors. On a nice January day, the park staff opened the closed splash pad at the request of a family celebrating the glorious weather of the new year.
After launching their fishing boats or canoes, guests can tie up at their pier, giving easy access to the water for boating.
Walking through the park, visitors may hear armadillos scurrying among the leaves, dining on insects. Songbirds flit among the trees, with cardinals especially prominent along the portion of Trails B and C called “Cardinal’s Run.” If you’re lucky, you may see a family of deer or a little fox.
The park is a wildlife sanctuary, and the animals are protected — even the snakes and alligators. This means that park visitors should stay a safe distance from these and other animals, never feed them and avoid harming them in any way.
The park has several miles of roads that are great for biking or walking, plus several miles of hiking and mountain bike trails.
To be even closer to nature, Lake Fausse offers guests a variety of camping locations. The main campground features sites with water and electricity, with sleeping options ranging from full-sized RVs to camper vans to the smallest of tents. A bathhouse is located in the middle of the campground, within easy walking distance from all the campsites.
In addition to the main campground, Lake Fausse Pointe also offers backpacking and paddling campsites. For these, campers must hike in or paddle in with all supplies, packing out everything packed in. The “Boy Scout Area” is a group campsite available to people such as those associated with scouting organizations. In addition, “glamping” is offered in two Tentrr “ready-to-go" platform tent sites, each including a queen bed featuring a memory foam mattress, two Adirondack chairs, a sun shower, a portable loo and easy access to your car — but no AC.
Like all state parks in Louisiana, Lake Fausse Pointe offers options at a variety of price points. The day-use fee is $3 per person and includes access to all hiking, biking and boating opportunities, plus all picnic areas. Pavilions can be rented by the day, with the current rate ranging from $50 to $100. Lodging ranges from $9 per person per night for backpacking and paddling campsites to $20-$33 per night for sites in the campground to $150-$175 per night for cabins.
Get even closer to nature at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park with its variety of camping locations.
So what’s the best place in Lake Fausse State Pointe Park? For me, it’s sitting on the pier watching an alligator swim by while being serenaded by a chorus of singing frogs, simply experiencing the ambience of a true Louisiana swamp.