The team from AcadianX led a group into the Kisatchie National Forest. Kisatchie National Forest, the only National forest in Louisiana, United States, is located in the forested piney hills and hardwood bottoms of seven central and northern parishes. It is part of the Cenozoic uplands (some of Louisiana’s oldest rocks) and has large areas of longleaf pine forests (a forest type that has declined significantly over the last century). It is one of the largest pieces of natural landscape in Louisiana, with some 604,000 acres (2,440 km2) of public land, more than half of which is vital longleaf pine and flatwoods vegetation. These support many rare plant and animal species. There are also rare habitats, such as hillside seepage bogs and calcareous prairies. The forest also contains and provides a buffer for the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness, a nationally designated wilderness area that contributes to protecting biodiversity of the coastal plain region of the United States. The forest was designated in 1930 during the administration of U.S. President Herbert Hoover.
The forest also offers recreation activities including: bird watching, photography, backpacking, canoeing, all-terrain vehicle trails, boating, camping, cycling, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, mountain biking, picnicking and swimming. The forest has more than 40 developed recreation sites and over 100 miles (160 km) of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding.
On this trip, “The Bullfrog”, our lead guide led the group on a 10 mile hike through the Kisatchie wilderness via the Caroline Dorman Trail and finally stopping to camp at a beautiful sandy beach spot on the Kisatchie Bayou. The next day the group headed back to the trail head via the Sandstone Trail.