Jean Lafitte National Park

Just outside of New Orleans, right on the coast, is Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. There aren't any beaches here, it's all swamp land created by the Mississippi delta. After staying two nights at a nice hotel, we camped for two nights at a campground near the preserve, as there's no camping in the preserve itself.

Having learned our lesson the last time we camped in the car, we bought a $30 Walmart tent. No bugs, nice breeze, pretty small/light. Probably the best $30 dollars spent this whole trip!

Day time temperature got to the upper 80s, while at night it cooled down to the 40s. If this were Denver, it'd be really comfortable sleeping weather. But I've got a lot to learn about camping in high humidity. Waking up to chilly weather with everything wet is pretty unpleasant. Pillows are soaked. My sleeping bag is a nylon material... which feels like sleeping in a wet, cold, plastic garbage bag. But I'll take it over the steam-room environment of a closed up car any day.

The park is thousands of acres of wild swamp land, which made for amazing hiking. There are a couple of boardwalks built right over the swamp water to get to the deeper areas, while there are trails cleared on the areas that have more land. Wild life was abundant. The morning was breezy enough to keep the bugs down, and the afternoon was hot and sunny enough to keep them away as well.

Much of the area is thick jungle.

Turtle! You have to be really stealthy, they scare easily.

These flooded areas were unreal, picture book beauty.

There was a canal cleared out for logging a hundred years ago, and later widened for oil machinery. Made for a great home for wildlife and alligators!

Grrr!

Baby gator!

Oh! Godzirra!

Looking for gators in my $7 Walmart hat. Black leather is no good down here.

Condescending lizard. Stop looking down at me!

Hugging a log. =)

This one was actually pretty fair sized, big enough to bite a foot off pretty easily I'm sure. I managed to walk about three feet from him, and just hang out with him for a while while he got some sun. Their leathery skin and dead eyes make them look unreal, even at this close distance. They change from absolute stillness to unnatural speed in the blink of an eye. They possess an economy of movement that had me captivated for quite some time as I watched them. They almost look clumsy on land, but it's a false impression. Perhaps it's because they are so dramatically fluid in water, but they move much faster than you think they could on land.

They have no fear, but will suffer your presence as long as you don't bother them. Most efficient predators, they are the top of their food chain.

These snakes were everywhere as well. I sat for a while next to the canal, unmoving for several minutes as I studied the land and the water. These snakes were so prevalent that after a few minutes of stillness they came out from all directions. In minutes, I was surrounded by four of them crisscrossing the area around me. They crossed back and forth, closer and closer, until they were slithering through my bag and around my feet.

The trail I was following was completely flooded out. I cut myself a walking stick and navigated by map and compass through the semi-flooded land. Picking and choosing my through the swamp, crossing over fallen logs, and sometimes having to clear paths through impassible bramble.