Bodcau Bayou

When you ask someone to name some of the most beautiful states in the US, it's not surprising that Louisiana is not even in the running.  When asked about scenic beauty, most think of mountain vistas with a cool breeze and crisp, fresh smell, or white sand beaches with waves of salty air battling the sting of the sun.  Most people wouldn't even consider dreary, flat Louisiana.  The natural beauty that Louisiana offers up is under-appreciated, neglected even.  It's a shame because the wilderness environment of Louisiana is almost unparalleled and few other places in the US are similar. 

Last Saturday David and I had plans to head up to Bodcau Bayou, but this didn't work out.  We reschedule for this morning, and Elizabeth was off so she was able to join us.  The sun took the day off, too.  Early this morning we got some much needed rain, but it had stopped by the time I walked outside.  It started up again as we drove up to Haughton.  No big deal, fun kayaking weather!  It eased up as we arrived at the boat launch.

David and Elizabeth ready to play despite the drizzle.

The rain really picked up as I was unloading the kayaks, and by the time I had the first one down lightning was crashing around us.  I was ready to go, and I think I could have convinced David pretty easily, but Elizabeth was the voice of reason and there was no way she was going out and wielding a paddle over her head.  David, of course, had to do whatever Eliz told him to do, so we sat in the car for a few minutes and waited out the worst of the storm.  It eased up and, though we got pretty wet as we finished unloading, by the time we got in the water the rain had more-or-less ceased.

A*

We put in on the northwest side of Bodcau Dam and explored the bayou for a ways.  The recent lack of rain had taken care of one potential problem for us...the water level was much lower than usual.  In several places along Bodcau the bayou channel is consumed by a flooded woody swamp.  It's notoriously easy to get off course and get lost here (or so I've heard).  Our course up the bayou channel was obvious, so we didn't have to worry much about finding landmarks or dropping a trail of crumbs---and it's a good thing to, because the fish were hitting the water surface like crazy after the storm.  Bread crumbs would not have served us well!

B*

The low water level did leave us with one problem though, there was lots of debris in the water.  Well, I don't guess you would really call perfectly appropriately placed cypress knees that have been rooted where they stand for God knows how long debris, but there was stuff below (and above) the surface.  Log jams are a problem here in low water.  At one point Elizabeth found herself a little too attached to a log jutting from the surface and had to spend a couple of minutes freeing herself.

C*

There were no alligators tagging along this time, at least none that we saw, but we spooked a great flock of white egrets that were hanging out with a couple of Great Blue Herons and an ibis.  From time to time I would see Little Blue poking his beak out from behind a cypress tree, but I never could get a good shot. 

Here's an interesting view of one of our early companions passively observing as we floated by...or below I guess.

We went as far as we could in whichever direction it was that we started out in (left).  With the low water levels we got an amazing look at the bases of massive cypress trunks guarded by dozens of not-all-that-little knee gnomes.



David took the camera for a bit...see, I really was there!

When our progress came to a halt, blocked at a fork in the bayou by a felled tree in one direction and low water levels in the other, we turned back from whence we came and headed in the other direction.  We were careful as we retraced our path so as not to startle the frog that had previously flung himself at Elizabeth and fallen into the water just a few inches shy of her kayak with a very large, very ploppity splash. 

There was no sign of the frog, but we watched a snake gliding through the water and paddled over to investigate.  He was a cute little thing, popping his head up and disappearing when I got too close, then popping up again a little closer to the bank each time.  I never got a good look at his body, but I think he was a yellow-bellied water snake.


(Yellow Bellied?) Snake head peeking up.

We were carefully watched by observers on lofty perches.  Here are a couple of members from the panel of judges.  There were more, many of whom I'm sure we never saw.  I have to admit; if we were floating by me I'd probably stop and stare, too.  We do tend to be a goofy family.


Elizabeth spotted this previously spooked white egret keeping watch from on high.



My trusty favorite, the green heron.  Hard to identify given the lighting and the angle (straight up).

One thing about today's trip is that we didn't get very far.  The bayou was so beautiful, we frequently caught ourselves just sitting and gazing about in amazement.  There is something very tranquil and surreal about this environment.

Yes, that's mist back there.

Elizabeth kept talking about how great this was, and then she would comment on how much she is going to miss me when I move.  It's nice to know that I will be missed, but something tells me that if I weren't taking the 'yaks my absence wouldn't be as painful!  Love ya, ElizaBEST! :-)




D*



All too soon we had to break ourselves away from the peace and purdyness of Bodcau Bayou.  The D.I.N.K.s has a previous commitment, and I had to get to work.

E*

Hopefully we'll be able to make it back out here once or twice before I head to South Carolina.  I would love to see it when the water level is up and I have all day to explore!

Paddling back in to the boat launch.



* The Creative Captions game---As you can see, several of the images are missing captions.  These are labeled with letters A through E.  Come up with a cute, witty, or fitting caption and leave it as a comment.  Don't forget to tell us which photos it's for!