Chicot State Park. Trip report.

Chicot State Park, Louisiana

24Feb2012  to 01Mar2012

24Feb2012

18:31                  

Temp 61degrees F.
Day #2 of my back pack trip in Chicot State Park. I'm settled in my hammock for the night at campsite #6. I'm feeling much better after yesterday's ordeal to get here. I left the south trail head at 13:01 with my pack weighing in between 40-45 lbs. I barely made it past ~ 7 miles when I gave in at 18:00 and pitched a temp camp just north of mile marker 13. I was exhausted; my poor physical conditioning getting the best of me yet again. My hips/buttocks/thighs seem to be my weak link in addition to my lousy cardiovascular condition. I slept off and on at my temp camp until this morning at 09:00. I reached campsite #6 at 09:35. Last night would've taken me much longer as I was having to stop every 15 minutes or so.

I was disappointed because my planned first camp meal of 2 rib eye steaks didn't happen. I froze them at home with the intent of them thawing out during the hike and throwing them over the fire on night #1.  As I didn't make it to the campsite until the morning of day #2 they were not even cool anymore.  I didn't feel safe eating them so I put them out well away from the camp for what ever wants them. My loss is Mother Earth's gain.

The camp stool (new) is a definite keeper!!!! I can't sit comfortably on the ground anymore so it is well worth the cost ($16) and the weight. The slingshot idea of getting my food bag rope into the tree also worked well.

I can now get a cell signal from the campsite which is wonderful. I can check in with M. so I don't have to worry about her worrying about me. I'll keep my cellphone off to conserve battery life and check for messages at 12:00 and call to talk to her at 18:00 daily. 

I lost my stainless steel kleen-kanteen yesterday trying to filter some water out of lake Chicot on the long south end bridge. The wind was gusting at times and I lost  my balance knocking the canteen into the water. The wind blew it out of reach before I could retrieve it. Fortunately, I have a one-liter Platypus bottle as a backup.---- cjd.

They've added emergency exits!! They obviously knew I was coming!

A near sighted moccasin probably getting ready to shed it's skin as it was striking in the opposite direction from where I was standing.

25Feb2012

18:20

Saturday. Temp 60 degrees F.

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6.

Weather - Cool and breezy though less so than yesterday. Partly cloudy with a gorgeous red sunset from between the cypress trees.

A little out of focus but still pretty.

I slept well last night until about 09:00 this morning. My back getting cold  on the hammock surface only a couple of times when my sleeping bag shifted.

Walked down to the pond about 10 minutes south of the campsite to refill my water bottles. I'm surrounded by water here at the campsite but the duck weed is too much of a hassle to deal with while filtering the water.

What water I was surrounded by.

Where I got my water from. I made a little "landing/deck" so that I  wasn't sitting  in the mud while I pumped my water.

The dehydrated scrambled eggs (Mountain House brand) were pretty good especially once I added a little Tony Chachere's to them

I love my hobo stove!!!! A handful of twigs and pine cones and supper's ready! Can even use my alcohol beer can stove in it when needed.

I spent tome time sewing a repair on my LL Bean Polar Tec coat to fix the drawstring on the hood. I've slept with my coat on while the temps got down to the 40's F and was comfortable.

My only worry right now is the bout of diarrhea that popped up this afternoon. I've take some Imodium and it seems to have let up. I've drank the water (after filtering it of course) before and haven't had any problems. We shall see. ---cjd

26Feb2012 Sunday

11:20

Current temp 60degrees F.

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6.

Weather: Overcast and cool.

I'm still not feeling well. Still having left lower quadrant abdominal pain to palpation but the diarrhea has stopped since last night. That combined with my headache I woke up with and every muscle in my body stiff and sore makes this a lay in the hammock day---cjd

27Feb2012 Monday

18:20

Chicot State Park, Louisiana . Campsite #6

Weather - Current temp 72 degrees F. Partly cloudy with what sounds like an intermittent light drizzle. I haven't seen a drop of rain so far today but M. just told it has been drizzling off and on in Baton Rouge today.

After breakfast (3 Fiber One bars) this morning and hiking down to the pond to refill my water bottles, I set out to hike north to the east trail head ~four miles one way.  I'm exhausted and very happy. It was a good hike. Saw some deer, hogs, and a gorgeous snake. I don't know what kind it was other than a little over three feet (maybe four) long and non-poisonous.

 I did drop by camera (Sony Cyber shot) in a creek while refilling my water bottle. I've got the battery out and cameral open to try and dry it out. We'll see how it does in the morning. I started out my hike slow and steady keeping a pace of left foot each second ("one Mississippi, two Mississippi,…") That was a good slow pace as I tend to rush and wear myself out quickly.  The lyrics from John Denver's Rocky Mountain High kept coming to mind "he walks in quiet solitude, the forests and the streams, seeking Grace with every step he takes". That about sums it up; being mindful each step, the feel/sound of the light crunch of leaves each step. It was easy to keep that pace (one mile every 35 to 40 minutes) initially, but true to form I start rushing as fatigue sets I (and the mosquitoes start getting bad toward dusk). I was getting a bad case of "get-thereitis".

I've decided that my original plan to hike out to the sound trail head (8 miles) Thursday and move my car to the closer east trailhead, then hike the 4 miles back to camp so I won't have to carry my full pack 8 miles on Friday is a really dumb idea!!  I'm going to bite the bullet and go ahead and haul the full gear (minus some food) the eight miles Friday.  I'll just have to plenty of time for frequent rst breaks. I really need to get off my ass and get in better physical condition.  I weighed in at 201 pounds before this trip. ---cjd

Nature recycling herself.

Have no Earthly idea what these are. They were cool to look at though.

A suspension bridge at mile marker 8 / East Landing- Trailhead.

28Feb2012 Tuesday

18:10

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6.

Weather : Currently 75degrees F. Partly cloudy and windy. It rained off and on last night and some brief spotty showers today while I was hiking. I just spoke with M. on the phone and she checked  the forecast through the week and it's pretty much the same with 20% thunderstorms.

I hiked a little more than two miles down  the trail south to the mile marker 14 and back. It rained a little off/ on, but I had my umbrella which worked beautifully since my rain jacked doesn't breath.

I'm disappointed with our old RINO GPS. I was trying to use the coordinates I've marked to place the mile markers, etc.  on the quad map and the "northing" (using UTM coordinates) is way off.  I've checked  and double -checked to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong. That GPS has never been the easiest thing to use over the years. I think we've had it about 12 years.

The head net is a definite winner!! The mosquitoes are getting a little dense now that it's warming up.

After breakfast this morning, heading down to the pond for water and my 2+ hour hike today, I lay down in my hammock to rest. By the time I was hungry again, it was about 16:30. I've learned that I need to be done with supper and ready to turn in by 17:00 or I will get eaten alive by mosquitoes; DEET or no DEET.  So I'm in the hammock for the night and hungry. I'll survive. I've got more than enough fat-stores to tap into. It's funny how little I really need to eat when eating involves hauling the food bag out of the tree. That and dealing with the mosquitoes often makes easier to just go hungry.

29Feb2012 Wednesday

12:02

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6

Weather; Currently 80degrees F. Partly cloudy and breezy.

I've decided to return home tomorrow instead of Friday as originally planned.  I miss M. , I'm tired (hiked a total of twenty miles so far) and the mosquitoes are starting to take things personally. Tomorrow will be day #7. I've packed way too much food and now I've got to carry it out. I've kept a log my notepad to keep track of what gear I've actually used and what I've eaten. This will prove useful for the next trip.

This morning I noticed some sediment in my large Platypus water bottle. This was water that I filtered so if the sediment made it through, what else (bacteria) did? I dropped a couple of Micropur tabs in (almost two liters) and stuck the bottle in my pack to shield it from the sunlight. It may be too late because I've been drinking the "filtered" water for almost a week now. We'll see what turns up as time passes. The filter itself is six years old  so it is past time to change out the filter element. Should've thought about that before hand. Nothing like 20/20 hindsight.

12Mar2012 Monday

14:24

Home, Baton Rouge Louisiana

End of trip synopsis.

On 01Mar2012-Thursday, I climbed out of my hammock at 06:00 with a light rain falling and mosquitoes swarming. Thank goodness for my head net.  Finished breaking camp (started much of it yesterday) and left campsite #6 at 07:00.  Made if finally to the car at 14:30 after tediously slow going.  For the last  two/three miles is was stopping every 15 minutes or so to stop and rest.  Keeping my  camp stool clipped on the side of my pack with a carribeaner was a good idea. I could pull it of and sit down without pulling my pack off though was necessary to do so at times Once home and after some online research , I went to Academy and bought at fish scale that went up to 50 pounds (I never knew there was such a thing).  I had to know what my pack was REALLY weighing.  My pack at the end of the trip weighed in at 43 pounds. Adding in my 3 liters of water for the return trip (6 pounds) plus what ever I ate over the trip put my pack weight at over 50 pounds. I'm embarrassed and disappointed. I've been putting off getting a digital postal scale for some time  trying to save some money but it's causing me problems.

The hike back was excruciating, and I'm not going to let this happen again. My lack of physical conditioning and too heavy a pack weight is costing me joy in my life; keeping me from what I love.

I had only one tick attached when I returned and I pried it loose. I was afraid I didn't get all the mouthparts out but the wound has healed quickly without problem. There was no "bulls eye" pattern around it that would indicate Lyme Disease, but  I've developed flu symptoms and nausea /vomiting starting last Thursday 08Mar2012. I'm feeling better now. That will teach me to put off getting my flu vaccine again. Glad it waited until I got back home. If it had hit me in the woods I would've been in big trouble. 

----------------------------------- c. joseph ducote, III.

For Next time	Rationale
Get a scale that works	Pack was WAY too heavy. Bathroom scale LIES!!!  40 lbs my ass!!
More bug spray.                                 Spray (bug) all clothing, underwear and hammock itself)	Got eaten alive. Especially ankles while sleeping in hammock as they touched the sides.
Limit cooking food to supper only. Use eat in bag meals.	Cooking too much of a hassle and unrealistic. Use snack bars instead.
Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!!!	Again, my poor physical shape affected the whole trip.
Bring a book	Rainy days one can only sleep so much.
Try a different GPS	Trouble getting accurate UTM readings on the fly.
Research nomex flight gloves	Gorilla grips good but leaves wrists exposed and can't handle hot stuff.
Put athlete's foot cream in clothes bag	So I can use it at night when I take my socks off.
Change socks more frequently
Change filter element	Getting debris in water bottles after filtering

Winners	Losers
crocs	Weather Radio  (couldn't get a station).
Bug proof socks	gps (old rino , took forever to get sat signal and Northing way off)
seal skinz	Sony  Cyber shot (not good focus for nature photo and not water proof)
Head net	bathroom scale (lies about pack weight)
Hobo stove	Nutrigrain bars (too heavy).
Stanley Mug (can measure water with it)	My physical conditioning.
Mora Knife	Magellan Rain jacket (doesn't breath).
Back up platypus
Murphy Pouch
Gaiters

Chicot Trip Report 04.2009

Monday April 13, 2009

Elizabeth and I headed out for what was going to be her first backpacking trip. She's been camping with Marty and me before (they call it camping, I call it "Yogi-Bearing" Sleeping in a tent on a graded campsite with a toilet and shower less than 100 meters away). Elizabeth is going to on a canoeing / backpacking trip in June on the Minnesota / Ontario border with her youth group and though she is an experienced (and damned tough) day hiker, the logistics of sleeping/eating/cooking/ "doing your business" over the length of several days is new to her.

I had planned for about 4 days and 3 nights but gave her the option of pulling the plug during the trip if she wanted to. I'm not going to force her into doing something she doesn't want to do just because I live for it.

06:45 We leave the house for Chicot State Park , north of Ville Platte, LA. We stopped off at the McDonald's on the way out for the obligatory breakfast on the road.

09:00 We arrived at the Chicot check-in office. I had planned to aim for Campsite number 1 (closest to the South Trailhead), but as usual is was not available.


There were campsites (3,4,5) available but they were way over on the Northeast side of the the lake. I feel a little uneasy parking at the East Trail Head because last year when I hiked to it to check it out, it seemed a tad unprotected and there were a couple of guys from Deliverence hanging around. I'm not too thrilled with the prospect of being unarmed around some guys that think I have a pretty mouth.....

I chose (probably unwisely) to take us to Campsite #6 where I usually go. It's an 8 mile hike (not the best choice for Elizabeth's first backpack trip), but it was familiar to me.

09:50 We leave off from the South Trailhead. My pack weighs in at 18kg (40lbs) and Elizabeth's was 10kg (22 lbs). We stopped a couple of times to shift her weight and play with her straps to get the load to ride more comfortabley. It started off fairly cool (low 70's) and eventually warmed up to the low 80's. Not bad. Fairly early on as we were hiking, taking it slow I heard a "yelp" from Elizabeth behind me. I looked around expecting to see her ducking from a bumble-bee (the usual "yelp" culprit) and was suprised to see her tap-dancing away from a beautiful little (about 1 foot long) copperhead. The poor thing was moving very slowly in its attempt to get away from Elizabeth. In fact, despite her being startled and rattled, it elicted a chuckle from her as it attempted to slither up a very shallow grade on the trail only to slide back down. It made three attempts to make it over the little obstacle before succeeding.

What rattled Elizabeth the most is neither of us saw it. I all but stepped on it or over it because Elizabeth stayed locked in about 1 1/2 steps behind me the whole way. I'm usually pretty good about spotting stuff that might startle her, but this little bugger got right by me.

Of course for the rest of the trip, every root poking out of the trail looked serpentine (both to E and me).

We stopped frequently for E to collect herself and me to hydrate myself.

Ever mindful of the poison ivy that created the lovely green border along the trail.

Though we were both hyper-vigilant about stepping on any more snakes. This didn't stop me from literally putting my right hand staff down on a small (12") Cottonmouth. Where as the Copperhead was sluggish and in avoidance mode, the Cottonmouth was a bit of a grump. It's been a long time since I've seen one's trade-mark white mouth as I've been pretty good about giving them a wide berth. But this one caught me off guard as we were both on a small bridge (about 4 feet wide). Being there wasn't enough room for both of us on that bridge and Elizabeth was literally on my back, one of us had to go. During our discussion in our discussion the snake struck at my staff a couple of times before I convinced it (shoved it off) to leave the bridge to Elizabeth and me (and they say snakes are stoopid).

Elizabeth, ever the trooper, wanted to continue on though she was very rattled by now( the warming day bringing more large bugs buzzing in her face, two snakes trying to share the trail with us, unfamilar woods).

What made it a lot more bearable was the ability to get our UTM coordinates and find ourselves on the topo map. Being able to point on a map and visualize where we were in the lush, green mass helped Elizabeth overcome the feeling of clostriphobia she was surprised to find herself experiencing.

She always enjoys our trips to Tunica Hills and the closed-in nature of the creek bottom never has caused her any problems. This was just unfamilar forest. Tunica for she and me is "home".




13:10 (1:10 p.m.) We arrived at my favorite spot at the east end of the long bridge that crosses the south part of Lake Chicot. At that point it is more swamp than lake which I love.












This bridge, less than a meter above the water, stretches for about 300 meters through cypress swamp. It is beautiful.

If you're very quiet (which we were not as I weigh a bit more than I would like and huff and puff too much to be stealthy), you can spot numerous Herons, Wood Ducks, etc.







We rested, re-filled my water bottle, snacked here for about 45 minutes before resuming our trip.

Elizabeth, ever the trooper, turned down my repeated offers to turn back.

I had not told her this prior to our trip, but I had been looking forward to this day since she was born, and I was very fearful of putting pressure on her
to "enjoy" something she really didn't want. She has no obligation to live according to what I value and enjoy. Her life is her own.


I've told her this since we have returned and she assures me that she never felt pressured. I'm still leary of that though.

We were both getting pretty tired and I was falling prey to "get there-itis" so we decided to abandon our attempt to make it to campsite #6, and return home the next day. I'm not going to force her to stay out in the woods if she doesn't want to.

I chose to stop at a open area I knew about, actually an old road that the trail piggy-backs at one point for our overnight stay.

(UTM coord 0569716, 3403676)

Elizabeth did a super job of clearing out the tent site (especially since this was the first time she did it) and set up the tent with some guidance and the occasional daddy-muscle to make some pole connections.

She even made sure that I was setting up the campsite with distance between the tent, food storage, and cooking areas. "Don't forget the triangle daddy" (Refering to the "Bear-muda Triangle"). Even though bears are not a frequent issue here in Louisiana, I still hang my food up to keep the raccoons, ants, and the occasional bobcat from messing with it. I sleep better not having to listen for something messing with our food.




After setting up the tent, Elizabeth took a well deserved break while I searched for water and fixed dinner.

We were in the tent and I was well on my way to sleep before it got dark.

In South Louisiana, the mosquitoes dictate when and what we do much of the time, and out in the woods, there is less room for negotiation.

You're in their home, they win, period.

I pushed her to drink more fluids when I discovered that her water bottle was still mostly full. I was on my 3rd liter. For her, the previous night's lack of sleep and dehydration just aggravated her fatigue and decreased her ability to cope with the snake-induced nerves. I blame myself for not being aware of her not drinking enough and should have checked her water bottle and intervened much earlier.

While I dozed off and on, being the protective daddy that I am, Elizabeth did a little journaling and reading. We were visited shortly after dusk by the usual oblivious armadillo.

I reminded her that "if you can hear it, it most likely is not a threat".

I was worried that she wasn't going to get much sleep being that this was the first time she's been out in a small tent.

Very shortly after this picture of the giggles, I heard the reassuring sound of snoring.

She slept very well and woke up bounding the next morning, even though it was a little nippy.
A quick breakfast, breaking down camp, and we were on our way home.

Elizabeth did briefly play with the idea of staying a bit longer, but we both decided we had accomplished what we had set out to do, and it was wise to come on home.

The hike back to the car was less eventful (no snakes), and a bit cooler which kept the bugs down.

We even took a detour to check out campsite #1 to see what is it about that site that makes it so popular (other than being the closest to the trailhead).

We couldn't get to it conveniently because of all the hurricane Gustav debris, and I didn't want to invest valuable energy trying to work our way through the brush.



The trip I consider a success as I got to spend time with my daughter out in the woods and didn't scare her off from the outdoors. I'm much more comfortable with the idea of her going off into the forests and lakes of Minnesota without me. She showed excellent judgment, whenever we stopped for a break, she always checked around to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind. She even successfully used one of her P-Mates although she was less than impressed.

The next time we go, I'll wait until it's cooler and the snakes and bugs go dormant, or are at least, slower and less cranky.