That looks ominous.

Wanda and I met in New Orleans back in 1972, where we spent the first two years of our relationship. Across the river, at the very end of Barataria Boulevard, is the sublime Jean Lafitte National Park.

There are three wonderful trails in the park. One is a path along the bank of a bayou. Another is a long boardwalk through a Palmetto swamp. The third features a narrow single-plank boardwalk through a cypress swamp. We loved the park and often went there to watch alligators slink through the bayou; gawk at the Spanish moss dripping from the tree limbs; marvel at the huge lush palmettos; and revel in the utter uniqueness of the cypress trees, with their fat bottoms and scores of “knees” surrounding their trunks. Nothing says “the deep South” like cypress.

So, when we took an early morning hike around Glendale Lake and came across a small circle of cypress “knees” supporting a couple of adolescent cypress trees in a low-laying spot, I was a bit surprised, but not completely. I had read about a swamp, formed by the Cache River some 30 miles away, that had some stray cypress trees. A short boardwalk is supposed to take you into the swamp to view the trees. I even had the spot circled in my gazetteer map as a possible stop.

Our early morning 3-mile tune-up hike around Glendale Lake.

There were some good sized trees in the bottomlands.

The forest is rumored to be haunted.

These woody vines fascinated me.

The texture caught my eye.

Crab apples.

Fruit, if you can call it that, from the Sweet Gum tree,

The Glendale Lake beach.

The cypress knees.

The young cypress trees.

After stumbling across the “knees” at Glendale Lake, we decided to head over to Cache River and check out the little stand of cypress trees. Little stand, did I say? We weren’t prepared for the vastness of the Cache River Wetlands, nor the size of the ancient trees located there.

Fortunately, we started at the visitor’s center of the Cache River State Natural Area. The young lady mapped out an itinerary of four stops to best highlight our visit. The wetlands are huge, and it required lots of driving to reach the four recommended viewing spots.

First up was the short boardwalk. It was a nice preview. Sure enough, there was a stand of cypress. The boardwalk trail used to feature a 1000-year-old Water Tupelo tree. Tupelo means “water tree”. Sadly, it blew down in 2020. After 1000 years, it couldn’t wait one more year for us to see it?

The cypress knees anchor the trees, keeping them from blowing down in stiff winds.

The next stop blew us away. The path followed the bank of the Cache River Canoe Trail, a 4-mile round trip canoe route that weaves in and around the cypress trees. We almost put our kayaks in the water, but we had so much more to see. Next time we will certainly put the canoe trail on the schedule. The highlight from the river bank path, however, was the 1250-year-old Champion Bald Cypress tree. Champion means largest. I’m not sure if it is the largest in the state or the world, but it was indeed an impressive monster sitting in the middle of the Cache River, lording over its domain. The old gal looked to be pretty healthy for being more than a thousand years old. I think it may last another Millenium. I hope I am standing as straight when I am her age.

Our third stop was brief but fun. A short walk brought us to two giant cypress trees. We climbed onto their thick bottoms and took photos of us goofing around.

The final stop was the best. A 2 1/4 mile looping trail brought us to a Champion Cherrybark Oak tree with a whopping 22.5-foot diameter. The tree is 100 feet tall, but even more impressive is that its crown spreads across 113 feet, nearly blotting out the sky with its shade.

On the backside of the looping trail is a long boardwalk that took us deep into the Heron Pond Swamp. It was Lousiana teleported to Illinois, pure and simple. The only things missing were the Spanish moss and the gators. We did see a dangerous-looking snake coiled up in the sun. I was glad that we were up on the boardwalk as we passed him by.

The road leading to the trail.

The Cache River.

The Champion Cherrybark Oak tree.

Heron Pond.

The six miles of hiking we invested today were the most unexpectedly diverse miles we have experienced in a while. It was a great way to end a long stretch of superb weather. Tomorrow is supposed to bring rain.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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