Campsite review: Lake Fausse Pointe State Park (LA)

Location: 5400 Levee Road St. Martinville, LA 70582 337-229-4764 or 888-677-7200 toll free For reservations, call 1-877-CAMP-N-LA (877-226-7652) toll free. NOTE: My AAA map of Louisiana marks the road leading south to the park from Henderson, LA as being gravel. It also marks the road leading south FROM the park to Charenton, LA as being paved. In reality, it was the exact opposite. :D The road from Henderson to the park is wonderfully paved, sweeping, and open.

The road going south towards Franklin is gravel -- loose at first but then it's nicely packed and is really quite beautiful.

Date of visit: May 2008 Weather: Very nice; a little warm when I got there (high 80s) and, of course, humid. Overnight it was probably in the high 60s or low 70s. NOTE: This is a swamp -- bring bug repellant!! I was eaten alive by mosquitos in the 5 minutes it took between taking off my motorcycle jacket and unpacking the Deet. Campground Condition: * The campsites are large and well-kept. They're fairly close together (you can see your neighbors) but there are a lot of trees that provide some visual barriers. * Each site has a fire pit, a charcoal grill, a water faucet, a concrete parking pad, a picnic table, and electricity. The tent sites all have a little flat sandy spot for pitching the tent. If you get a waterfront site (no extra charge; first come, first serve), the site also has a little wooden deck with a sitting area overlooking the lake. * There are also cabins available, with running water, electricity, and A/C. I think they were $90/night. I saw the outsides of them while out walking around but didn't go in. * The bathrooms are in great shape. The women's bathroom had 3 showers and 6 toilet stalls. The sink area had warm and cold water, soap, and air dryers. * I didn't notice any place to buy firewood, but I didn't ask at the entrance station. What to do: There are three walking trails and a canoe trail available: Trail A -- 3/4-mile nature trail Trail B -- 1.6-mile nature trail Trail C -- 3.3-mile nature trail 7-mile canoe trail (Canoes can be rented at the park) There's also a cool-looking playground, lots of group picnic sites, and a really awesome little water park area for kids. I wanted to go play in the water park. :D

I did the .75-mile nature walk since it was getting towards dark. In just that short amount of space, I saw tons of birds, armadillos, turtles, and alligators. It was great! More info: http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/ilakefaus.aspx My photos:

Looking from the tent at the private deck:

View from the deck...note alligator in the middle of the photo!

Comments

[Joe "Mellow" Norris]

Great stuff... looks like your trip is a lot of fun. Keep the updates coming.