I was invited by Al Troy of the Louisiana Hiking Club, to join a small group to GPS map the Bayou Black trail in the Cat Island NWR. It was a crisp, slightly overcast day, which added to the mystic, almost vodoo-like feeling of the barren swamp in the stark of winter.
Rambling amoungst immense cypress remnents of the past logging era, reminded one of the respect we must all have for the hundreds of years that Mother Nature has nourished the giant wooden treasures of our land, from the deep South of Louisiana to the far reaches of Alaska! If only our ancestors had left more of the giants standing for us to enjoy.The Bayou was a treat, due to the unusually low levels of the water. A haunting feeling came over me as we ambled to and fro and it's banks, disturbed only by an occaisional robin or flicker flying across the still waters.
One couldn't help but feel like a child, discovering the "elephant's trunks" then peering happily through the "open mouths" of the trees, playing hide & seek with the others.
As the morning faded, and the hike ended, I realized what a treat it was to be back in the swamps of Louisiana, my Cajun home!
