MY LOUISIANA STATE PARK RATINGS
Here is my list of the 22 Louisiana State Parks I visited (as well as one National Park) and the rank in order of my favorite down to my least favorite.
1. Grand Isle State Park - Grand Isle, LA
2. Kisatchie National Forest - Kincaid Lake Campground - Pineville, LA
3. Bogue Chitto State Park - Franklinton, LA
4. Jimmie Davis State Park - Chatham, LA
5. Lake Claiborne State Park - Homer, LA
6. South Toledo Bend State Park - Anacoco, LA
7. Lake Bistineau State Park - Doyline, LA
8. Lake Bruin State Park - St. Joseph, LA
9. Lake D'Arbonne State Park - Farmerville, LA
10. North Toledo Bend State Park - Zwolle, LA
11. Fairview-Riverside State Park - Madisonville, LA
12. Lake Fausse Pointe State Park - St. Martinville, LA
13. Hodges Gardens State Park - Florien, LA
14. Sam Houston Jones State Park - Lake Charles, LA
15. Palmetto Island State Park - Abbeville, LA
16. Fontainebleau State Park - Mandeville, LA
17. Chicot State Park - Ville Platte, LA
18. Cypremort Point State Park - Cypremort, LA
19. Poverty Point Reservoir State Park - Delhi, LA
20. Tickfaw State Park - Springfield, LA
21. Chemin-A-Haut - Bastrop, LA
22. Bayou Segnette State Park - Westwego, LA
23. St. Bernard State Park - Braithwaite, LA
Although Kisatchie National Forest is not a State Park, I've included it in my list. And as you can see, I liked it very much.
I visited all 22 Louisiana State Parks within 6 weeks of travel. I averaged a few days at each park and based my choices for favorites on the following:
~ proximity of site to a water view
~ was there a swimming beach
~ amount of site privacy
~ how level the site was
~ beauty of the park as a whole
~ did it cater to the RVer
All Louisiana State Parks are located near a body of water but not all RV sites are near water views. Some parks have their RV campground far into their park and away from any recreational activities such as fishing and swimming, where others seem to cater to the RVer and have easy access to beautiful views, fishing piers, boat launches, and beaches. And still other campgrounds have catered to the kids with water parks and playgrounds at many locations throughout the park.
There were few parks that offered privacy between RV sites and a few parks that placed the RV sites entirely too close together. All parks offered picnic tables and fire rings.
Several parks allowed many park rules to be broken, sometimes infringing on other's rights. For instance, I could not walk my dog on the beach but boats could be parked on the grass and pets could be left to roam off leash. These situations are posted as a rule throughout the parks but park rangers did not enforce them.
Only two parks did not have trash receptacles at close locations within the campground but instead had large dumpsters located near the dump station and campers had to haul their trash completely out of the RV park and onto the main park road to reach the bins. To me, this is totally unacceptable.
Out of 23 campgrounds I visited, only 5 were level sites. Nine campgrounds offered beach areas for swimming.
Sometimes the beauty of a campground can compensate for it lacking in other areas. In my opinion, Kincaid Lake Campground was the most beautiful and scenic, and as you can see it is 2nd on my list of favorites. However, nothing can beat the beauty of the ocean and a beach so Grand Isle State Park remains at the top of the list.
On the first part of my journey to visit all of Louisiana State Parks I visited 5 parks. On this last leg of my Louisiana State Parks trip I visited 18 parks. I have not counted the Grand Isle State Park in these numbers because I have visited there many times and didn't go again during this journey. So the total is 23 parks in a period of 43 days.
My expenses for this trip were as follows:
FUEL ~ $643.49 (I traveled 1180 miles)
FOOD ~ $ 237.08 (my coach was well stocked before departure which is not included in this price)
LODGING ~ $397.50
--------------------------
TOTAL ~ $1,278.07 for 33 nights on the road
I averaged spending $39 a day on fuel, food, and lodging.
Here are some photos of the top 10 campgrounds I've stayed in as well as my favorite campground sites, and campground beach areas. Photos are shown starting with my favorite on down to least favorite.
NUMBER 1 SPOT
Only a few steps over the dunes to the beach.
My favorite park is on the Grand Isle beach.
My Gulf
NUMBER 2 SPOT
NUMBER 3 SPOT
NUMBER 4 SPOT
NUMBER 5 SPOT
NUMBER 6 SPOT
NUMBER 7 SPOT
NUMBER 8 SPOT
NUMBER 9 SPOT
NUMBER 10 SPOT
Thanks for following along and for the nice comments left. I really appreciated them.
I'd like to end with a tribute to my state.
WHY I LIVE IN SOUTH LOUISIANA
- I may leave South Louisiana often and travel about but I will always come home again to Acadiana.
- Here are 65 reasons - one for every year I've lived in the state.
- We dance in the streets and don't need a partner. We talk with a "Yat" accent as well as a Cajun accent. We eat, drink, and dance at funerals. We talk too much and live too large and frankly, we're suspicious of others who don't. Can you say "N'Awlins... dawlin?"
- We call everybody "baby" and "darlin" and will greet you with "Where y'at?"
- We have Creole-Cajun cuisine ... widely imitated but never matched ... the best cuisine in the world giving you: jambalaya, chicken and sausage gumbo filé, turtle sauce piquante, crawfish bisque, andouille sausage, red beans and rice, Bananas Foster, beignets, shrimp Creole, crab merliton, chicken etouffé, catfish courtbouillon, muffalettas, Po-boys, thin-crusted French bread, and oysters - any way you like them. However, Cajun food and culture have no roots in New Orleans. You'll have to travel down to the bayou country to savor real Cajun cooking.
- We have shared our talent with the world with the likes of: Dr. John, Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, Erni K-Doe, Louis Armstrong, Professor Longhair, Pete Fountain, Al Hurt, Doug Kershaw, and the Neville Brothers.
- We don't hate cause we got "Gris Gris."
- We have the largest population of Cajuns.
- We have the "Big Easy."
- We're home to three million acres of wetlands, vital wildlife habitat and abundant hunting and fishing grounds.
- If you don't like the way we talk, hang around for awhile and you'll start to sound just like us.
- We have Native American tribes, the Houma Indians being the largest tribe in Louisiana, numbering about 10,000 and live in the marshes and along the bayous of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes.
- Every day is a good day for a parade and we have lots of them.
- We have Zydeco, a distinctly black Creole music known for its blending of French songs and African/Caribbean rhythms.
- We have fresh seafood year round.
- We have the worlds largest steel-constructed room called the Superdome.
- We have "Cajun and Creole Folktales" which include our infamous monster "Loup Garu."
- We are home of the alligator as watchdog and also provides good eating. The alligator is the last remaining cousin to the dinosaurs.
- We have Café Au Lait with ground roasted chicory - the root of endive lettuce.
- We have more fortune tellers than lawyers.
- We're helping out the rest of the country by keeping an eye on Texas and Arkansas.
- We drink beer with our lunch.
- If you ain't quite right in the head you'll fit right in.
- We have corner convenience stores which boast a colorful selection of Voodoo dolls.
- Our politicians are crooked but at least they're honest about it.
- We have Terrance Osborne's fabulous colorful artwork. My favorite is "Hurricane Solution #3."
- The accordion never made a comeback here because it never went away.
- We got us a big ole river to keep the Mississippians out.
- Our climate allows us to wear shorts and a tee shirt almost year round.
- We have a much used mantra, "Laissez les bon temps rouler."
- We have the world's largest freshwater river basin, the Atchafalaya Basin which is in Saint Martin Parish.
- We got bragging rights to the longest bridge in the world, the Pontchartrain Causeway.
- All our roads lead to Jackson Square.
- We have no need to leave home for a taste of French culture.
- We have a dance called the Fais-Do-Do where children dance along side of their parents.
- We have pirogues, swamps, pelicans, seagulls, egrets, whooping cranes, spanish moss, magnolia trees, and live oaks.
- We have fishermen who still make a living "on the water."
- We have no legal penalty for eccentricity.
- We have the best boiled seafood in the world.
- We have high humidity which eliminates the need for moisturizer.
- We have flood waters often that also provide creative opportunities for boating.
- We have the Saint Charles streetcar line in New Orleans whose cable cars are recognized by our nation as a mobile national monument.
- We enjoy the smell of the sweet olives in spring.
- We have drive-through daiquiri shops.
- We have two kinds of hurricanes... both wet and wild.
- We experience praline-induced comas.
- We have the "Crawfish Capital of the World" which is in Breaux Bridge.
- We have more than 400 annual festivals and often called the "Festival Capital of America." We have more festivals per capita than any other state.
- We have swamp tours.
- We have river boats floating down the Mississippi River.
- We have over 100 bayous.
- We have Swamp Pop music.
- We speak Cajun French which is a distinct dialect difficult to understand for many speakers of conventional or Parisian French.
- We have lots and lots of sugar cane and enjoy a good chew on the stalks.
- We have names that end in "eaux."
- We have Sunday after-church Pig Roasts.
- Our Bourbon is so popular we named our most famous street after it.
- We're not just Ante-Bellum we're ante-everything.
- We have 20 beautiful Ante-Bellum sugar plantations.
- We have Cayenne pepper, Louisiana Hot Sauce, and Tabasco sauce used to season food and also clears your sinuses.
- We have rocking chairs on porches.
- We have a state law that everyone has to know how to fish.
- We have a great beach and the mighty Gulf of Mexico at the Grand Isle State Park.
- We have the best Mardi Gras season in the country.
