Marksville, LA - Chicot State Park

One day we drove over to Chicot State Park. We had wanted to stay there, but knew there would be too many trees. Information we found stated that the trail circling Lake Chicot was good for mountain biking so we thought we'd check it out. We started at the South Landing Trailhead near the Main Entrance. We headed north initially, but found the trail to be too technical for being so rusty. We agreed to head south and give up if we started to hit the same type of steep/rocky/rooty hills. Thankfully it was more of a beginner/intermediate trail to the south because it was so pretty in this beech/magnolia forest. And when the trail dipped down near the lake you dropped into a bayou filled with cedar trees. In this photo, Andy had just gotten jammed in a small gully.

But what took my breath away was when I came down and around this one bend and saw this quarter-mile long boardwalk spanning over a section of the bayou. This is where we had to stop and enjoy a snack before turning back home.

Back at the car we met a fellow mountain biker who told us that of the 20-mile long trail, the 4-5 miles just north of this trailhead were the most technical.

It seems like we're rushing all the time. We didn't get to explore any other areas of the park because it was well past our lunchtime and I didn't think to pack a lunch. We did take about 45 minutes and walked around the Louisiana State Arboretum before heading out of the area. This is another place I would've loved to have spent more time in. It was just outside Chicot SP, was heavily forested with several miles of trails looping throughout. It would've been very relaxing...if we weren't SO hungry!