Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Feb. 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have updated it to reflect current closures.
Don’t get us wrong. We all love NOLA But it’s easy to hit a wall in the oft-mentioned marathon.
A great way to break out of a funk is to head outside. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a few of the best outdoor getaways within driving distance of New Orleans. The great outdoors is an incredible way to clear your head and sweat out some of those stiff drinks, and while the city can seem like an all-encompassing bubble, it’s fairly easy to find the exact opposite of city life just a short drive away.
Tunica Falls
If stomping around the cities’ varied geography (from flat to bowl-shaped) has you aching for a little bit of elevation, this park just over the Mississippi border is excellent. Spend a day rockhopping and climbing on one of several natural waterfalls in the Clark Creek Natural Area. And if you feel like staying a little longer, campgrounds are on offer on the Louisiana side.
Plan The Trip:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTfs7_EltMS/
Hooper Road Park
This hill and bluff-filled network of trails is perfect for folks who want to get away, but don’t want to spend several hours in the car. Hooper Road is just outside of Baton Rouge, about an hour and a half from our fair city. The varied elevation even lends itself to mountain bike trails. Your eyes don’t deceive you, you can get to a mountain bike trail without even filling up your gas tank.
Plan The Trip:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BP37LtQg6O8/
Bogue Chitto
If you can’t even work up the energy for a brisk walk, why not rent a tube along this lazy river and let the current carry you for an hour or two? The exercise-inclined can take advantage of some of the the park’s Gorge Trail, though be warned. This is primo Louisiana, meaning that it’s pure, unadulterated flat land. Still, there are several overlooks and sights a-plenty along the five-mile length of the loop.
Plan The Trip:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0wrqEZnas1/
Kisatchie National Forest
Louisiana isn’t fairly well known for protecting its wildlife. So it might not shock you to learn that there’s only one national forest in the entire state. Even so, Kisatchie is a doozy. The lone forest covers 600,000 acres just outside Alexandria and that’s plenty of space to get lost in thought.
Plan The Trip:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B811TTqCWTh/
Woodlands Conservancy
Another close-to-home park for the folks who can’t make it much farther than the parish line. This underutililized gem in Plaquemines Parish is little more than three trails, all adding up to about five miles, and it runs through a quickly disappearing bit of natural history. The conservancy is a bottomland hardwood forest, an increasingly rare find in the state as coastal erosion eats away at the land between New Orleans and the sea. While it’s in no danger of disappearing overnight, Plaquemines’ startling land loss means the clock is ticking on this particular natural wonder.
Plan The Trip:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0BoRSnFl9E/
Jean Lafitte Park & Preserve (Currently closed due to COVID-19)
One choice for a getaway isn’t really away at all. Just 17 miles from New Orleans, this swampy preserve is packed with nature trails and boardwalks through the swamp. The Barataria Preserve in particular is a great way to connect to the natural world of South Louisiana. Will away memories of flying plastic beads by walking through a preserved bit of Louisiana’s primordial past.
The park offers dirt and gravel trail hikes, canoe and kayak launches and the aforementioned boardwalks that can carry visitors to a beautiful marsh overlook.
Plan The Trip:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Xx0xnkyAsg/
