The Creole Nature Trail. It takes you through Louisiana s “outback”. I had been wanting to make that loop for a long time.
It has not been of my easiest road trips to plan. I have tried to do it several times prior but things always came up and I would have to cancel.
I recently had some unexpected free time come up, so I decided to finally do the trail .
I normally do a very good job with planning out my trips. However, my nursing job has been crazy lately and I didn’t plan as I normally would. As a matter of fact, up to the day before, I was still debating on going or not.
My nursing gig is not physically exhausting, it is mentally exhausting. I also work from home so I struggle with isolation. Lately, I have been so tired, I do not want to do much on my off days. The burn out is real.
But I digress..
I decided that I really needed to get out of my house so I went for it. My plan was to do the west side that day and the east, the next.
It had been at least 20 years since I have been down that way. It was beautiful but the roads were long. I was also disappointed because there was a particular trail that I planned on going on. When I got there, I discovered it was closed.
Another let down was that there were many things that I wanted to stop and shoot. The roads were narrow though and I was by myself. I really needed to have someone driving so I could have jumped out to shoot like I wanted too.
I found a photo op to pull in at. There was another truck that pulled in but they did not get out. I didn’t think anything about it at first. I got down and then realized that there was no other cars or people in sight. It was just me and whomever it was in that truck. I have been road tripping alone for many years and I have always felt safe. For whatever reason though, that truck made me feel very vulnerable and had me questioning my personal safety.
Luckily the truck left and I did not see it again. I did go on to other parts of the trail but I was in a different mind set. I found myself paying attention more to my safety then the scenery. I did change my plans somewhat. There were some places that I wanted to go but I opted out, for safety reasons. I stopped at Holly Beach and then turned around and made my way to my hotel in Lake Charles.
While checking in at the hotel, I had an issue. I couldn’t not find my drivers license. Luckily, I the clerk still let me check in using an expired license, I happened to have on me. I could not find my license anywhere. As a matter of fact, I still have not found it.
Thankfully, I have LA wallet and was able to order a duplicate through there.
That evening, I downloaded my memory cards, I had both cameras with me. One with my wide lens and the other with my zoom lens. The memory card in the cam with my zoom lens was damaged. I could not retrieve any of the images I took with that camera. So, I lost a lot of my shots
The next morning, I had decisions to make. I was about 2 hours away from home with no physical copy of my drivers license. Do I go straight home or continue to the 2nd part of the trail??
I decided to go through the trail since I didn’t have to get on I 10 for that. It was all back roads. My mind kept going back to the truck from the day before. Having that happen really put a damper on my spirits. Being nervous about not have my license, further took some of the joy out for me.
Nevertheless, I carried on anyway. One of my expectations was seeing big gators. There were plenty gators but they were very small. I ve seen much much larger ones in Lake Martin and the basin. So, that was another let down.
The roads were long, lonely and my head was on a swivel. I ended up opting out of another stop or two.
I honestly didn’t think I would EVER find my way back to civilization. Some of the towns I went through are towns that you only hear about during hurricanes- Creole,Grand Chenier, Pecan Island…
One of my fears is driving over draw bridges. There are a lot of draw bridges down there, along with many other types of bridges. I lost track of how many I went over.
I was so relieved to finally get to I 49, so I could get back home.
I was still nervous, without my license, but I felt much more comfortable once I was back in Acadiana.
Overall, the trip did not turn out as I expected it too. The area is beautiful. I just don’t think that it was the right time for me to explore it.
I do want to go back. Next time, I hope to have someone come with me.
Obviously, I did not capture the amount of images that I planned on. See below, for the ones that I did get though.
Thanks for reading
Peace & love,
~Tiff
