Marrero, La.
NPS Website; Local Website
WHAT IS IT?One of six separate National Park Sites dedicated to preserving the “natural and cultural resources of the Mississippi Delta region”. The Barataria Preserve is the only portion of Jean Lafitte NHP whose focus is the natural rather than the cultural. The Preserve is 20,000 acres of estuarine wetlands.
BEAUTY (7/10)
All those swamp tours you see advertised in New Orleans, this is where they take you. Palmettos, baldcypress trees and live oaks abound. Everything is green. Impossible shades of the same color are everywhere. A boardwalk trail near the Visitor Center takes you into the swamp almost as if you were on a flat-bottomed Cajun pirogue. There is constant motion above and below. Falling leaves, scattering snakes, impatient birds and invisible insects. After you spot a water moccasin wrapped around a tree lining the path, every breaking twig and rustling squirrel makes the heart jump. The man-made canals that have reverted back to nature now teem with gators and marsh birds. This is an eerie place.
HISTORICAL INTEREST (4/10)
The Preserve is the most Jean Lafitte-related part of the six Sites in the Jean Lafitte NHP. This is where the famed pirate hid, lived and thrived. His band of 1,000+ smugglers was even named the Baratarians.
CROWDS (7/10)You never know who you are going to run into at National Park Sites. The other three people at the Barataria Preserve were two retired men who have been traveling from Park to Park since June. They were especially proud showing their National Parks Passport book. The third person was a Hungarian woman who taught herself English because she fell in love with Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and wanted to read it without translation. She has since immigrated to the states. We passed her on the trail; she was carrying one of those poles that the Crocodile Hunter uses to catch snakes.
EASE OF USE/ACCESS (3/5)
Barataria NPRES is directly south of New Orleans, but there are few bridges that cross the Mississippi River. From New Orleans, take Business Route 90 to Barataria Blvd. The Visitor Center is just off route 45.
The trails are level but sections of boardwalks are often wet and muddy, sometimes slippery due to leaves. Watch out for sunbathing snakes. It was a lovely day; we could have walked all of the trails, but signs warning of recent car break-ins in the parking lot kept us on a short leash.
CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (3/5)
Barataria NPRES had a small selection of books and other items that the Ranger was decorating for the holidays. Someone actually did come in Christmas shopping while we were there. A few items, such as a mesh backpack, can be borrowed for your walk at no cost,
COSTS (4/5)
The Site is free.
RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (4/5)
One Ranger was at the front desk; there may have been two on staff. At one point, there were three quite distinct conversations occurring in the small space around the Ranger’s station. She did a great job of navigating them all and finding where her comments and assistance were needed. Somehow she knew that Gab grew tired of Michael and his new friend comparing NPS stamps and just wanted a trail map and some guidance, which the Ranger happily gave. For that, Gab was grateful.
TOURS/CLASSES (7/10)
Films are shown upon request at Barataria. The museum is much smaller than the other Jean Lafitte sites and less professionally done. But this grassroots feel ranks it as one of our favorites. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the VC, opting instead to get out into the swamp. The VC has a poster outlining its trails, marking where people have recently seen alligators and a blackboard where visitors have noted which birds they spotted on their hikes. We wanted to do some gator and bird watching ourselves, from the safety of the boardwalk, of course.
FUN (8/10)“If I were an alligator, I’d hang out here.” No sooner had Michael said these words, Gab spotted a young gator among the leaves in the Lower Kenta Canal. This happened after a walk full of herons, egrets, woodpeckers and white ibises along the Bayou Coquille Trail. We shared the Palmetto Trail with a beautiful green ribbon snake and a more sinister looking reptile relaxing among the trail’s namesakes.
We took our photos (taken from a distance) to the Ranger and she confirmed what Michael had suspected: water moccasin! She assured us that they were pretty harmless, but we remember of the fatal river crossing scene from Lonesome Dove and the screams of Ricky Schroeder’s friend before he went under: Water moccasins!!!
We reached our car safe and smiling. We had a heck of a good time at Barataria. The fresh air did us well after several days and nights in the French Quarter.
WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (7/10)
Southern Louisiana’s National Park bears the name of the mysterious and infamous pirate for a reason. There is no better place to experience the rich and foreboding, sometimes dangerous beauty of this state than in the bayous and swamps. The trails of Barataria NPRES gives you user-friendly access to some of Louisiana’s many treasures. Bring insect repellant.
TOTAL 54/80
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