A Tale of Two Chemists: Lake Fausse Point State Park

Lake Fausse Point State Park

April 8, 2023

The drive from Grand Bay, AL to Lake Fausse Point State Park was relatively short by recent standards (240 miles) and would have been fine except for three things. Firstly, we ran into a massive rainstorm just west of New Orleans that resulted in stressful driving and delays due to accidents. Secondly, after leaving the motorway we followed the GoogleMap directions for 12 miles through the saturated countryside before coming to an unexpected impasse due to a bridge over a bayou being closed. We got some alternative directions from a helpful local man, but this involved retracing our route back to the motorway and then heading west for a further 7 miles. Finally, when we exited I-10 we found the road we wanted to take was blocked by flooding. Initially we were routed away by a policeman and pulled into a gas station to figure out what to do. Here we met a lady who said she had just driven through the flood in a regular car with no problems. Throwing caution to the wind we headed back and proceeded to drive through the deep and fast flowing water under the highway. We got through okay, but I suspect it was touch and go and we were lucky (stupid) to have tried. Anyway, we made it and the rain continued to hold off as we arrived at Lake Faust Pointe State Park .

This busy campsite was right next to a portion of the lake (we think). Once again we were the only people in a tent! All the other people were in campers varying from modest to gigantic. Also many of them seemed to know loads of the other “campers”. It made me wonder if we had stumbled into the middle of some family reunion!

After setting up the tent and having some lunch, we decided to go for a walk on the “island”. Our first foray was thwarted by running into a family who seemed to be melting down over the prevalence of mosquitos. As we had not brought any bug repellent with us for the walk, we returned to our camp-site and armed ourselves with both repellent and head nets. Thank goodness for the latter or we would never have finished the walk. Our intention was to do the longest loop, however, after a short time of battling the bugs, we opted for the medium length walk. A few paces further on, we were forced to don our bug nets. Subsequently, we were able to concentrate on avoiding the puddles and listening for birds. The vegetation was nearly as thick as the insects, spotting birds was fairly difficult.

After dinner, Mike walked back to the bayou overlook on the same trail. I elected to read my book at the campsite. Once we were both settled into the tent, it started to rain quite heavily. After several hours, the rain finally tapered off. A cup that we had left on the picnic table had about 2 inches of water!

Determined to get an early start, we went back to the “island” to do the short walk. The flooding was remarkable. Several times we had to detour well off the path to avoid water deeper than our boots. This experience made us think that the long walk wasn’t a good bet. We decided to go out in the car and explore the area. With a little bit of difficulty (no cell phone reception so no Google maps) we drove a loop through the countryside around the park. It’s hard to avoid the sense that southern Louisiana is more water than land. The lake for which the park is named is quite large. As we drove, we found swamps, levees, streams, flooded fields. Certainly the recent heavy rains would have made a contribution to this impression, but, water seems to be everywhere.

Later in the afternoon, Mike decided to walk the “big loop”. I elected to take a walk down the park road to some cabins. When Mike got back he was more or less completely soaked from the shins down. His boots may never dry out.

Today we drove to Texas. Our route took us through Houston (if we had been able to take the toll road we would have looped around the outside. Houston is a really big city. I was too chicken to drive that section (or any section today!). The park is called Brazos Bend state park. We’ll tell you more about this wonderful location later.

Gloria

This shot shows the "footpath" from the shower / toilet block to the children's playground...at least 6 inches under water! We had to ask to switch our assigned campsite because the tent pad was only a couple of inches above water.