The Couturie Forest is a diverse and beautiful green space in New Orlean’s City Park. It’s the most accessible way to experience native plants and trees without leaving the city. You can also visit Laborde Mountain which is the tallest point in New Orleans at just 43 feet above sea level. Coming from the rocky and often hilly Midwest hiking spots I’m used to, it was really nice to be able to wander and really take everything in. 

A couple weeks ago, I took a trip to New Orleans and had the chance to spend a day on the boardwalk trails at the Barataria Preserve in the Jean Lafitte National Park. After watching the New Orleans episode of Drunk History, I realized that this means there’s a national park named after a pirate! I highly support this.

The trails are comprised almost entirely of a boardwalk that sits just above the water. This creeped me out a little since we don’t have gators in Missouri. My friends who live in NOLA assured me that they won’t come after me but they still weird me out. I left with all my fingers and toes but the bugs were intense so I would bring bug spray if you visit in summer. 

Despite the heat, we really enjoyed the vibrancy of the swamp life in summer. Since the New Orleans area is very flat, the trail was really manageable as well. I would recommend making sure you bring plenty of water though. The trail doesn’t loop so you’ll want to make sure you’re aware of your halfway point if you don’t plan on following the entire length of the trail.

I haven’t had the chance to explore many parks outside of the Midwest so it was a really cool experience. Vastly different from the limestone and granite I’m used to 🙂