38th High Point Visited
48th Highest State Highpoint
25th Most Difficult
summitpost.org
wikipedia.org
This was a very unexpected highpoint trip. 2025 was a great year for state highpoint progress and Louisiana marks #5 for the year! I had a business trip that I wasn't expecting to Houston and looked on the map and realized it's about as close as I'm ever going to get to Louisiana's high point. I opted to fly to Houston one day early so gave me 24 hours to rent a car drive 600 miles round trip and return back to Houston Sunday night for work Monday morning.
To make the trip a little more fun, because of the long drive, I thought it would be fun to do in a cool car so instead of renting the least expensive economy car I opted to try a luxury car rental and picked up a 2 series BMW. It was sport, comfortable and fun to drive. How often do you get a rental car with sunroof?! As luck would have it I didn't get to keep the sunroof open very long because I drove into some dark ominous clouds which turned out to be severe thunderstorms. Nearly the 2nd two thirds of the trip to Louisiana it was raining so hard my wipers were at full speed and I still could barely see where I was going. The bad weather made the drive an extra hour long.
I was hoping to find a good place for southern cookin' in Louisiana but by the time I got to Shreveport most of the places were already closed. I found what looked a little bit like a fast food southern cooking spot called Sam's, it seemed liked there were several locations. I ordered some brisket and jumbo shrimp which were both really good. Back in the car for the last hour to my hotel in Arcadia, LS. I think I finally got in ffront of the storm, but as soon as I got out of the car to check into the hotel it again started raining cats and dogs.
Sunday I woke up and the previous day of 75-80 had changed to 30 degrees. Burrr. I wasn't really dressed for a 40 minute hike, all I had were shorts and a few layers for under my jacket, so my first stop was to Dollar General which was across from the hotel and I picked up a pair of gloves, a hat and even some sweatpants for total $17. The trailhead wasn't far away, but happy to see that the rain was long gone and it was scattered clouds and a little wind. The fall leaves were beautiful, but mostly fallen down from the storm the night before?
The trailhead was simple to find, Google took me right there. I didn't think in a million years at 30 degrees anyone else would be on the hike, but wouldn't you know as soon as I pulled into the parking lot a car pulled in next to me. It was a young girl that lives nearby and she came to give her dog, Magnolia, some exercise. I was happy to have a regular of the trail so no worries of getting lost, however, the hike is perfectly straight forward. I bundled up with all my layers and the two of us and her dog headed down the muddy trail.
For as much as it rained the day before, the trail soaked in most of the water and while there were a few mud puddles on the first section that was flat along the road, but as soon as the actual trail turned off to the left and started climbing a bit there were no more mud puddles. The trail was completely covered with leaves, but was still easy enough to follow. Signage was good and no fear of getting lost. Taylor grew up in the area and was an absolute hoot to hike with. Her idea of fun is to shoot water moccasins on the weekends in the summertime so safe to say we didn't have a lot in common. She new the way of the woods, she pointed out where the deer rubbed their antlers on the trees and where they laid down in the pine needed to sleep.
The whole trail one was was only .8 miles so we were there in about 20 minutes. There was one outlook on the way up with a nice view as well as a lookout near the top with some benches to sit and enjoy the view. The benches were sponsored by the highpointers organization. The rumor has it that Mr. Driskill bought the land with the mountainside for $5. At the top there is a big sign and a pile of rocks marking the summit. There were two caches at the top. One was actually a "Geocache" container which I mistook for the summit log. Apparently you can sign the register and take or leave items in the box. Also on the kiosk/sign was the actual summit register. There had been several people that had visited over the weekend including two from Colorado.
There is an alternate path over a false summit so we opted to go that route on the way down. It was less traveled and with all the leaves a little harder to follow because the trail is much more narrow as well as heavily covered by leaves. There were however blazes on the trees that marked the trail all the way back to the main trail. The trails merged about the start of the hike where the actual trail had veered off the back country dirt road.
Another highpoint is in the bag!
The trip home I took a different route that seemed a little more scenic. I didn't find any good options for gas for awhile but managed to refuel before having to start panicking. I exited Louisiana near Toledo Bend which has a road that goes directly over a giant lake which separates Texas from Louisiana. There were parks on each side of the lake where I stopped for a few pictures including welcome signs for both states. Imade it all the way to Lufkin, Texas where I found the best spot in the world for lunch called Tia Juanita's Fish Camp!
