Louisiana's 'Photographer's Paradise' Is A Family-Friendly State Park Full Of Trails And Waterfront Cabins

Louisiana is famous for places where land and water blur together (see: bayous), but Chemin-A-Haut State Park adds another dimension: a high bluff with views over Bayou Bartholomew. The park in Bastrop, at the north end of the state, offers a slight change in perspective for Louisiana's otherwise predominantly flat terrain. Trails skirt the edge of the bluff, climbing above the water and looking out between ancient cypress trees. At each turn, you'll find a composition that shows why the Louisiana Office of Tourism calls Chemin-a-Haut State Park a "photographer's paradise": paths through dense hardwood forest, gnarled cypress trunks reflected by glassy waters, and cabins sitting right on the banks of the meandering bayou waterways.

Beyond serving as a scenic backdrop to a hike, the Chemin-A-Haut State Park has plenty of ways for families to make a trip together. There's a seasonal swimming pool, as well as a wading pool for smaller children. When the pool is closed, kids also have two playgrounds to burn off energy at. Older kids and teens might take to paddling the bayou or searching for birds and other wildlife among the trees. You could book one of the cabins that overlook the bayou for a family get-together, or simply make a day trip to the park for some outdoor recreation.

Chemin-A-Haut State Park's name means "high road" in French, a clue about the kind of landscape you can expect to find here. Although the park sits up on a bluff, the trails don't require any strenuous climbing. Several reviewers have noted that the hikes are suitable for beginners. "The trails are wide and clear enough for the youngest of adventure[r]s to enjoy," a Google Maps reviewer said. One option is the quarter-mile Boy Scout Trail, which follows the edge of the Bayou Bartholomew banks. For a longer hike, you could take on the 1.1-mile Bobcat Trail — this one loops around the campground.

The trails reveal some of Chemin-A-Haut's unique bayou country scenery worthy of snapshots. Following the elevated terrain on the bayou's banks, paths offer shifting views between hardwood forest and swampy bottomland habitats. Along the bayou, bald cypress and tupelo trees rise from the floodplain, including one particularly striking cypress known as "Castle Tree." This tree is somewhere between 800 and 1,000 years old, according to Heart of Louisiana, and it has a hollowed-out trunk wide enough that you can paddle inside of it. (Travelers looking for more paddling spots in Louisiana may also want to check out the peaceful, gorgeous Bayou Vermilion Paddle Trail.) Meanwhile, the habitats support wildlife you can scout for, including wading birds like herons and egrets, as well as wrens, thrashers, and warblers in the woods, per Louisiana Birding.

For visitors who want to spend more time astride the Bayou Bartholomew, Chemin-A-Haut's cabins let you stay overnight in the bluff-top forest. The park has 14 cabins — eight deluxe and six standard, which each sleep up to six people. The cabins include dishes, linens, and cooking utensils, with kitchen equipment including a stove and refrigerator, as the reservation page notes. Some cabins are located near the bayou's edge, where you can step outside to watch the water and birds wading. Others are closer to the day-use area, so you can easily access amenities such as the pool, bathhouse, and playgrounds. For a more rustic type of stay, visitors can also opt to camp at the available outdoor sites, which have water and electricity hookups.

If you just visit for the day, Chemin-A-Haut State Park has one small, baseline entry fee — you can come for a daytime hike or to bring kids to the pool (just note the pool is only open Memorial Day to Labor Day, with a limited schedule after August 1). It's an easy way to experience some of northern Louisiana's outdoors, located about a 15-minute drive from central Bastrop, a historic hub full of architecture and culture. Those flying into the area can land at the Monroe Regional Airport (MLU), about a 30-minute drive from Bastrop. You can pair a trip to the area with some other special sites in this pocket of Louisiana, like the Poverty Point World Heritage Site, a window into thousands of years of history that's just under an hour from Bastrop.