HEART OF LOUISIANA: Chemin-a-Haut State Park

BASTROP, La. (WAFB) – This is a rare site in Louisiana, giant old growth cypress trees whose ages are counted, not In years, but in centuries.

“We have several, um, large trees here. Several unique looking trees here. But then also you have a cypress trees that almost probably get as tall as me,” Demetrius Fields said.

The trees are located in a state park in extreme north Louisiana, at a site that includes trails used by Native Americans. The name is French.

“Chemin-A-Haut. It means the high road,” said Fields.

Demetrius Fields is manager of Louisiana’s Chemin-A-Haut State Park. The ancient treasures of this park are found by paddling up Chemin-A-Haut creek.

“It’s going to take, you have maybe about an hour to paddle to it, but once you get there, it’s worth it” Fields said.

The main attraction is a cypress giant that locals call the ‘castle tree’.

“It’s magnificent when you see it. So you know why they named it the castle tree. The age is going to be about 800 years to maybe a thousand and, um, size. We’re looking at more than 20 feet in diameter as far as around the base of the, of the tree,” said Fields.

This tree, and a few others here, managed to avoid the saws and axes of the lumber business.

“I think based on the position they are in, in our creek, um, also, based on the fact that the water levels here only kind of give you a great float a certain time of year that kinda helped save them,” Fields said.

The tree has a large hollow that begins below the water line. And it’s big enough that you can paddle a boat inside of the cypress, where you see a giant, wooden arched ceiling.

“That’s where a plenty of people get great pictures in kayaks, you know,” said Fields.

When you view the tree from the creek bank, you don’t see the big hole. You need to paddle to the other side. And that’s led to a legend of moonshiners taking advantage of the hidden hollow.

“We had moonshiners that would be in the area and they may have still several stills or something in the area. And the, you know, police may be able to find a stills, but a lot of times they weren’t able to recover the alcohol. And the reason being is because the alcohol was being hidden in the tree and the only, the only people who knew about it was people who could float to it and access it by canoe,” Fields said.

This is the second oldest state park in Louisiana. It was built in the 1930s during the great depression by the civilian conservation corps.

Today, the park has modern cabins that stand at the edge of a bayou. It’s a place of quiet, natural beauty.

“We’re looking at, now that we have something in this area for, for recreational purposes, was Morehouse Parish,” Fields said.

But this park’s main attraction is nature, a quiet creek, the gentle sound of the wind as it rustles the leaves, and seeing a tree that has anchored this little wilderness for a thousand years.

More information on Chemin-a-Haut State Park can be found on Heart of Louisiana’s website.

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