FRANKLINTON, La. (WGNO) — This is a great week to give yourself the gift of an outdoor adventure! One of the newer parks in the Louisiana State Park System is growing in popularity — Bogue Chitto State Park in Washington Parish.
At Bogue Chitto, you won’t get bored.
“Because you can come here and you can mountain bike, you can come and you can horseback ride, if you’re into disc golf, we have a championship disc golf course here,” explained Clifford Melius with the Louisiana Office of State Parks.
And the Washington Parish park is easy to reach.
“You’re only an hour and 15, an hour and 30 minutes from New Orleans, an hour and 15 minutes from Baton Rouge, and you can get away in one of the most beautiful places in Louisiana that looks nothing like most of Louisiana,” Melius added. “Just because of the hills and the topography, and I think that’s what makes it special.”
For some, that’s best seen from the saddle.
“It’s always been said that what’s good for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse. It’s good therapy to get outside and to be able to ride, just to enjoy God’s abundance of nature and we have it here,” said Robbie Thomas with Bogue Chitto Horse Rentals.
We meandered through the forest and eventually across the Creek Trail!
For those who prefer pedal power…
“Really the most popular thing we have going right now is the mountain bike trail,” Melius explained.
“It’s very exciting,” added Mark Richards with the Northshore Off-Road Bicycling Association. “I did a little bit of trail riding years ago, and then when I heard about the trails up here, I sold my road bike to buy a mountain bike. It’s just a beautiful wooded forest, just a pretty piece of real estate.”
There’s a track for every level, starting with a balance bike course for the little ones.
The park’s Black Diamond bike trail is called the MegaZeph — it’s filled with technical challenges including this one — the tower or terror. If your speed is right, you’ll drop 13 feet. But if you pedal too fast, you’ll end up over here.. about 18 feet from the platform.”
Daredevil or solace-seeker, this Franklinton oasis is a good reason for your next road trip.
There are no bike rentals on-site yet, but if you have your own mountain bike, the trails are waiting. In the summer, there’s a unique splash park, as well as fishing and tubing on the river, so we’ll plan to make another trip out there in the new year.