Chicot State Park was on our bucket list for a couple of reasons. Going here marked the fact that we have now been to all of the state parks in South Louisiana. It is also the largest state park in Louisiana. This is a favorite amongst many people we’ve spoken to and I can see why. Located about 3 hours north of New Orleans, it is large with North Loop and South Loop camping areas, similar to Bogue Chitto State Park. There are 3 loops A, B, and C in the South Loop camping area. Loop C has sites with tent pads. In general, the South Loop looks like when it rains it would be a good idea to have a space with a tent pad for quick drainage if staying in the South Loop.
We stayed in the North loop. The spaces in the North Loop are more tightly packed and probably more geared to trailers, however, we were there in October and the North Loop was less than half full. If you are tent camping, we stayed in space #374, which has a lot of space and is tucked in the back at the end of the loop.
Chicot State Park also has some nice amenities. It has 3 boat launches located in different areas of the lake. We launched from the North Boat launch, but we would definitely go back and try the other launches to get different views of the lake. We checked out the East Boat Ramp Launch, which is on the other side of the park, you leave the park and drive around through a residential neighborhood to enter this area. It was the least crowded of the 3 launches. The Southside boat launch is probably the busiest and most utilized and is where the canoe rentals are located.
The final thing about Chicot State Park is that it also has a 20-mile hiking loop trail around the lake with primitive sites. We did a short portion of this trail from the North Landing Trailhead to Walker Branch which was about 5 miles round-trip. We hiked through the forest down and then took the road back up. It is a very well-maintained trail. I would love to go back and do the entire thing.
While we do not fish, we did see signs posted all around the lake warning of mercury in bowfin and largemouth bass. Just something to keep in mind if you plan on consuming anything you might catch.
My final thoughts are that this is definitely my second favorite park next to Bogue Chitto. Chicot is large and offers a lot to do while visiting. We would like to go back and do more of the loop trail and launch our kayaks from different areas of the lake as well.
