Hiking and backcountry camping within 4 hours from NOLA?

both Backbone and Wild Azalea in central LA are good weekend hikes

Wild Azalea/Kisatchie got a lot of damage from Laura, so its a bit of a mess, but the trail is cleared now

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If I were to hike the wild azalea, how do I get back to my car?

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turn around and hike back

you could use the Kincaid Lake Loop as your turn around point if you didn't want to hike the entire WAT

otherwise get someone to drop you off

hell if Wasp wants to hike it, my parents live like a mile from the Valentine Lake trailhead

they'll pick you up and drive you back to Woodworth

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Why do some trails list as an “out and back” with the distance being listed as doubled

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Places like national parks do this on brochures so tourist that never leave the pavement won't walk 6 miles out and then not realize it's another 6 miles back.

The Wild Azalea is 25 miles end to end.

Now that the weather has been decent on the weekends I finally got out to go camping. For the last two weekends I went out to the Black Creek area of DeSoto national forrest.

Last weekend I parked near Fairly Bridge landing and walked only about 1.5 miles before trail was closed.
I got my waders on and continued. It was flooded at that point and I was losing light so I camped on a dry enough spot. I really didn't get to enjoy it though.

This past Saturday I went back this time I had more time to scout. I found a spot off Melvin Brelan road were the trail crosses. It's very remote with only two properties at the end of the road and some gas line access roads. I parked and walked about 2 miles to a bluff overlooking the river. Even though this wasn't far, consulting my map it showed the black creek trail actually rarely overlooks the black creek River. So I decided to camp here.

I set my hammock up for a 180° view of the river. Was also able to get a nice swim in too. I never saw or heard another person the whole time I was there. Not one boat floated by, not one other hiker on trail.

I did have to bring a machete and clear a lot of downed branches. There were a ton of trees that required going over as well. At one point you had to cross a steam on a log. That was actually a lot of fun. I made both crossings without falling. If you do fall it's only 4' down to about 3' of water with a sand bottom. Was just more difficult with a pack.
This was exactly what I was looking for. I'm going back in two weeks to do a two night float trip.

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Clear springs.
That's one I may just do this weekend because it's so close.

I see it's $20 for the campground is that dispersed camping? Or is that only on camp sites?
I'm looking more for true dispersed camping.

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It's not really "dispersed", but the campsites are a good distance from each other. There's a lower CG and an upper CG. The lower CG is more like a parking lot style. The upper is very hilly, and the campsites are on terraces far enough apart to have some privacy.









Clear Springs is one of our favorite campgrounds. The kids love swimming in the spring fed lake there.

Also, check out Chicot State Park in Ville Platte. They have "hike to" tent spots on the lake that are very secluded and peaceful.

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Does this place take campsite reservations?

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I haven't been in a few years. Last time I went, there weren't reservations. We'd just pull up to the main gate, drop the money in the slot, and pick whichever campsite we wanted.

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Gotcha
I just worry about driving that far and then there not being a spot open
I’m sure it’s usually not an issue, but I could see it getting full on one of these nice weather spring weekends.

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The only time I've seen it almost full was during the early weeks of hunting season.