Travel Bug: Two Great Walks Today and Some Misty Rain, Part 2

Saturday, January 15, 2022

Two Great Walks Today and Some Misty Rain, Part 2 - Saturday, January 15, 2022

Continued from Part 1 about Hammond, Louisiana...

Before we left Hammond, Louisiana, we stopped at Subway for lunch. Then it was a one-half-hour drive to Port Hudson State Historic Site.

Photo Credit: Susan Medlin.

The weather was still incredibly cold here with a biting wind! We bundled up in all of our warm gear before this hike!

One of the battlefields in the park.

Our first foray into the park was the Visitor Center. I took a couple of quick pics at the entrance to the museum before the movie.

The history of the flag is below.

I don't remember what these
are, but they're cool looking.

This was history on the theater wall.

Cannonballs. Can you imagine being
hit by one of these? They're heavy!

The ranger welcomed us. While we waited for the rest of our group, he told us the history of the park.

I was pretty tired. I hadn't slept much the night before, and we just finished a 10k walk. You can see where this is going. When the room got dark, I watched the first half of the movie, but then I fell asleep. When the movie ended, we did the 5k walk here.

It's a good thing we were all bundled up because the wind was freezing cold. The hike was through the woods and was quite interesting.

We learned where the armies were set up and exactly what happened to the Confederate forces. It was awful. All the supply lines to the Confederates were cut off, so they ran out of food and starved to death. I'll spare you the gory details.

This was a pretty walk with a few ups and downs, but nothing too strenuous on the 5k. I can't speak for the 10k walk. We saw where the redoubts and Fort Desperate were located.

War memorial at the entrance to the trail.

Susan at the beginning of the walk.

Off we go.

We had a nice, wide gravel trail.

Flowers showing their
colors on a gloomy day.

See photo below.

Union Battery Number 3.

Strategic attack.

Boardwalk at Ft. Desperate.

Viewing tower (closed)

Climax forest - the first time
I've heard that term.

The trail continued through the woods. The trees dissipated the wind, so it was a shock when we came out of the forest into the full-frontal assault of the wind. Brr. All picture-taking was pretty quick out on the battlefield.

One of the battlefields.

Susan Medlin - fierce warrior!

When we got back to the Visitor Center, Susan decided to sit in the car and read. I went in to see the museum. The museum is small, but packed with history!

That's the gist of the battle at Port Hudson. From here, we drove to our next overnight stop, Zachary, Louisiana. After checking into our motel rooms and taking a nice HOT shower, our group met for dinner at Lagniappe restaurant in Zachary. What a nice dinner. The food and service were good considering we had such a big group.