Atchafalaya, Belle River Boat Launch

The above kayak trail map route launches out of the Belle River Boat Launch off of Levee Highway 997 on the east side of the Atchafalaya Basin north of Morgan City. The launch costs two bucks and has three ramps. A guy there told me that in April during crawfish season all three were totally jammed and he had to come at three thirty in the morning even to find a parking spot. At the time of this trip, December, there were maybe 20 trucks and trailers, so not too bad. The aim was to try one of the boat ramp access points on the east side of Atchafalaya Basin (opposite the state park on the west side) and paddle out into the channels seen on google maps, maybe make some sort of large loop. But, clogging of the channels by the lilies (hyacinth) led me to discard the big loop idea as unworkable. The revised plan was to just do a small turnaround loop at the end, but even that channel was clogged (map above and picture below). And so the route ended up as an out and back, but at least it did get pretty far into the swamp. Unexpected channel blockages by floating hyacinth is one of the big issues with kayak routes in the Atchafalaya area. Interestingly, I was told that crawfish eat the hyacinth lilies. If that’s correct I wish they would get a move on. The navigable, lily-free, channels, although narrow looking on satellite maps, are actually pretty wide flatwater and can sometimes be a bit monotonous to paddle. As long as you don’t mind this, or the fact that some channels are dead ends, the route variations are almost endless. And the further you can paddle mileage-wise the more options that open up. Bright beautiful December day, but sadly no alligators this time.