Atchafalaya, Ruiz/Sandy Cove, Buffalo Cove, Bayou Gravenburg B

kayak route map Atchafalaya, Sandy Cove, Buffalo Cove, Bayou Gravenburg www.SawdustRiver.com

Kayak paddle trail map route starting from the northern-most Sandy Cove Launch off of the Levee Road just south of Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in Louisiana. This trip (labeled B) is a second go from this launch and it tries to explore a bit more of the side channels than the earlier trip (labeled A). The Atchafalaya at Butte La Rose read about 3.5 on the gage; some of the side channels only went so far before they got a bit shallow and hemmed in by the surface vegetation. I think that higher levels might allow further ingress, but with a hand propelled small boat progress into channels covered with vegetation is surprisingly limited. To the sides the swamp is a marshy sprawl that can’t be easily accessed. Mud-motored swamp boats, and airboats, have an advantage here, contrary to the widely held idea that kayaks can go where others can’t. Still, exploring the available side routes is fun, and the day being bright meant that there were quite a few alligators sunbathing on the shore. Particularly exciting is when a group of two or three or more big ones go rushing into the water together when you paddle by. The route returns via a muddy boat drag portage back across to the main bayou. This is a bit of work, and messy, but is shorter than retracing the entire route backwards again. Nice paddle and nice route, and close to the state park.