Joyce WMA, Akers Ramp, North Pass, Old US51

kayak map route trail Joyce WMA, Akers Launch, North Pass, Old US51, Louisiana www.SawdustRiver.com

Kayak map route in the Joyce WMA area along North Pass just off Old US51 north of New Orleans. There are two launches, Akers Boat Ramp (west) and Akers Small Boat Ramp (east). North Pass, although narrower than Pass Manchac to the south, is still quite wide. But, a low bridge crossing the pass separates the two launches so that most boats cannot transit. As a result there is no traffic on North Pass between Lake Maurepas and Lake Ponchartrain. Only a couple kayaks and a motorboat or two were on the Pass when I was there; guys using the west launch probably go out to Lake Maurepas. The plan for this trip was to head east and take every possible slough or inlet that entered North Pass, for instance T Bayou (shown on the map). I explored those that were either in the Joyce WMA, or allowed access to the WMA, or which weren’t posted. A lot of little inlets along this stretch of the Pass were posted and I avoided those. In general the inlets allowed progress for a short distance before they became clogged with hyacinth.

Like the Manchac WMA to the south, the Joyce WMA is flat, treeless, and open, a kind of marshy expanse. And while the day of this winter trip was sunny, cool, and almost completely still, trips at other times could be hot, shadeless, and windy. The terrain is low and grassy and almost at water level so, weirdly, you sometimes feel you are paddling on land. I suppose there is an ecological name to describe this region, like ‘recovering coastal marsh’, but I don’t know what the correct term is. Saw nutria, otters, gators but no manatees.