There's Something About the Basin

We left Henderson (LA) and headed south on highway 352 with the levee of the Atchafalaya Basin on our left. At different points along the highway, it was possible to cross over the levee. One such crossover brought us to McGee's Landing.

There is something about the Basin that fascinates me. It is certainly unlike the landscape of any other place in the country, but there is an attraction--a respectful attraction. For example, it is unique and huge.

The Atchafalaya Basin is the nation's largest river swamp, containing almost one million acres of America's most significant bottomland hardwoods, swamps, bayous, and backwater lakes. The basin begins near Simmesport, LA, and stretches some 140 miles southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Currently, the Atchafalaya Basin is bound by natural ridges formed by levee building along active and abandoned courses of the Mississippi River.

McGee's Landing is a restaurant with live music and serves as a launch point for boat tours of the Basin

And, it is source of income for people near the Basin. Estimates show that close to 22 million pounds of crawfish are commercially harvested annually from the Basin.

A houseboat docked near McGee's

And those who live and work here know the vastness of the Basin. In the course of my conversation with Mr. Harry (soon to be introduced), I showed him our "business card," which has our blog and e-mail addresses superimposed on a photo of the Atchafalaya. As soon as he saw it, he exclaimed, "I know just where this is."

And while the opportunities for recreational travels are there,

Kayaks awaiting passengers

I would definitely opt for a guide. And that is where the respect for the Basin arises.

Another type of travel on the Basin is shown here.

Airboats at Basin Landing

The airboats offer speed, but I prefer the slow travel among the cypress when the view changes every few feet. We have had three tours, and someday I want to go out and get some photos of a sunrise through fog.

Another levee crossover brought us to Basin Landing.

Houseboats on the Basin serve as permanent residences or as rental properties.

Over the past 10,000 years or more, the Mississippi River has changed its path several times, ranging from the current location of Bayou Teche to today’s route past Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The Atchafalaya River runs down the middle of that traditional Mississippi floodplain and would probably be the main channel of the Mississippi by now, if not for the Old River Control Structure[s] near Simmesport. (atchafalaya.org/page.php?name=Atchafalaya-Basin)

My appreciation is a surface one; the depth of Basin's impact is something yet to be grasped.

Mark Allemond's words begins my education:
Though the basin is constantly changing geographically because of silt deposits from the northern states, it is still a mosaic of small streams, lakes, bayous, and swamps which are dotted with giant cypress stumps, left from the logging industry of days gone by.... The Atchafalaya Basin Swamp has certainly meant something different to each person that has been introduced to it through the ages. To Jean Lafitte is was a hideout for treasures, for the South it was a geographic advantage during the Civil War, to the Chitimachas Indians it was their world, to the Cajuns it has been the last frontier and to the wildlife it is home. As for those of us who take visitors into its essence each day, it is our lifeblood; and it retains with it the stories of our ancestors, which we are entrusted with to keep alive for future generations to come.
Mark Allemond
A Cajun
(mcgeeslanding.com/basin)

Feathered visitors near Basin Landing