Chicot State Park
Louisiana’s largest state park wraps hiking, paddling, fishing, camping, and the state arboretum around a cypress-edged lake.
Artwork inspired by Elemore Morgan Jr.
Chicot State Park combines a large impoundment with bottomland hardwoods, rolling uplands, cabins, campsites, paddling access, and the adjacent Louisiana State Arboretum. The long hiking trail repeatedly leaves and returns to the lake, revealing changes in drainage and forest rather than one continuous waterside promenade.
Choose one mode before arrival. The full loop is a serious humid-weather hike with wet sections, while a short arboretum walk and paddle create a different but equally complete visit. Water level, trail bridges, insects, hunting seasons, and storm damage can change access; use current park notices and do not rely on old mileage descriptions or assumed boat rentals.
- Scale
- Louisiana’s largest state park
- Water
- Chicot Lake
- Plan for
- Half day to weekend
Quick guide
- Choose
- Trail section or paddle route
- Add
- Louisiana State Arboretum
Make the visit count
- Plan exits
- Begin with the long loop has road crossings and access points; know where you can shorten the day.
- Compare forests
- Notice wetter cypress-tupelo areas against higher hardwood slopes.
- Check water reality
- Read launches, vegetation, wind, and lake drawdowns affect paddling and fishing.
- Use the arboretum
- Labeled native plants provide names you can test elsewhere in the park
Good to know
This park is large enough that “at Chicot” does not identify a trailhead or launch. Download the map, verify bridge and road conditions, and carry more water than the shaded forest suggests; campers should check burn bans, boat access, and any hunting-season boundaries.
Notice these
- Chicot Lake
- Long hiking loop
- Louisiana State Arboretum