This area has so much to offer: The Tammany Trace is close…read morefor bicycles and hikers!There's a huge playground for the kids! Extensive trails/boardwalks throughout the park! Lots of wildlife, especially birding! Nice picnic areas/tables! Clean restrooms! Beautiful grounds! History galore! Only drawback is no dogs (except service animals) I would recommend this spot for anyone who wants to see splendid natural southern beauty!

An absolute perfect find for kiddos. On a road trip and since we have a 1 and 2 year old, our only…read morestops are picnics with playgrounds. Camp Salmen has that and MORE! Beautiful pavilion with picnic tables, clean restrooms with soap and warm water, and walking trails to explore. The boardwalks are gorgeous! We will be making this a regular stop every time we are down this way.

Awesome place for indoor open play pickleball on weekdays from 8:30 am- 2 pm. There are two sides…read moreto the gym and they can roll out up to 8 nets. The open play system is there is a table and you just put your paddles there to queue. Very friendly and welcoming people here at the beginner to intermediate level. Many of them are intermediate so this is a good place to test your skills!

Nothing quite says summer to me like hearing a baseball bat cracking against a baseball, the smell…read moreof popcorn and hot dogs and hearing the crowd roar. Many of my summers were spent at Fritchie Park listening to just that. I was there for my daughter's soccer games, but the baseball teams had the larger lit up fields at the park, as well as an announcer that you could hear around the entire park. Ahhh, memories. Fritchie Park also has a small enclosed playground that is so shady if you need to entertain your younger kids. It's got all the equipment they'll want and some nice benches for you to chill out on. So, what do you say? How's about taking me out to the ball game? :)

What is not to love about dining a historic park that offers 2,800 acres and beautiful views of…read moreLake Pontchartrain. This place did not disappoint and what a lovely day to explore. Established in 1942, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the most-visited park in Louisiana has nature trails, a sandy beach, a new, all-inclusive playground, a splash pad, and the ruins of an 1829 sugar mill situated among towering oaks. Love there is An all-terrain track wheelchair is available for use by visitors with limited mobility. Win win for everyone.

Huge beautiful park! A real treasure find for this Alaskan!…read more Took the Sugar Mill trail which is a nice, wide gravel trail. Very easy to traverse for just about anyone. Some walked while some biked. Sugar Mill is a looping trail about a mile long. The alligator boardwalk trail was closed, likely due to damage from Ida and hasn't been repaired yet. There was another trail, but we did not take it. The massive cypress are just awesome! The Spanish moss slowly wavering in the air as you walk underneath these giants is just captivating to me! We did not encounter any creatures except squirrels and a male Orchard Orbweaver and his impressive web. Sooo much space and things to do here we didn't even do all of it. There's big open fields for playing, a playground, tons of parking available. I did see the pier and water of Lake Pontchartrain in the distance, but we were too hungry to keep exploring lol $3 per person to enter the park - 100% worth it

Nice little park with a walking trail. We are visiting the area and wanted a place to get out and…read morewalk the dog. This fit the bill. The trail was busy but we enjoyed a couple mile stroll with the adult kids and the pooch.

This is my favorite of the city parks in Slidell. It has a nice walking path around the ball fields…read moreand the perimeter of the park. There are trails and paths into the neighborhoods around the park if you want to walk farther and explore. The park is popular - there are always people and families around - and it feels safe and friendly, even at night. Sometimes cars drive through the park a little fast, but most are careful and drive slowly. The ball fields have been undergoing some extensive renovations in 2023 and the whole park is being improved overall. There are bathrooms available. They aren't great but are definitely better than nothing.

The Pearl River Wildlife Management Area is great for many reasons…read more 1. It is free to enter if you have a Louisiana hunting or fishing license. If not, don't enter as the game wardens can issue you a citation. You also need to stop at the entrance and fill out a check in/check out form whenever you enter or leave the WMA. 2. There are woods everywhere. If you don't like the woods, there is probably something wrong with you. Spend any amount of time in the woods, and you will be a better human being. 3. There is a shooting range. I reviewed it separately, but I will mention that the road leading to the range is po-boy road. What an awesome name for a road. 4. There are many dirt roads here. If you have a fancy car, or even a trashy car, don't come here. If you are a real American and drive a truck or SUV, you will love driving down these dirt roads. The four reasons I listed are just a few of the reasons why this is a great place to visit. If you're reading this review, I highly recommend you pay a visit to this WMA.

Interesting place, lots of birdlife and swap areas to see…read more Bring your camera, and a fishing pole.

Great facility for practically any outdoor activity; running, soccer, baseball, softball, tee ball,…read moreracket sports, basketball, volleyball, etc.; indoor venues also ideal for expositions and other group activities.

Many times I had heard reference to Pelican Park during the years I had worked on the Northshore,…read morebut had never visited the place. Then our grandson played a lacrosse tournament there. I was amazed at the size of the park. The soccer fields had been converted to lacrosse (basically smaller nets and slightly different dimensions). I was impressed with the amount of parking that was available. We didn't explore much of the facility, but when they have to post signs directing you around, it is big. Reading the reviews, I wished I had spent some time just driving around and gawking at the place. I'm sure I'll be back for future lacrosse tournaments.

A small nature area just on the side of Hwy 90 appx half way from NOLA to BSL. Older locals may…read moreremember it as the site of the White Kitchen, an almost mandatory stop for food and fuel before I10 existed. The nature site has plenty of parking, a boat launch and a nice walkway well out into the marsh.

This might be the only nature preserve named after a restaurant. It's located at the intersection…read moreof US 90 (Chef Menteur Highway) and US 190. The area was once home to a state line diner called the White Kitchen. According to local legend, Jayne Mansfield stopped in on her way from Mississippi to New Orleans. She perished in a car accident that night only a few miles away. The restaurant is long gone and all that remains are wide open spaces. The park doesn't offer any hiking trails for exploration but it does provide a peaceful setting for nature watching. The trees drip with Spanish moss and cypress knees poke up from the swamp. If you want to get out on the water there's a boat launch for easy access. If not, you can just stroll the boardwalk. You don't have to worry about close encounters with wildlife since the pathway is elevated from the water. There are alligators, frogs, turtles, snakes, wild turkeys, egrets, brown pelicans and ducks in the area. People have claimed to see bald eagles too. When I visited earlier this month I was only able to spot a few blue herons off in the distance. The place has seen better days. The placard at the end of the boardwalk must be at least twenty years old. It's sun-bleached and too faded to read. There are empty soda and beer cans floating in the water. The lack of maintenance detracts from the natural beauty. I wouldn't go out of my way to visit this park but it's worth a stop if you're in the area.

It's very large park with several areas to sit. Two different areas for big and small dogs for…read moreseparation water bowls to keep doggies hydrated. Also a cleaning area incase they decide to play in mud.

They have wash stations watering stations bowls and pools to fill up for the dogs to play in…read more Agility course and LOTS of room for the dogs to run.. They do have it split between large dogs and small dogs. I noticed that the large dog side had more visitors.

A trip to New Orleans... You must experience the bayou. There are plenty of parking. I highly…read morerecommend going in the morning especially when the weather is warm. Bring bug spray. If you are like me, bugs love me! Came here September 2018. It was warm. It was closer to 11am. We had hats. We also had umbrellas. There is trail. A lovely board walk that is well kept. It is very accessible for all ages and all abilities. Wheelchairs accessible is a plus in my book! Lots of huge dragon flies and big butterflies here. Some bugs we couldnt see but we sure can HEAR THEM!!!! Didn't see a gator. We were looking though! Check this trail out! It's nice!

Born on the bayou…read more.. This could a bit biased, I'm from NY and there are no bayous. The wooden plank trail is in very good shape, noticed more trail has yet to be completed. It's a ridge trail boardwalk is about 1/2 a mile long. I wish I was able to explore more of the 25,000 acres as boating, fishing, crabbing/craw-fishing and bird watching opportunities. Plenty of parking and clean restrooms. Unfortunately, did not see any gators. Will be back!

Great boardwalk trail over the marsh. It's a good way to see wildlife on the northshore on an easy…read morehike.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of…read morelife, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived" ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden I have always felt like Thoreau knew what he was talking about when he wrote that. It's been some time since I've gone to live in the woods, but I do think one can accomplish a lot by taking a walk alone into the wilderness. The boardwalk in this section of the Big Branch Refuge is a great place to take such a walk. Located in between Slidell and Lacombe, this section of the national refuge is somewhat different than the other two areas. This spot in particular is a half mile boardwalk trail that runs from the pine forest to the swamp. The trail lets you see first hand how the forest has subsided over the years and become swamp. The remnants of dead pine trees that could no longer survive the excessive moisture dot the landscape. As the trail continues, you will end a large expanse of swamp and an incredible view. There is also more trails to hike, but on my most recent visit I was running out of daylight. This trail is popular, but I have found that more times than not, you will be the only hiker. On my most recent trip I encountered several groups on my hike back, but only one group was irritating enough that I wanted to push them into the swamp. When people are hiking and enjoying nature, hooping and hollering is not enjoyable to others. My hike though the wilderness was very enjoyable. For the first part of the hike all that could be heard was the wind and the birds. If you need to think, want to take photos, or just enjoy a walk through the woods, check this trail out.