Whoopee! I finally got to attend another outing with the Louisiana Hiking Club. Since my work schedule (alternate weekends) clashes with the monthly calendar, there’s only a 50: 50 chance for me to join the group’s second- Saturday hikes. Looks like I’ll be free for the 2nd Saturday in May, but foiled again after that. I tend to be a loner, but really enjoy the camaraderie of this bunch, and we had a good turn out… about 30 of us. It was a nice morning… started out cool enough for long sleeves, there was sunshine and light breeze. The Burden center has fields and research plots, of course, and the terrain is mostly flat, but there are some lush wooded areas with various tree species and lots of understory growth. They are considering development of public- use walking trails on the Burden property, so the Hiking Club got special permission for a visit. I hadn’t been out there in years… in a previous life. It’s a lovely and very interesting place. The Rural Life Museum is there, there are gardens and ponds, flowers and shrubs, old cabins and farm implements from bygone times. I was particularly enthralled by an old hay baler that looked like my grandfather’s. It was driven by a broad belt stretched from the tractor. I remember catching bales from the back end as hay was being forked into the top of the machine. I was probably less of a help and more in- the- way, as the bales were nearly as big as me. We had a nice hike; there is a lot of territory there, scenery, and many points of interest. I hope they go ahead with the trails idea; that’s a pretty place and public trails would be great use for some of their untilled acreage. I took a few pictures, but there was so much "stuff", I could have spent a week there with my camera... and, by then, weather, crops, and seasons would change and I would have to start a new round of picture- taking.
Follow this link for a slideshow.
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