Catahoula Recreation Area: Pictures

Good four-wheeler area near Sicily Island.  Large sand hill, sand drag, mud (as bad as you want it to be), lots of hills (sand and clay), and family trails.  Just opened for Fourth of July weekend, 2004.  Call Dennis at home 318-389-4450 or cell 318-729-1538.  Opening weekend special $10.00 per four-wheeler. 

Riding places in Louisiana: Call before you haul: Kisatchie National Forest

NOTICE:  The National Forest Service has ruled that they can shut down the national forest to off-highway vehicle use if there is reason to do so.  The only problem is they will not tell anyone what criteria they use for closing and reopening the forest.  You can check on their web page to find out if it is closed or open but it was open for six days last year before they found the time to post it on their web page.  They may be slow to reopen but I doubt they will ever be slow to close the forest.

Red Dirt:  New Maps - May 2003

Take I 49 North out of Alexandria to exit 119.  Cross over Interstate and go about 6 miles down Hwy. 119 to Long Leaf Scenic Byway.  This road will take you through National Red Dirt Wildlife Management Preserve.  About 17 miles through Red Dirt you will come to Cane Camp and Lotus Camp.  You can park in Lotus camp for $3.00 per vehicle and unload there.  Cane Camp does not allow off highway vehicles.  This is an improved camping area with water and flush toilets.  I heard they are considering putting in electricity and sewage services.  

There is a marked trail leading out of the camp to numerous trails.  Sandstone Trail is a 25 mile loop according to my GPS.  There are numerous water bars, earthen mounds to prevent erosion, which make for good jumps but tend to wear you out after a while if you hit them hard.  The terrain is varied.  It ranges from mud to sand to rocks.  If it rains the red clay can be very difficult to ride on, it sticks to the tires and balls up.  The gray clay can be impossible to stand up on when wet on a hillside.  There are creeks and rolling hills.  Some trails are closed.  Please stay off closed trails.  With all the open trails there is no reason to ride the ones that are closed.  Some creeks have bridges built for four- wheelers.  Some creeks have flat cinder blocks embedded in the soil to prevent damage.  There can be a lot of mud in some areas.  On weekends there are a lot of people riding there, mostly on four wheelers and horses.  Some horse riders are not much smarter than the horses they ride because I know they can hear you coming on a two stroke for a long ways but when you get to where they are they are still on the trail with a nervous horse.  I guess they do not have the sense to move off the trail before you get there or they think they own the trail.  It only takes a few seconds for a dirt bike to get past them then they could get back on the trail.  I have encountered some that thought we were not supposed to be on the trail with motorized vehicles when it is obviously marked for OHV's.  Horse riders can ride in the "wilderness" areas and on roads but they chose to ride the only place we can ride with OHV's, I don't understand it. 

You can call 318-473-7160 for information as to whether the trails at Red Dirt are open or not. 

Red Dirt Overview         Sandstone Trail          Map from I-49

Breezy Hill 

Breezy Hill Enduro club is working with the national forest to have the trails at Breezy Hill designated "single track motorized vehicles only" which would mean no horses, four-wheelers, or bicycles.  That will be good for motorcycle riders who love single track that four-wheelers will not be able to widen and make two ruts on. 

I have removed the directions to Breezy Hill and maps because the Breezy Hill Enduro Club has asked me to.  They do not want it advertised because the trails there are not designated forest trails like at Claiborne, Livingston, and Red Dirt.  The Breezy Hill Enduro Club put the trails in themselves and they do the maintenance on them.  However, Breezy Hill is National Forest which means it is your land and your trails.  The Breezy Hill Enduro Club is working to get the trails there designated as single track trails which I think is very good. 

Camp Livingston: 

Take Highway 165 north out of Alexandria to Camp Livingston Road just north of Ball.  Turn east onto La. 1204 and go 1.8 miles.  Camp Livingston road will take a sharp right and you will see a gravel road going straight into the woods.  You will see trails immediately.  There is parking about 1/2 mile farther on the right with restroom facilities.  There are two marked trails as of 05/07/01.  One is marked with yellow diamonds and is about 22 miles long.  The other is marked with orange diamonds and is twelve miles long.  They both run together for a ways.  They are making more trails in the area.   

The trails here are good for beginners.  They are wide four-wheeler trails without the ruts Red Dirt has.  It is easy to maneuver from one side of the trail to the other on a dirt bike.  At Red Dirt many of the trails are in deep sand and it is impossible to change sides to set up for the curves without being thrown into the woods.  There are not any real straight-aways at Claiborne.  The trails are extremely curvy.  After seven miles of riding we were only two miles from the truck.  Most of the riding is sitting down, not much fun on a dirt bike.  There is not much mud and no difficult hills or creek crossings.  The trails are marked with reflective diamonds nailed to trees and can be difficult to spot at times.  You start from the restroom and parking area and ride Little Creek Trail first.  Not far after the second bridge, about 11 miles from the start, the two trails run together for a little ways.  After about one mile of running together Hickman Trail will turn north and return to Little Creek Trail after forming a loop of 12 miles to the north.  The two trails form a figure eight.  

The Forest Service Personnel are quick to right tickets for riding on roads or road right-of-ways but were nowhere to be seen when six trucks were vandalized the day we were there.  I guess they were out protecting the roads.  We saw three boys leaving on a red four-wheeler when we arrived.  By the time we noticed a glass was out of a window of the truck the boys were gone.  We caught the boys who did it and they should not be any more trouble.  The boys ran off and left their dog behind.  The dog just went home when it could not find the boys so we followed the dog and waited for them to return.