From Lake Charles LA and the Creole Nature Trail (post here) we headed to Palmetto Island State Park. We’d been viewing low grasslands for several weeks so it was surprisingly nice to enter a wooded area again.
Palmetto Island
Resigned to under carriage cleaning
The campground is near a lake and waterways that allow kayaks. There are also several nice bike paths within the park.
However, Doug took a longer ride and because there was no useable bike lane along this small two-lane road with high speed limits he found himself, peddling like a Tour de France sprinter between the breaks in cars and then dashing off the side of the road into rough terrain until another traffic lull. Although the pay-off was some great exercise and choreographed birds in flight, I was glad I wasn’t on that ride.
Birds in Flight
Nearby and definitely worth a daytrip is Jefferson Island. This is one of 5 “salt islands” or salt domes found in southern Louisiana.
The island was originally owed by the brother-in-law of French pirate, Jean Lafitte, who was said to have buried his treasure beneath an oak tree on the property.
When famed actor Joseph Jefferson, who played the part of Rip Van Winkle on stage over 4500 times purchased the island it was renamed Jefferson Island. Jefferson built a hunting lodge on it in 1870. Following Jefferson’s death, in 1917, the 2000 acre property was sold to a partnership of John Lyle Bayless Sr., Paul Jones (a bourbon distiller) and E.A. McIllhenny (maker of Tabasco). John Bayless Jr. established sprawling lush gardens, known affectionately as Rip Van Winkle Gardens in 1950. He then sold the salt mine and donated the home and 800 acres to a foundation that would assure the property would be maintained and could be enjoyed by the public.
On November 21, 1980, a Texaco oil rig team that was probing for oil under the floor of Lake Peigneur had their drill seize up. In their attempts to free it, they heard a series of loud pops before the rig titled precariously. The men aboard the rig, cut the attached barges loose and scrambled to the lake’s shore. Shortly thereafter, the $5 million drilling platform overturned and disappeared into the freshwater lake that was only 11ft deep! How?
Far beneath the surface of the lake there were miles of tunnels for the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine and the oil drill had inadvertently hit one of the salt mine shafts. As freshwater poured through the oil drilling hole, it quickly dissolved the salt, making a bigger and bigger hole as it drained. From the surface, the water began to turn, slow at first and later becoming a fast-moving whirlpool over a 1/4mile in diameter. Like pulling the plug in a bathtub, the vortex that was created drug the oil rig, boats, and barges to ground zero. Below, the salt mine had been breached and water began pouring in. It dissolved the pillars that held up its ceiling. 50 salt miners working that day began evacuations 8 at a time through the slow elevator ride to the surface. Although it seemed to take forever, all 50 managed to escape with their lives.
The water roared on, swallowing another drilling platform whole, 70 acres of the salt island (called Jefferson Island), trucks, trees, the Bayless’ home, and anything else in its path. The sucking force was so strong it even reversed the flow of a 12-mile canal that led to the Gulf of Mexico and dragged barges and boats from the Gulf towards it.
After 3 hours and nearly 3.5 billion gallons of water drained, the lake was now a vast crater. Over the next 2 days, Gulf waters seeped into the crater filling it. The once 11ft deep freshwater lake was now a 1,300ft salt water lake!
Texaco settled out of court and in four years the island and gardens were rebuilt.
Whether you care about its history or not, gumbo at the restaurant and a stroll through the gardens in spring made for a very relaxing day.
Spanish Moss
With spring in the air and a spring in our steps, we walked through historic downtown Lafayette before heading to our next two Louisiana adventures – Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tour near Breaux Bridge followed by the Tabasco Factory at Avery Island. Stay tuned!
Historic Layaffette 
