Atchafalaya River

Mile 18.0 - Miles 18-20: LBD Bayou Point

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

18 - 20 LBD Bayou Point

Coming into Bayou Point, entering the 4th bend of the squiggles, paddlers will find 2 small eddies along left bank descending around which small deposits of sand will collect in low and medium water levels. But the best sandbars, and hence the best camping and picnicking are found around the bend. At the bottom end of Bayou Point a tall dune emerges, with a small harbor sometimes forming, and a long declining dune running downstream. A forest is regenerating itself in the batture along this point. You will find nice grassy shelves dry to 35 SG with forest behind. Good protection from north wind. Forest camping above flood stage. Pick your place according to your tastes!

Borrow Pits and Blue Holes

Paddlers will notice a series of long skinny ponds, lakes, and waterholes of various sizes along the river through this section of the Atchafalaya. Most of them are found parallel to the base of the levee. These are the borrow pits of levee-building days, the remains of where men dug muddy sediment out of the delta here and laid it on the levee. Men with shovels and mules did most of the work, but steam shovels helped out also. A blue hole is a place where a hole was cut into the land during flood season. Later when the waters dropped the hole was exposed to the air. And later as the water remained becalmed in the hole it cleared out, and became bluish. Or maybe the hole was blown out of the mud. Either way, this is a blue hole.

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