Jean Lafitte Swamps, Honey Island Bayou & Gulf Islands

8,000 acres of Louisiana wetlands south of New Orleans — bottomland hardwood forest, cypress-tupelo swamp, and open marsh in the Mississippi Delta. The Coquille Trail (2.0 miles round trip, boardwalk) passes through bald cypress and tupelo gum standing in black swamp water, with alligators sunning on logs year-round. The full trail network extends to 8 miles with connections through different wetland types. Bird life is extraordinary: roseate spoonbills, tricolored herons, anhinga, wood duck, and prothonotary warblers are year-round residents. Go early to beat the heat and catch the wildlife active.

The 3-mile Kenta Canal Trail and Plantation Trail loop extends the Barataria Preserve walk through the transition zones between cypress swamp and open freshwater marsh — the marsh areas give wider views of the landscape and the sky that the swamp canopy blocks. The 'trembling earth' of the marsh — floating peat mats that vibrate when you walk — is a Louisiana Delta phenomenon. The canal banks that appear throughout the preserve are remnants of 19th-century sugar plantation drainage works, now fully incorporated into the wetland ecosystem.

A 31-mile rail-trail through St. Tammany Parish on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain — converted from a Louisville & Nashville Railroad branch line, now paved and shaded through a mix of longleaf pine flatwoods, bottomland hardwood, and small towns. The Abita Springs to Mandeville section (8 miles one way) passes through the town of Abita Springs (where the Abita Brewing Company runs tours) and ends at the Lake Pontchartrain causeway landing. Trail sections can be done as one-way with a shuttle or as an out-and-back.

Covington is the main town on the St. Tammany north shore — a well-established small city with a historic downtown and several hotels. The Boston Street corridor has good dinner options. Honey Island Swamp is 30 minutes east tomorrow morning.

One of the least-altered river swamps in the country — 70,000 acres of the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area where the West Pearl and East Pearl rivers braid through old-growth bald cypress and water tupelo. The blackwater bayous range from narrow channels paddled through 100-foot-tall cypress canopy to open lake areas with aquatic vegetation. Guided kayak and canoe tours depart from the Crawford Landing area near Slidell; naturalist guides identify alligators, water moccasins, eagles, and the full suite of swamp wildlife. The swamp's water color (tannin-dark from decomposing cypress needles) contrasts with the Spanish moss overhead.

A 12-mile ferry from Gulfport reaches Ship Island — an 11-mile barrier island with no roads, no cars, and white sand beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. Ship Island was split into East and West Ship Island by Hurricane Camille in 1969; the ferry serves West Ship Island, where Fort Massachusetts (an 1850s granite and brick Civil War-era fort) stands at the western tip. The island's beach is among the least-developed on the northern Gulf Coast; the water is warm and typically clear on calm days.

A Third System masonry fort built between 1858 and 1866 on Ship Island's western end — Union forces captured the incomplete fort in September 1861 and used it as a base for the capture of New Orleans in April 1862. The fort processed Confederate prisoners of war; its most historically complex episode was the incarceration of over 2,000 enslaved people who had escaped Confederate territory and arrived at Ship Island seeking Union protection, held in the fort's interior before being assigned to labor brigades. The structure is well-preserved with moat and interior parade ground.

Biloxi's historic beachfront hotel — the Mississippi Gulf Coast's casino hotel strip has altered the waterfront significantly, but Biloxi's old town and lighthouse area retain some of the pre-casino character. Ocean Springs, 15 minutes east, has a better restaurant selection if casino buffets don't appeal. Tomorrow's return to New Orleans is 90 minutes west.

One of the most singular art museums in the South — dedicated to Walter Inglis Anderson (1903-1965), a Mississippi Gulf Coast artist who spent years in solitary camps on Horn Island (the barrier island immediately off Ocean Springs), paddling out alone in a rowboat and living for weeks at a time among the birds, fish, and coastal plants he documented obsessively in watercolors and pen drawings. After his death, family members found his locked cottage room painted floor-to-ceiling with a mural of coastal wildlife he had painted secretly over years. The museum displays the cottage (moved intact) inside a climate-controlled gallery.

Ocean Springs' Washington Avenue arts corridor is the most distinctive small-town gallery street on the Gulf Coast — independent galleries, pottery studios, and the Shearwater Pottery (Anderson family operation since 1928, still producing hand-thrown pottery in the original studio). Ocean Springs was established by Sieur de Bienville in 1699 as the first permanent French settlement in Mississippi. The town escaped major hurricane damage with its scale and character intact; lunch options on Washington Avenue are reliable.

The 1848 Biloxi Lighthouse stands in the median of US-90 on the beachfront — a cast-iron lighthouse that survived every hurricane to strike the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The lighthouse is notable for having been tended exclusively by women for more than 50 years: Maria Younghans and then her daughter kept the light from 1867 to 1929. The lighthouse grounds and the Old Town Biloxi streetscape between the lighthouse and the Biloxi Bay Bridge preserve some of the pre-casino character of the coast.