Cat Island is a National Wildlife Refuge near St. Francisville in south central Louisiana. It’s a wonderfully primitive refuge. It has one road with a turn-around at the end of it somewhere in the middle of the refuge. You drive in, you drive out; you do not drive through. The road to the entrance of the refuge runs along a bayou and is interesting in its own right for wildlife observation.

But the dominant feature is “the big tree,” a Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) estimated to be 1500 years old. It is 96 feet tall, has a diameter of 17 feet and a circumference of 56 feet. It is accessible only by foot; the “Big Cypress Trail” is about three-quarters of a mile long from a small parking area to the tree.

Cat Island is prone to flooding from the nearby Mississippi River. It also seems to get hit by hurricanes on a somewhat regular basis. The day I visited in August 2024, getting to the big tree took special persistence and sweat. The Big Cypress Trail was blocked in several places with massive blow-downs from a hurricane, and it had clearly been that way for awhile. The first one I came to, I was able to climb through with relatively little trouble. The others were a different story. I had to circumnavigate them through thick vines and brush and swampy areas. I almost turned back twice.

Indeed, I got to the tree and it was worth the effort. However, a boardwalk had been built from which to observe the tree, but it also had been damaged and was falling down. In addition, thick brush had grown up around the tree. Between the fallen boardwalk and the brush, I could not get close to the tree.

Nevertheless, I was awestruck. In Mary Oliver’s poem, “When I Am Among the Trees,” she admonishes us to “walk slowly, bow often.” If that seems mysterious to you, maybe go see “the big tree”!I have recently learned that the trail has been cleared, as has the brush around the tree. I must go again this summer and make my bow at the base of the tree.

Here are a few additional delights from Cat Island. #YearInReview