[June 2016 Submission]

Recreational Excellence at Lake Claiborne State Park

There are so many different recreational activities that can be pursued in our beautiful national and state parks. This issue I'm focusing on another of our state parks, Lake Claiborne, and a couple of sporting activities that are particularly enjoyable there.

Back in the early seventies, two of my friends and I were working or attending graduate school in the Monroe area. I'm not sure which of us initially got very interested in sailboats, but quickly the three of us decided to try to buy a small sailboat. Having very little spare money shortly after graduating from college, we decided to pool our funds and buy one. A doctor in that area advertised a used Snipe sailboat, and we purchased it jointly for a couple of hundred dollars. The 15-foot sailboat with a wooden mast was in fairly good condition, but we spent several months together repairing the hull, painting it, and purchasing accessories before launching it in Lake Darbonne. For a couple of years back then, individually or together we would take this sailboat out for a morning and/or afternoon cruise with family and friends.

We had great times and memories. A few scary moments happened, too, such as when thunderstorms developed quickly and we had to rush to dock the sailboat before the winds and waves could push the boat into a spillway. Although Lake Claiborne was a longer drive, it seemed a more attractive setting for sail boating than Lake Darbonne. I have to admit that I didn't send much time at the park other than on our sailing trips then, and my career soon took me away from this area. Recently, I returned to Lake Claiborne and the state park there to hike and explore a site that I hadn't visited in about forty years.

The park has miles of nice hiking trails and a beautiful scenic overlook of Lake Claiborne from one stretch of these trails. What impressed me the most on my visit, though, was how the state park had constructed two 18-hole disc golf courses that gracefully paralleled or joined parts of the hiking trails. The park guide explains that its two courses, the first completed in 2014 and the second in 2015, are the top and second ranked disc golf courses in Louisiana. The blue tees are for more skilled players while the red tees are for those less experienced at this sport.

I didn’t know much about this increasingly popular sport or game, but had noticed more of these types of courses in my trips to various recreational and nature areas. I quickly discovered that there are now thousands of disc golf courses in the USA and perhaps 10 million individuals who have played this game. Disc golf courses require no clear cutting of trees, no grading of land, and no costly mowing and fertilizing like regular golf course. If designed effectively, these disc courses can use the existing topography and terrain found in parks and recreation areas. Trees, streams, hills and undergrowth provide obstacles and challenges for players. Unlike regular golf, disc golf is relatively inexpensive for players. Having a disc or Frisbee is just about the only requirement. Disc golf is considered a great lifetime fitness sport that is accessible to folks of widely diverse ages and fitness levels, and it’s easy to learn the game rules.

Now I associate two very different recreational activities, sail boating and disc golf, with Lake Claiborne. Yes, you can enjoy these two activities in many locations in the area and state, but Lake Claiborne State Park stands out as a great destination for either.