Hiking & Biking around New Orleans area

I was wondering if any of the locals could recommend some good hiking or biking spots within about 1 1/2 hrs of New Orleans. Always looking for new places to try.

Hiking %26amp; Biking around New Orleans area

If you%26#39;re into mountain biking, there%26#39;s an adventurous bike trail in the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Norco, which is about 15 minutes from the New Orleans airport. Here%26#39;s a link: http://www.nomambo.com/trail_info.html

If you%26#39;d like to just see the local sites, there%26#39;s a bike path on the top of the levee that runs along the Mississippi River. It starts near Audubon Park in New Orleans and runs all the way through Destrehan, taking you past suburbia, horse stables, Destrehan Plantation (open for tours) and Ormond Plantation (no longer open for tours). Here%26#39;s a link:

http://www.jplanaux.com/bikemain.htm

Here%26#39;s a great link to a Bike %26amp; Blues Tour which lays out areas of the city that you can see while biking, including areas of the Garden District, CIty Park and Bayou St. John.

http://www.laidbacktours.com/tours_reb.shtml

Audubon Park, where the zoo is, and City Park are two beautiful areas for biking.

If you%26#39;re looking for more nature than urban sites, try the Tammany Trace on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Here%26#39;s a link to the site: http://www.tammanytrace.org/find.shtml#map

The Abita Trace, part of the Tammany Trace, will give you a tour of the little town of Abita Springs. Here%26#39;s a detailed route: www.localhikes.com/Hikes/abitatrace_5560.asp

Boy Scout Road in Lacombe, also on the North Shore, is a hike or mountain bike through part of the Big Branch Wildlife Refuge.

www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Big_Branch_5560.asp

Northlake Nature Center South Loop, also on the North Shore, goes through wetlands, pine forests and hardwood forests.

www.localhikes.com/Hikes/northlake_5560.asp

If you want nature walks along boardwalks, there%26#39;s the Jean Lafitte National Park Bayou Preserve in Marrero (across the river from the city) will take you through the local swamps. There are guided walks at certain times. nps.gov/jela/barataria-preserve-trails.htm

There%26#39;s also the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center in Baton Rouge (about 1 - 1 1/2 hours from the city). Here%26#39;s the link to that: www.brec.org/index.cfm鈥?/a>

Hiking %26amp; Biking around New Orleans area

WOW...strose said it all. All I can add is I%26#39;m impressed, I have a sneaking suspicion that strose has done some biking. Good information!

I agree great info thanks. And just to clarify if anyone has something to add I was wanting to take a drive out of the city to find and hit nature.

Wow. I had no idea that any of that existed! I will bookmark this for future reference.

I should add that I DID know about Audubon and City Park. ;)

Not a biker, more of a hiker.

The Tammany Trace is gorgeous.

I%26#39;m told that there%26#39;s a new boardwalk in the Bonnet Carre Spillway near the bike path and that you can see alligators nearby, but I haven%26#39;t been back there yet. By the way, if you%26#39;re coming during the summer, this will be a very humid, buggy and creepy crawly place. I%26#39;m petrified of snakes so I only go during the winter.

I would definitely hit Jean Lafitte N.P. They have a 2-3 mile trail thru old live oak/hackberry/lowland forest, that grew up on a former sugar cane plantation, which is very nice. I caught a nice 5%26#39; black rat snake on it, which is probably why there were no other people around. They also have canoe trips where you might see an alligator, which is exciting for some. It is across the Mississippi River from N.O., towards the town of Lafitte, on Hwy 45.