Here's my second post about Fort Proctor, and this time I actually do have my own photos. This is based on a trip 9 of us did on an amazingly beautiful Halloween day in 2021. Unlike my previous post about Fort Proctor, I do have my own pictures, and on this trip I did go into the fort itself. And I'm glad I did.
By the way, Fort Proctor is also known as Fort Beauregard, and you'll see street names and other references in the area to "Beauregard" instead of "Proctor". Here's the Wiki on this fort:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Proctor
This route is around 5.5 miles, unless you take wrong turns as we did (more on this later), and then your mileage may vary.
So, I'll start with the usual stuff and some launch information:
To get to Fort Proctor from this launch, you cross the old "MR GO" waterway. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet is now closed off in sections, but it's still has fishing and shrimping boat traffic, and it's perhaps a quarter mile across. So watch traffic, be careful, and if you're with a group, stay together to be more visible as a group. It's not treacherous, but this is a popular trip for paddlers of all skill levels and in all sizes of boats. So a new paddler in a short boat may want to be particularly careful and paddle with others. You should expect to experience some wakes from fishing boats--Shell Beach is a very popular launch spot for fisherman.
This post is based on one trip, on a very mild day with a very light breeze, and Lake Borgne was very calm. But Lake Borgne is really a lagoon that opens up to the Mississippi Sound, with virtually nothing to break the winds from the Sound. East, northeast, or southeast winds can easily create waves out here, and since this route is on the western edge of Borgne, a steady E or NE wind will have a lot of fetch, and the water will have energy. Actually, you may not feel southeasterly winds directly, thanks to the marshland south of the lake, but a decent, steady SE wind will probably push some energy into Lake Borgne. If you come out here in a 9' or 10' kayak, with a steady E, NE, or SE wind of even below 10 mph, you may just want to do the trip to the fort through Bayou Yscloskey and then head back to the launch. You could be dealing with waves splashing into your cockpit and with your boat weather-cocking out into the lake if you continue along the western edge of Borgne as we did on this 5 1/2 mile route. As I always say: check the forecasts and the marine reports and stay within your limits. And wear your PFD.
Okay, the launch info: From New Orleans, this drive is a surprising 55 - 60 minutes. I say "surprising" because it's not that far from the city, but most of the drive is on small state or parish roads that wind along bayous down through St. Bernard Parish and over to Yscloskey, Louisiana, and Shell Beach.
We launched from Campos Marina:
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8536271,-89.6788254,123m/data=!3m1!1e3
Campos Marina has a ton of parking and has never accepted money for kayaks (or other paddlers). Very friendly folks, and just follow their lead on where to park your vehicle after you unload your boat across from the parking lot, near the launch area. There's a very comfortable space alongside the two concrete ramps, with room for us to stage up the 7 kayaks and 2 paddle boards we had on this trip. You can launch from the dock or from the concrete ramps. It was clear from the parking area that most fisherman were already out on the water. This was a Facebook event that my friend, Maarten Buijsman, and I put together, with a very comfortable 10am start, so we missed rush hour on the launch. There was a good bit more coming and going when we returned between 2pm and 3pm.
On a day as crystal clear as this one, it was easy to see Fort Proctor from the launch, even if it's not so clear in this picture:
From the launch, you'll paddle to your right, with MRGO right in front of you. As you enter MRGO, you'll pass a Hurricane Katrina memorial on your right:
On land, right behind this cross, is also a plaque commemorating The Battle of Lake Borgne--a small skirmish between American gunboats and larger British vessels leading up to the Battle of New Orleans.
Check traffic for motorized boats, and once you're sure MRGO is clear, go directly across. There's a breakwater running along the far side of MRGO that may make you think you're at a left/right fork (or maybe I'm just easily confused), but just continue straight into Bayou Yscloskey:
You'll see the fort in front of you, on the left side, and just continue along the bayou until you reach the lake.
As the bayou opens up to the lake, you'll start to feel any waves. If it's calm, just head directly towards the fort. If it feels bouncy, you may want to hug the left side of the bayou and its mouth, following the rocky edge. But use your good judgement - don't get pushed into the rocks, and don't get over your head (bad humor intended) with waves. It's a short jump over to the fort, but if you aren't comfortable with the conditions, just come back another day. On calm days, you should be fine.
Be aware that as you approach the first, easternmost, corner of the rocky bank surrounding the fort, some of the submerged rocks and broken concrete extend out into the water more than you might suspect--don't cut too closely to that corner and hit rocks.
If you want to get out and explore the fort, go all the way around to the southwestern side of the fort, and you'll come to a break in the rocky bank and a pretty rough sandy, weedy place to get out and secure your boat. This is rough landing spot, and you'll have to pull your boat up into the tall weeds.
To get to the fort itself, you'll first have to search for some semblance of a trail through tall weeds, and be comfortable walking through the tall grass, possibly through mud, over chunks of bricks, and then through knee or thigh-deep water:
As I stood in my short pants and light shirt and watched my friends go through this, I wondered if I wanted to follow, but I did, and I'm glad I did.
You'll see in the picture above that my friends got to the corner of the fort and then edged along a very narrow "ledge" at the base of the fort. I found that if I stepped carefully, I could find chunks of bricks below the water, and simply walk carefully in thigh-deep water to the entrance.
Once in the fort, it's time to take interesting pictures of this collapsed fort, with its graffiti, and climb around and enjoy.
Once you're done climbing and exploring, you trudge back through the water and weeds, and continue on!
After paddling back around the fort to the northern and eastern side, you'll paddle basically due east, past some concrete structures (I don't know what used to be here) and then follow the coast east/southeast about a mile and a half. On this very sunny day, we saw what looked like an island way off in the distance to the east, but this was just a grove of trees, probably at St. Malo. Don't head for that. Just follow the land on your right, which again will take you on an east/southeast bearing.
Then you'll come to the opening to Douluts Canal (I'm told this whole area is excellent for fishing):
Turn right into Douluts Canal--this little cove is where we stopped and ate a snack before continuing on. Douluts Canal curves its way to MRGO, but we decided to follow another small bayou that would eliminate some of our time on MRGO and any larger boat traffic. The first time I followed this little side bayou, a few years back, there was no confusion. This time, we didn't pay enough attention to the maps and simply thought we'd follow a single bayou west and then south back out to the main channel. And...we carelessly missed a couple of left hand turns and wandered into a maze of ponds and bayous and left hand and right hand turns, all of which looked alike, and when we realized we were heading north, we realized we were a bit lost.
Intended route:
Actual route:
Honestly, this was simply a matter of my friend Maarten and me being a little too cocky and not looking at the maps well enough in advance to see this maze of bayous even existed. Luckily, we all had good cell phone reception and were able to view our navigation apps, and we had one tall person on a stand up board who could see over much of the marsh grass, and we eventually made our way back to where we meant to be.
So, learn from our carelessness: either follow the canal back to MRGO, or bring a map, study the map, bring a GPS device or compass, and pay attention. Once you're in that maze, it really is a maze--every turn looks exactly the same. There are no trees, no structures, no anything to use as landmarks. You can lose A LOT of time in there if you miss your turn,
Once you're back on MRGO, follow the breakwater on your right, and you should start seeing boat traffic coming and going from Shell Beach and Bayou Yscloskey. There is a small canal just before the bayou, but the entrance to the bayou and Shell Beach should be pretty clear, especially since the bayou has an opening on both sides of MRGO. Of course, you can cross whenever you want, and the entrance to the bayou/marina would be easier to spot from the southeastern side of MRGO.
When the channel is clear, make your crossing and head in. By the way, we wondered if we would see the cross of the Katrina Memorial as a landmark, but it really isn't that visible until you're practically right across from it. But again, if you cross over sooner, you'll paddle right up to the memorial and know to turn left.
That's it! The trip as we did it was just over 6 miles. The trip as we planned it would have been around 5 1/2 miles.
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