Cameron and RitaMar 18, 2012
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heron?
warning sign
oh my! right by the visitor stand
| Sam Houston Jones State Park, March 18, 2012 Today we drove the Creole Scenic Wilderness Road, starting at I-10 west of Lake Charles, heading south toward Cameron, swinging down along the Gulf Coast, and back up to Lake Charles. It was a very interesting day. We had a mix of Wildlife Refuges and ‘towns’, rice paddies, cattle fields, oil pumping equipment, lakes, and bayous. We took 2 walks in the Sabine Wildlife area, on one we saw a Willet (bird), several cormorants and ‘black headed terns’ (our name for them….we haven’t checked for real), and a roseate spoonbill. Plus a lot of mosquitos. The second walk started with an alligator right by the viewing stand, then we walked around the area, saw lots of red wing black birds, other birds, a couple of turtles, and several more small alligators. We then drove quite a distance, expecting to have lunch in Cameron, a town with a good size dot and large font lettering on the map. We passed lots of oil and gas wells/pumps, as well as some unidentified industrial places, ended up on a road that just stopped at a dock. Whoa! The map said the road would cross the water and continue on the other side! We were in shock—stunned. But there was a ferry there, which, as it turns out, is the established mode of transportation. It runs every 15 minutes 24/7/365. I got a good laugh when I saw the name of the ferry—something I was just hoping for—Acadia. LOL. We continued on the road, and it became apparent that the town of Cameron was no more. We saw many, many driveways with slabs, but no houses. There were no businesses, and very few (new) houses. Cameron was wiped out by hurricane Rita in 2005. Rita is the hurricane that was 3 weeks after Katrina. Rita got no press, but whole areas were wiped out, and what Rita didn’t get, Ike got 3 years later. There were a few houses, all built in the last 3-6 years, up about 12’ on stilts. We were both in shock. It will take a long time to recover. Where did all the people end up going? There are still a few FEMA trailers (which look awful) in use. Words cannot convey the sense of loss we experienced 7 years after the event. After experiencing Cameron, we drove a 3 miles loop road in another Wildlife Refuge, this one full of pin tail ducks, herons, egrets, lots of alligators—just beautiful. The only armadillos I have seen this trip were road kill. Bummer. |
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