Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Louisiana / Kisatchie National Forest

Backbone Trail, Kisatchie Hills Wilderness

Kisatchie National Forest, Kisatchie Ranger District (south of Natchitoches)

The Kisatchie Hills Wilderness, 8,700 acres of steep pine hills and sandstone south of Natchitoches, is the only federally designated wilderness the Forest Service manages in Louisiana. The Forest Service calls it “unusually rugged for Louisiana,” and Backpacker wrote in 2001 that “the best backpacking is found in the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness.”

The Backbone Trail crosses it. Wikipedia describes it as a roughly 7-mile trail “popular with day hikers and overnight backpackers,” and Country Roads quotes a Louisiana hiker who says it’s “one of the only ones in the state where you’ll see rocks.”

The hike

Louisiana Hikes starts at the south trailhead, near the Caroline Dormon trailhead off the Longleaf Scenic Byway. The first 2 to 3 miles cross sandstone hills and outcrops, with small outlets of Bayou Cypre that make seasonal crossings. About 3 miles in, the trail passes the junction with the Turpentine Hill Trail, which the Forest Service map lists at 1.5 miles.

Around the halfway point, the trail crosses Bayou Cypre itself. Wikipedia describes it as a sand-bottomed stream that hikers must wade, and Louisiana Hikes calls it the only reliable water on the trail. The route then climbs onto the ridge it follows for the rest of the way. Just after the climb out of the bayou is a campsite on a sandstone outcrop. Country Roads, writing in 2021, describes campsites on a bluff about 4 miles in, with views east over pine-covered hills.

Past the outcrop, Louisiana Hikes describes open areas where pine beetles killed stands of longleaf pine, and warns to watch for downed trees and not to pitch a tent under dead ones. The High Ridge Trail junction leads to a 2-mile out-and-back spur, and about a half mile past it a spur on the right goes to another outcrop campsite. The last 3 miles or so stay fairly level to the north trailhead.

Most backpackers walk it as an out-and-back of about 15 miles, per Louisiana Hikes. Both Louisiana Hikes and Country Roads describe a shorter loop of about 9 miles that returns along the road. The Forest Service notes that horseback riders also use the Backbone Trail; bicycles aren’t allowed in the wilderness, per the preserve permit.

In August 2025, two lightning fires in the wilderness grew into the Backbone Fire, which KALB reported at about 2,409 acres. The Forest Service closed the wilderness while it burned.

The Dyrt recommends spring or fall here, since there is little shade. For a longer trip that adds the Caroline Dormon and Sandstone Trails, see the Kisatchie Loop. The Wild Azalea Trail is about an hour south.

Tips

Camping

There are no designated campsites. The Forest Service says hikers on foot can camp almost anywhere on the forest outside designated recreation areas. The wilderness lies inside the Red Dirt National Wildlife Management Preserve, and the newest season permit found (2023-2024) limits camping from Oct. 1 to April 30 to designated camps “and within the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area,” so wilderness camping remains allowed then. Follow Leave No Trace, which the Forest Service encourages.

Inside Intel: Louisiana Hikes points to the sandstone outcrop campsite just after the climb out of Bayou Cypre, close to the trail’s only reliable water, and to a second outcrop site on a spur about a half mile past the High Ridge junction. Country Roads describes the bluff campsites about 4 miles in as having views east over the pine hills.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Wading Bayou Cypre on the Backbone:

Around the halfway point, the Backbone Trail crosses Bayou Cypre, a sand-bottomed stream hikers must wade. Read five tips for crossings like this one.

Get the five tips →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.