Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge - Garden City Levee and Boardwalk

Located in the heart of the “Cajun Coast,” Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge sits along Bayou Teche, once a Pleistocene channel of the Mississippi River. The refuge comprises seven non-contiguous management units, ranging from 81 to 3,619 acres in size.

The refuge’s Garden City Levee Trail is a gravel walkway atop a hurricane protection levee.  A boardwalk leading westward into a cypress-tupelo swamp is located 150 yards down the main trail. The entire trail is three miles long.

The canal along the trail is lined with common bottomland hardwood trees, marsh marigolds, hyacinths, and cutgrass growing along the edge. The trail and its immediate environs hold diverse suites of birds throughout the year. Bird groups of interest include numerous species of wading birds, raptors, woodpeckers, swallows, and warblers year-round; and all of the above mentioned plus waterfowl, gulls and terns, wrens, and sparrows during fall, winter, and spring months. Swallow-tailed Kites occasionally appear during the spring and summer months.

Amenities here are limited to gravel parking, a boardwalk, and an excellent kiosk filled with interpretive information at the trailhead. Additional interpretive signage is located along the boardwalk. This site is primarily utilized by hikers, birders, botanists, other naturalists, and nature photographers. Not handicapped-accessible.