Paddling near Houma, LA

Seat of Terrebonne Parish and the de facto capital of Louisiana's deep bayou country, Houma sits where a network of bayous and shipping channels converge into a crisscross of busy waterways. The city anchors the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary — over 4.1 million acres of swamps, marshes, bays, and barrier islands, and one of the most biologically productive estuaries in North America. Paddlers here cut through cypress swamps and coastal marsh alive with alligators, herons, and nearly 200 bird species.