I was on vacation from Florida and went to Louisiana to meet up with my kids and family. Then we…read morehad an itinerary to stop at certain places along the way. We were driving to Popularville, Miss, which was only about 2.5 hours away. This was my favorite stop. It was great to see my two grandkids play in the park. I sat under the gazebo in the shade and charge my iPhone up. Great park. We enjoyed seeing the train on display.

Aiery Lake is a great place to fish, a great place to camp and a great place to take photos. It is…read morealso a great place for an embarrassing story from yours truly. This area of The Desoto National Forest is a good stopping point while hiking the Tuxachanie Trail. Depending where you begin your hike, this area is either 13 miles or 8 miles from the beginning of the trail. Personally I would rather do my long hike on the first day and the short hike the next day, but either way, Aiery Lake is a good stopping point. There are several areas to camp at Aiery Lake including some closer to the parking area. I think if you get away from the parking area you will have a more enjoyable experience, but if you want to be close to your vehicle, you can be. There aren't many facilities here, but there are actual bathrooms which is much nicer than digging a latrine in the middle of the woods (I know from firsthand experience). The Lake itself is beautiful. On a calm day the surface of the lake looks like glass and gives the perfect reflection of the sky and surrounding wilderness. If you're like me and love the view of objects reflected in the water, this is a must see. My kid thinks it would be pretty neat if I could somehow catch the mirror image of my Jeep reflected on a lake, but I have yet to find a suitable location. The lake here doesn't have vehicle access to the opposite side so I will have to keep searching. I am not much of a fisherman, but based on the number of people fishing, I suspect fishing is pretty good in the lake. If I would have had a pole I would have gladly sat around all day taking in that view, drinking beer and pretending to fish. Since I didn't have any of those items, I just watched others fish. So there are all of the reasons to go to Aiery Lake. Even if you are just passing through, it is a beautiful area and I encourage you to stop. As for this area being the location of an embarrassing story, I am somewhat reluctant to tell it, so please don't ridicule me too badly. Many years ago when I was a 13 or 14 year old Boy Scout, my troop hiked the Tuxachanie Trail. When we were almost to Aiery Lake we noticed two or three similarly aged girls and decided to try and impress them. In my underdeveloped juvenile brain I decided that the way to impress the girls was to use my "talent" of singing. I chose what was quite the popular song at the time and as we approached them I started singing. I must have underestimated the distance between us and them because by the time we passed I had come to part of the song which went a little something like this: "I did it like this, I did it like that, I did it with a wiffle ball bat sooooo I'm on the run, the cops got my gun........". As you can probably guess my lyrics were overwhelmingly unsuccessful in impressing anyone, much less the girls. I don't know if it was my singing, or if they saw some sort of poisonous reptile, but they ran as fast as their legs would carry them in the opposite direction. Later that evening in the camp site we decided a reconnaissance mission was in order. My friends and I walked over to their area and stood in the darkness trying to work up the courage to talk to them. I guess lurking behind a tree wasn't very impressive either as we got the cold shoulder once again. Looking back all I can do is laugh at how awkward and embarrassing the entire experience was. So there you have it. Aiery Lake is a great place unless you're a goofy awkward teenager.

Loved this place for a day hike! The trails are well maintained and there is plenty of parking…read more There are also trash cans and a public restroom at the parking location. They have several large campsites as well right by the lake.

Great place. Spent the weekend of the Halloween carnival. It was fun. Only reason I gave a 4 is our…read moresite had big rocks and they were hard to walk on. Don't understand why they put the big rocks. Other than that it's beautiful.

Our first time staying at Little Black Creek Park. This must be one of the biggest kept secrets in…read moresouth Mississippi. We were RV camping and was so surprised that it was so clean and organized. The staff was so nice and accommodating. Our price for 5 days was only $142.00. The security is excellent which means a lot to us. This is a beautiful park and we will be back soon. I can't comment on the bathhouses because we have a motorhome but I'm sure there clean. The lady running the camp store is super nice. See you soon!

This place is amazing and kids go crazy over it. Highly recommended for kids between 1 and 10. You…read morecould spend at least an hour or more here with the amount of different things they have. The children's center is next door and they have plenty of shade. I wish they had this type of park near me.

This is the best free playground I've ever been to. Almost Everything is wheelchair accessible!…read moreAlmost everything is under sun shades! There's a water mister for during the summer! There's separate areas for 2-5 and 5-12 years old. There's a metal fence around the entire thing and every gate has a yellow flower lock up top. The park is open Monday 1100- dusk and Tuesday-Saturday 0800- dusk. It is right next to the st. Tammany Trace bike trail and the st. Tammany Children's museum. I would LOVE to have a playground like this near my home town.

I have had this bookmarked for quite some time now and finally made a point to come before things…read morereally heated up for the summer. I did not make it through all of the trails on the one visit I made, but at $5 per visit (or $25 if you pay for the whole year and can do multiple visits), it is not that bad. I plan on doing the annual plan and coming back. It is not too far from the greater New Orleans metro area. I would love to come back for one of their lectures or nature walks. And come back seasonally to see what grows during different seasons. Truely a lovely spot.

TRULY, a gem!…read more Located in the middle of Picayune is this amazing place. It's sort of a nature center just FULL of trails that takes you thru quite a few different ecosystems. The trails take you thru pine savannah where you can find carnivorous plants and beautiful wildflowers in the spring and summer and trails that take you into old growth forest. In the northern part of the arboretum is a nice little gum pond where you can see fish and turtles, and they're also in the process of building a lookout there. In about the middle of the arboretum is a giant pavilion that looks out over another pond. When you check in, be sure to get a bag of turtle food to feed to the turtles in this pond. I promise you, that's the best fifty cents you'll ever spend! I'm not sure if they offer any sort of guided tours, but it's meant to just walk around at your own pace. There are lots of places that have boardwalk and seats to just sit and....enjoy nature. The arboretum DOES have events from time to time like lectures and specific field guides and even native plant sales. I tend to like it when there's no one else there, though, and it seems I have the whole forest to myself. ;) The people who run this place are INCREDIBLY nice and they'll hook you up with a map and all that. They'll even offer bug spray if you forget your own. The daily entry fee of $5 is SO WORTH IT, and you might find yourself going often enough to sign up for a membership. A membership which is even pro-rated according to the time of year you join! They have a nice little gift shop with books and trinkets and all that related to nature stuff and even drinks if you're thirsty. If you're a nature nut like myself, and even if you're a REAL trekker like myself who likes to trek out in the middle of nowhere, you STILL have to check this place out. It's managed well, and it's situated among several ecosystems like I said before and you won't regret it. You'll very easily spend several hours here walking around checking out things like their bee hives, their pollenator garden, the pavilion, the MANY little coves off the trails that lead to waterfront bulkheads that offer great views of the pond, and so many other "little" things that will delight you in so many ways. And of course, botanists will have a field day with the many different plant species to be found here, INCLUDING carnivorous plants like two species of pitcher plant and dwarf sundews! Totally worth spending $5 and a good portion of your day to check it out! Truly a gem of a place.

This was a great stop for us in between Birmingham and New Orleans. Now-a-days, a stop for our kids…read morethat gets energy out has become pretty crucial. So for a ride back, we looked up a park to stop at on our way home. Optimist Park came up on Yelp and the pictures looked promising. We stopped here and I dropped off the fam while I went and grabbed lunch. It was not well covered, but it wasn't way too hot for our kids to play. Once I picked up lunch, they had great tables for us to dine after a good playtime. The bathrooms were clean and I would recommend this park for anyone in our same situation. I wish we had this park in our neighborhood. Great stop if you are looking for a good place to get some energy out for the kiddos.

My granddaughter really enjoyed the park, I was glad to find something close to home for her to…read moreenjoy and allow my other grandkids to enjoy as well

Overall, this particular park is a winner. If you are in the Slidell, Louisiana area,you owe it to…read moreyourself to check this park out. I grabbed a po' boy at a restaurant called Pearl's and came here to enjoy my lunch. I enjoyed chilling and enjoying my lunch. I would definitely recommend Heritage Park.

Not much to add that hasn't already been said by others. This is a great little park to just hang…read moreout or walk or let the kids play. Decent shade. Plenty of parking. The large open green space in the middle is nicely kept. The sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate all the people walking their laps. The bathrooms are decent as public bathrooms go. The city has poured a lot of money into the park over the last few years and it shows. Lots of picnic tables and pavilions. The public boat ramp and the docks have been greatly improved.

Wonderful campsites with full hook ups and level sites. Would definitely come here again.read more

One of the best locations from my childhood memories! Great scenery and plenty of space for events…read moreor just enjoying the outdoors!

Great little quick stop if you're in the area. I wouldn't drive out of the way as there's not much…read moreto it but it was a cool piece of history.

Huge oak that is 500 years old. Cool to see something like that especially around all the…read morehurricanes it has endured.

The Pearl River Wildlife Management Area is great for many reasons…read more 1. It is free to enter if you have a Louisiana hunting or fishing license. If not, don't enter as the game wardens can issue you a citation. You also need to stop at the entrance and fill out a check in/check out form whenever you enter or leave the WMA. 2. There are woods everywhere. If you don't like the woods, there is probably something wrong with you. Spend any amount of time in the woods, and you will be a better human being. 3. There is a shooting range. I reviewed it separately, but I will mention that the road leading to the range is po-boy road. What an awesome name for a road. 4. There are many dirt roads here. If you have a fancy car, or even a trashy car, don't come here. If you are a real American and drive a truck or SUV, you will love driving down these dirt roads. The four reasons I listed are just a few of the reasons why this is a great place to visit. If you're reading this review, I highly recommend you pay a visit to this WMA.

Interesting place, lots of birdlife and swap areas to see…read more Bring your camera, and a fishing pole.