Lake Pontchartrain — Attraction in Mandeville

Lake Ponchatrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of 630 square miles with an average depth of 12 to 14 feet. In descending order of area, the lake is located in parts of six Louisiana parishes: St. Tammany, Orleans, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Tangipahoa. The lake is crossed by the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway- see live updates for tracking across the causeway at (https://www.thecauseway.us) . The causeway bridge is considered the longest continuous bridge over water in the world located directedly between Metairie, Louisiana and Mandeville, Louisiana . The lake is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and receives polluted water mostly due to storm run off among many other factors. On the Northshore side of the Lake and it’s Side of the bridge sits a mature Cypress Wetlands and or Cypress Forest located between Sunset Point and Mandeville’s Lakefront. It’s part of an important ecosystem that prevents flooding , erosion and traps bacteria and fungus to prevent its spreading which are only a few benefits it provides to the environment.. There are plans , while controversy, to install a berm with a bike path running to and from Mandeville’s Sunset Point and Lake Front over Lake Ponchatrain to protect the erosion of the wetlands. Lake Ponchatrain is also well known for several plane crashes killing those on Board. It’s bountiful when it comes to history.

Those are my collected facts. My opinion on the Lake Ponchatrain goes as follows:

New Orleans South shore side of the lake that meets in Metairie is refreshing, productive feeling, energetic, a must see during daylight. 5 stars for sure. The lake from Mandeville called the “Northshore” captivates the area in a different way. At night on the Lake’s Northshore- edge lines of beautiful sand areas and wetlands meet the skylines and it’s mind taking, the stars so clearly etched out are crisp, the causeway commuters make beautiful ocean sounds unaware as they travel to and from each side of the dreadful gauntlet stretched 23 miles, and watching airplanes go into and out of the city pondering if they are landing home for southern comfort of chilly mornings and humid nights or landing for a night of questionable amounts of alcohol and poor decisions. The lake from either side is magical and each side holds whatever your in search of- it’s the best Lake...

Geographically speaking, Abita and Chafunkta are “across the pond”, making travel to these breweries from NOLA either prohibitively uber expensive or requiring a rental car – maybe a bus if those exist. We did zero research on the bus thing. I’m sure you’re thinking, it’s just a pond or a lake and there’s a road right through it! That is Lake Pontchartrain.

Lake Pontchartrain is a large, brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is not a true lake, but rather a tidal basin that is connected to the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Pontchartrain is also one of the largest wetlands in the United States!

The bridge you see on Google maps is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Which is one of the longest bridges in the world at 24 miles long! Quite the feat of engineering in our humble opinion. Driving 24 miles, in what can only be described as open water, is just as daunting as driving the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Also if you have to pee, well, you’re SOL on that front because with the exception of emergency pull overs, there is no...

Since Hurricane Katrina took out parts of the bridge that crosses this body of water, it was really nice to see all the repairs done. I have seen this bridge through the eyes of a small child going to the zoo or the park or the airport and I've seen it at various times since. I've also seen it from a bird's eye view flying into the MSY airport. You actually feel like you are going to possibly land in the swamp, which the lake connects on its outer banks and where cypress trees draped with Spanish moss are quite easy to see. The lake, itself is quite shallow and that makes it easy to see how the NOLA area could be flooded when surges from storms push through. You have to travel across the bridge, though. It is the longest bridge over water....24 miles long to be exact. Can't have that experience...