Valentine Lake is a Civilian Conservation Corps lake. Company 1446 of the CCC arrived at Camp Packard on June 28, 1933, and a marker erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Kisatchie National Forest names Valentine Lake and Recreation Area as its main accomplishment. A Forest Service ranger says the crews built the dam and spillway. Besides the lake the crews planted trees, fought fires and built roads, bridges and telephone lines. The land today belongs to the Calcasieu Ranger District's Evangeline Unit of the Kisatchie National Forest.
The lake covers 46 acres in a setting of hardwoods and pine, and only paddlers use it: motorized boats are not allowed, and canoes are dragged or carried in from the day-use area. There are two fishing piers, and the lake is stocked with Florida bass. Northshore Campground has 14 sites, six of them on the shore, at $10 a night. A 3-mile Valentine Lake Trail circles the water. The south-side trailhead leads to the northern end of the Wild Azalea National Recreation Trail, which runs 23.9 miles through pine hills and hardwood bottoms to near Woodworth, marked with yellow diamonds.
From Alexandria, drive west on LA 28 for 12 miles, turn south on LA 121 and follow signs to Valentine Lake Road (FR 279) and FR 282. Day use is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Calcasieu Ranger District office in Boyce, 318-793-9427, answers on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and can say whether fire danger has closed anything.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour