My family recently spent the day at White Sands Lake Day Beach and we had a blast! This spring-fed lake is located in Enon, Louisiana, just north of Folsom. It’s centered between Franklinton, Covington, and Bogalusa, making it a perfect spot for a day trip from anywhere on the Northshore.
While there’s a special place in my heart for a saltwater beach (I’m a Florida girl, after all!), it’s closer and not nearly as crowded as the beaches on the gulf coast. It boasts clear, cool, water, a sandy beach, and fun floating inflatables. Here are 6 reasons why my family loved it!
Water Quality
The water is fresh, clean, and mostly clear. It’s still a lake, after all, so at a certain depth you can’t see the bottom, but it wasn’t cloudy or smelly at all. Because of this, (and I admit this is probably a little gross) I felt like it was reasonably safe for my children to accidentally ingest, as they inevitably would.
Atmosphere
There is a wonderful family atmosphere. The people we shared the beach with were friendly and while the rules set by the owners can come across a bit strict, they are appropriate for families with small children. I also really appreciated how attentive the staff was to enforcing them!
Safety
Life jackets are required for anyone under 12, as well as anyone who does not consider themselves a strong swimmer. They are available to rent for just $2/person, a steal to have a secure, well-fit life jacket for the day! Having my girls in life jackets gave me peace of mind and made the whole experience more fun. Once they got used to them, they became very adventurous and swam by themselves more than I would have ever expected—a life saver for this parent of clingy kiddos!
Staff
While the beach does not advertise life guards, the staff definitely keeps a close eye on things. We watch our children, of course, but it’s comforting to know there are extra eyes looking out as well. For example, at one point we were getting ready to eat lunch and my 4 year old Houdini-ed back to the water without her life jacket. Luckily, a staff member spotted her just as I looked up to see where she’d disappeared to, and gently guided her out of the water and back to me.
Rentals and Outside Food and Drink
The beach has multiple options for tables, umbrellas, and even on-site grills. It’s a bit pricey to rent what they refer to as a cabana (a metal roof with a with a picnic table and a grill) but there are also umbrellas available for much less and unshaded picnic tables that are free to use but book up first come, first serve. Guests are also able to bring their own tents, umbrellas, etc. as long as they do not contain any Styrofoam or glass.
Boats, Canoes, Kayaks
There are paddle boats, canoes, and kayaks available for rent by the half hour. The swimming area is corded off so you have the rest of the lake to paddle around when renting. Kayaking is definitely on my to-do list next time we go!
Overall, we enjoyed our experience at White Sands Lake Day Beach and plan to visit multiple times this summer. I would recommend it to anyone! It’s an easy drive from anywhere on the northshore, and a reasonable one from most of the southshore. My family had a blast and I bet yours would, too!
Looking for more water fun?
We’ve got a list of local splash pads right here.
Or you can head to the wave pool in Waveland.
Latest posts by Christy Broady (see all)
- These Beautiful Altars Are a Unique Louisiana Tradition - March 14, 2023
- Almond Crunch King Cake from Doughlicious - January 31, 2023
- How to Host a King Cake Party - January 11, 2023
Clear water? Nope. The water is murky and brown… even your pics show that!
Brown, yes, it IS a lake. Can’t expect crystal blue waters lol! But definitely not murky! You can see the bottom in almost all the photos.
The water isn’t murky or brown, that’s the bottom of the lake (sand, rocks, etc.) Go put some in a cup & check it out, it’s clear.
This is a gravel pit pond with discarded sand making up the beach and visible bottom. There are no rocks, etc., only the washed sand, all of the gravel was sold. You can see in the photos with the children, that the water is murky. The murkiness is from the dirt and mud that washed back with the sand, and it will be that way forever.
Thank you for doing such an amazing job of keeping all of us north shore moms in the know and decreasing the amount of time I would’ve spent doing google searches on “what to do today “ . I do want to add a comment on a place my now older, 11&13 year old boys love , Bogue Chitto state park beach area is their absolute new favorite spot but definitely not an easy place to bring little ones unless you just use the playground water slide. When we go, we use the splash pad and water slide there to rinse of any last bits of sand from the beach.
Thanks, Natalie!
We have a water fun post coming out today and I’m going to add that one since we didn’t have it!
Can the kids wear puddle jumpers or do they have to wear an actual life vest?
First time going. The kids were having a really good time but sadly we left early due to a really rude staff member. My husband was playing with the girls and was swimming under the floating trampoline to jump out and suprisie the kiddos. One of the staff members got really rude and started screaming at him stating he would drag and throw him out of there in a very confrontational way. Like I said it was our first time ever being there and there was no signs stating not to swim under the floating jumpers. He was just playing with the kids. My husband apologized for doing so because he didn’t know but the man was still very rude and continued to scream at him and make threats. It was very inappropriate and not called for. He could of politely informed us instead of making a scene in front of the kids. The kids were ready to go after that because he made them feel so uncomfortable with his attitude . He literally freaked out a 5 and 6 year old. Needless to say we spent 50 dollars to have the kids scared , be disrespected and leave after being there maybe an hour. Needless to say we will never go back, even though it seems like a great place. Staff members are just to rude.
Please do NOT bring your children there. The owner is one of the rudest people I have ever come across. He screamed and cursed (F word) at us because we stopped to unload and accidentally blocked the opening on the beach that he wanted to use to drive his truck from the beach to the parking lot. We literally had stopped for less than 30 seconds. He acted like he was going to ram his truck into our car. The staff smoked, ate and drank the entire time we were there (yes our kids still wanted to stay ). They did a laughable job at paying attention to what was happening in the water. This could be an amazing place but the owners are awful people and hire staff that could not care less. There is a tragedy waiting to happen at this place.
Yeah, I gotta agree with the guy who said the water is murky and brown. We went last weekend and it definitely was not clear. I put some in a white styrofoam cup and it had a brown tinge to it.