The highway traverses the thick piney woods of northern Louisiana roughly midway between the parallel US 167 and US 371 corridors.

LA 9 also passes through a number of smaller rural villages, such as Saline, Lucky, Bienville, Bryceland, and Athens.

LA 9 heads northeast out of Campti and after 5 miles (8.0 km), the road curves due north to cross a bridge over Black Lake.

Traveling along Cooper Street, the highway passes the local high school, church, and post office.

The first, Lucky, consists mainly of a junction with LA 4, a rural cross-state route connecting to nearby points Castor and Friendship.

LA 9 joins the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) line heading into Bryceland, the third village north of Saline.

US 80 and LA 9 travel along 1st Street for three blocks, passing by historic brick storefronts and other small commercial establishments.

Here, US 80 continues ahead while LA 9 turns northward to an interchange with I-20 at Exit 67, connecting with Shreveport to the west and Monroe to the east.

LA 9 continues northward for 8 miles (13 km), loosely following the short-line Louisiana and North West Railroad (LNW) toward Homer.

[2][6][7] US 79 and LA 9 enter Homer, the seat of Claiborne Parish, on Minden Highway and curve due north onto West Main Street into the downtown area.

An intersection with LA 146 (South 3rd Street) serves as the town's connection to Lake Claiborne State Park.

While US 79 zigzags back onto West Main Street to proceed north toward Haynesville, LA 9 turns eastward out of Homer.

[2][6][7] Over the next 14.5 miles (23.3 km), LA 9 travels northeast and skirts the Caney Ranger District of the Kisatchie National Forest.

The route then continues through another segment of the Kisatchie National Forest and crosses a bridge over Corney Lake.

About 6 miles (9.7 km) later, LA 9 enters the village of Junction City, located on the Louisiana–Arkansas state line.

Beginning at Arkansas State line, through Haynesville, Homer, Athens, Arcadia, Bryceland, Bienville, Saline, Chestnut to Ashland.

While LA 9 changes its general trajectory by turning northeast at Homer toward Junction City, Route 12 continued northward along the present path of US 79 to the Arkansas state line via Haynesville.

[16] On its south end, Route 12 was originally designated to form a "V" by heading southwest from Saline to Chestnut then turn sharply to the northwest to a terminus at Ashland.

[22][26] Paving was not extended south from Arcadia to Bryceland until about 1949,[13][14] and the section between Chestnut and Lucky was completed by the following year.

[21] Route 115 had a second leg that extended southeast from Homer along the present LA 146 to Vienna in neighboring Lincoln Parish.

With the 1955 renumbering, the state highway department initially categorized all routes into three classes: "A" (primary), "B" (secondary), and "C" (farm-to-market).

A short section of highway hugging the Louisiana and North West Railroad line at Mulnix was re-routed around the same time.

[34][36] In November of that year, a new bridge over Black Lake was opened, replacing a lower span that was prone to flooding.

Shortly after crossing the Louisiana and North West Railroad (LNW) line, the US 79 Bypass designation ends upon re-joining its parent route.

[8] The portion that is concurrent with US 79 Bypass is classified as a rural minor arterial by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD).