Stelter - Best Easy Day Hikes Houston

Best Easy Day Hikes Series

Best Easy Day Hikes Houston

Keith Stelter

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Every effort has been made by the author and editors to make this guide as accurate and useful as possible. However, many things can change after a guide is publishedtrails are rerouted, regulations change, facilities come under new management, etc.

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Thanks for your input, and happy trails!

Copyright 2009 by Morris Book Publishing, LLC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

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Project editor: Jessica Haberman

Layout: Kevin Mak

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stelter, Keith.

Best easy day hikes Houston / Keith Stelter.

p. cm. - (Falconguides)

ISBN 978-1-4930-0516-1

1. HikingTexasHouston RegionGuidebooks. 2. Houston (Tex.)Guidebooks. I. Title.

GV199.42.T492H688 2009

917.64'1411--dc22

2009018276

The author and Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

Contents

The Hikes

Acknowledgments

Many people helped make this book possible, and a few went beyond the call of duty. Thanks to Mark, Scott, and Kay Stelter for their encouragement, ideas, patience, and proofreading. And thanks to Houston Parks superintendent Roy Vasquez for his help on Herman Brown Park and Joe Blanton for his assistance and research on the Houston Arboretum.

Dozens of other people provided information about history, geology, flora and fauna, and hikes they considered the best easy day hikes. I appreciate their work and thank all of them.

Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to introduce readers to the variety of hiking opportunities in the Houston area. In many hiking guides the hike descriptions are generally point-to-point narratives, getting you safely from the trailhead to the trails end and back again. However, including information on area flora, fauna, history, and geology adds a great deal of interest to many hikers, including families with young children.

I spent several months researching, talking with park personnel and other folks, hiking and sometimes rehiking trails, and studying the area for interesting facts, scenery, history, and geology. I talked with a variety of hikers, asking them what they wanted a hike description to cover and what made a best easy day hike. I used the following criteria to select the hikes included in this guide: fun, exercise, family experience, scenery, history, bayous, first-time hiker, experienced hiker, moderate length (1 to 5 miles), dog friendliness, and wheelchair accessibility. Loops and interconnecting loop trails were selected where possible so that a best hike within a park could be fashioned by combining the best of several trails.

Determining the best easy day hikes in the Houston area was a combination of personal judgment about what level of hiker the hike was geared for and information from park staff and other hikers. Four of my favorite hikes are the loop trail at the Houston Arboretum, the interconnecting loops in Memorial Park, the Bear Creek Trail, and Herman Brown Park trails. Hiking city and county trails offers a different experience from hiking in state parks and on backcountry trails. Most of the city trails are paved; a few are lighted at night, creating an entirely new hiking experience. There also can be the distraction of the city itself, with its busy streets, buildings, and commerce. Surprisingly, many of the trails are in wooded areas, providing an unexpected degree of solitude.

Whether providing recreational and educational opportunities, encouraging well-being, exploring history and geology, or bringing together people of all ages, hiking has become an important part of many peoples lives. I hope that at least some of the hikes in this guide will become your personal favorites and that this book will prove an informative and interesting read as well as an excellent guide to the best easy day hikes in the Houston area.

Hiking in Houston

Bayous are shallow, slow-moving creeks or streams found in low-lying Southern states, and with four major bayous passing through it, Houston is justifiably called the Bayou City. Buffalo Bayou runs into downtown, Brays Bayou passes near the Texas Medical Center, White Oak Bayou flows through the Heights and near the northwest area, and Sims Bayou lies in the south of Houston. Originally the bayous were used exclusively for flood control, but since the city recognized the opportunity to build trails along the bayous, they have become a bonanza for hikers.

Due to the efforts of Terese Terry Hershey, her husband, Jacob, young congressman George Bush, and a dedicated group of supporters, Buffalo Bayou was saved from having its sides lined with concrete in the 1960s and 1970s. Because of this, the bayou contains an incredibly diverse ecosystem that supports dozens of species of flora and fauna, which add a new dimension to your hike.

Buffalo Bayou winds its way through dozens of suburban communities, giving you an opportunity to find a trail near your neighborhood. From West Houston the bayou heads toward downtown. After passing the Barker Reservoir (Hike 1), the bayou runs through Terry Hershey Park (Hikes 2 and 3) to the Houston Arboretum (Hikes 16 and 17), then Memorial Park (Hike 15) and through downtown Houston (Hikes 18, 19, and 20). White Oak and Buffalo Bayous join in downtown Houston at an area known as Allens Landing. This is the point where the Allen brothers landed in 1836 and founded Houston.

Hiking in Houston is more than walking along bayous, though. Trails can be found in woods, forests, nature sanctuaries, along community streets, downtown, or a 1-square-block oasis in the middle of a residential community. Some trails are busy with hikers, joggers, and cyclists; others are secluded and far from downtown. The opportunity to vary the scenery you pass on a hike is almost unlimited.