Stelter - Best Hikes Near Houston

Copyright 2011 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.

FalconGuides is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Falcon, FalconGuides, and Outfit Your Mind are registered trademarks of Morris Book Publishing, LLC.

Interior photos: Keith Stelter, except page 191, which is courtesy of Harris County, Pct3, Kleb Woods Nature Preserve Collection

Art on page iii Shutterstock

Text design: Sheryl P. Kober

Layout: Maggie Peterson

Project editor: Julie Marsh

Maps: Trailhead Graphics, Inc. Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available on file.

ISBN 978-1-4930-0584-0

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 to Kim Stelter and Nate Enloe for hiking and journaling with me. And thanks to park superintendent Roy Vasquez for his help on Herman Brown Park, Mike Howlett for his help on Jesse Jones Park, Bobby J. Martin and Sandy Poch at Pundt Park, and Terri MacArthur with Legacy Land Trust. Dozens of other people provided information about history, geology, flora and fauna, and hikes they considered the best hikes near Houston. I appreciate their work and thank all of them.

Many hikers add a dimension to their hike by taking pictures.

Introduction

Whether providing recreational or 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. 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, geology, and potential photographs. I talked with a variety of hikers, asking them what they wanted a hike description to cover and what made a best hike near Houston. 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.

Acres of bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas, line the highways during spring.

Determining the best hikes near Houston was a combination of personal judgment about the level of hiker the hike was geared toward and information from park staff and other hikers. Four of my favorite hikes are the varied trails at Jesse Jones Park, the interconnecting loops in Memorial Park, the Bear Creek Trail, and the 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 multipurpose and paved, and a few are lighted at night, creating an entirely new hiking experience. There can also be the distraction of the city itself, with its busy streets, buildings, and commerce, but a surprisingly good number of the trails are in wooded areas, providing an unexpected degree of solitude.

The photographs included in this guide were chosen to whet your curiosity about a hike. The sidebars and tips are meant to be enjoyable and educational, helping to make this a family book. 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 hikes near Houston.

Red-eared turtles sun themselves in the middle of a cypress swamp. Notice the knobby knees on the bald cypress trees.

Hiking in Houston

Bayous are shallow, slow-moving creeks or minor rivers 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 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 them, they have become a bonanza for hikers.

Due to the efforts of Terese Terry Hershey; her husband, Jacob; young congressman George H. W. Bush; Texas businessman George Mitchell; 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 an extra dimension to your hike. Buffalo Bayou winds its way through dozens of suburban communities, giving you the opportunity to find a trail near your neighborhood. From West Houston the bayou heads toward downtown. After passing Barker Reservoir, it runs through Terry Hershey Park (Hike 9) to the Houston Arboretum (Hikes 2 and 3), then to Memorial Park (Hike 1) and through downtown Houston (Hikes 4, 5, and 6). 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.