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Sam Houston National Forest; New Waverly, TX
Sam Houston National Forest is a bit less than an hour north of
downtown Houston; take I-45 to FM1375, go west on 1375 for a couple of miles to Forest Road 233 and follow the signs to the gravel road that leads to the trail parking area for the East Unit; there's another unit on the other side of the lake, but I haven't ridden those yet. These are "multi-use trails"; dirt bikes and ATVs are explicitly permitted. There's a $5 per-user-per-day fee required. There are quite a few miles of trail in this section; I didn't find a figure in the USFS information, but I'd guess that there are around 25 to 30 miles of total trail in the various loops. None of the loops appear shorter than 5 or 6 miles, and some are considerably longer. It's all through gently rolling pine woods, with some roots to bump over but very few rocks. Mud is a hazard if it's been raining recently, which has been the case this year for most of the summer. Map he http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/texas/maps/sam_mu_east1.pdf Unfortunately, somebody seems to have decided that it would be a spiffy idea to "improve" the trails by laying down a couple of inches of sand on them. Not sand and pea gravel, not sand and clay, but just sand. If it's wet or at least thoroughly damp (which most of it was) and hasn't been chewed up by dirt bikes (which, alas, too much of it had been), it's not a bad riding surface. If it's dead dry and/or has been fluffed by motorized traffic, it's wheel-trap city; expect to get out of shape easily, often, and badly. I was there on a Wednesday afternoon; the trails were utterly deserted and we had them all to ourselves...but there were many more ATV and dirt bike tracks than mtb tracks visible, and I suspect that weekend use can be a bit dicey at times. Grades are mostly short and shallow on these trails; not much technical stuff, but enough to keep it from being just a speed run. Wildlife sighting count (other than bugs) was zero, though there were lots of deer tracks. No mosquitoes, no gnats, nothing nasty and biting at all for that matter. I'll go back sometime if I have a weekday free, but I'll check the trail conditions before I drop another fee envelope in the box; if the sand hasn't been pounded into the clay enough by then, I might give this a miss and head somewhere else to ride. |
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#2
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Sam Houston National Forest; New Waverly, TX
Werehatrack ha scritto: Sam Houston National Forest is a bit less than an hour north of downtown Houston; I'll go back sometime if I have a weekday free, but I'll check the trail conditions before I drop another fee envelope in the box; if the sand hasn't been pounded into the clay enough by then, I might give this a miss and head somewhere else to ride. I cannot but feeling sympathetic for you, living down there. Sincerely Sergio Pisa |
#3
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Sam Houston National Forest; New Waverly, TX
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