Lone Star Trail

[Nocona]

Just logged back on to Whiteblaze to catch up on news and was happy to see so many good responses from those of you interested in the LSHT and book.

I've hiked the Ouachita Trail in Arkansas, which has the same hunter issues as any other trail routed in a national forest. Most, but not all, national forests have restrictions on hikers during hunting season height. I also hunt deer, but I would not hesitate to hike or camp in the national forests of Texas, or any state, despite the restrictions. I have done so many times. I wear a lot of blaze orange (as does my dog), and I always camp well away from the trail out of sight, earshot and human detection. That does not mean that I walk 50 yards from the trail. It means I walk through thick woods for two football field lengths. Bullets do not travel far in forests, because there are too many trees in the way. Having said all of that, the rules still exist. And the rules in the SHNF are that you cannot camp outside of designated campgrounds during deer rifle season, roughly all of November and December.

I have heard a little bit about the proposed dam, and I believe everyone who cares should be at the meeting in January to voice their opinion. Someone on the LSHT list brought up the fact that, sadly, the mighty Hetch Hetchy Reservoir was built in some of the most beautiful land in the country, and despite one of the greatest advocates on the planet working against the dam and for wilderness, John Muir. I don't trust the dam builders, and I don't trust the officials in the area. The red-cockaded woodpecker is the only thing that might have a chance against the dam, I believe. But it does exist in other areas, and they might be able to "draw lines" around and say that the dam won't affect the birds. The public really needs to oversee these discussions.

The issue with water in the region is not due to the area being dry (i.e. not enough rainfall). This area of the country receives more rain every year than Seattle. The issue is that the water table has been over-tapped and the draining of the groundwater causes major subsidence (sinking). There are a lot of other issues involved with draining the aquifers aside from subsidence, including increased salinity and pollution.....but the bottom line is that the growing suburbs north of Houston (of which I now include Montgomery) need to secure a surface water supply. The richest forest regions, the bottomlands, are lost.

Also a note to the discussions about long distance trails in Texas. One of the reasons that Texas suffers from too few parks and, hence, trail systems, is that the state went a different route than most. I don't understand all of the legalities, but when Texas joined the Union, they did so as a country, not a territory. In addition, Texas had been settled for a long time, divided up into land grants and privately owned long before it was even its own country. Therefore, Texas was not "set up" for US government ownership and also was able to negotiate special rights and privileges that other US states never got because they weren't entering into the Union as independent countries. What resulted is a state that has very little land available for parks and a state with a mindset and tradition of private land. A fenced country. The national forests in the state are actually fairly extensive, ironically because they were abandoned after the loggers moved on in the early part of the 20th century, leaving a veritable unwanted dustbowl wasteland. The government got "stuck with the bill" so to speak.

It's easy to get lost in present day conceptions and facts, and farily easy to forget that things are the way they are today not always because of those alive now. There's a long history behind things, a line of causes and influences that has been shaping the way things are today.

[Schuetzen]

Nacona:
Very good history lesson but a lot of the national forest land in Texas was bought from property owners during the Depression. The result is a number of islands of private property in the National Forest, I own 20 acres completely surrounded by the National Forest just outside of Coldspring that my Dad bought about 60 years ago.

[beakerman]

I forgot the "smiles"....I am 100 Percent joking people!

I like to tell people, when they state sterio-typical "facts" about Texas, all about it, Just having fun with their "conceptions".
The bit about "parking next to your high rise" is how on the Dallas TV show, Good Ol' JR always got to park right on Pacific Avenue in downtown Dallas and run into his OIL company....

Ok yep you got me for sure. I know I swallowed the hook, line and sinker but I might have also swallowed your rod and reel too....

[beakerman]

J
The issue with water in the region is not due to the area being dry (i.e. not enough rainfall). This area of the country receives more rain every year than Seattle. The issue is that the water table has been over-tapped and the draining of the groundwater causes major subsidence (sinking). There are a lot of other issues involved with draining the aquifers aside from subsidence, including increased salinity and pollution.....but the bottom line is that the growing suburbs north of Houston (of which I now include Montgomery) need to secure a surface water supply. The richest forest regions, the bottomlands, are lost.

Well having dams not only prevents aquifer depletion it also aids on aquifer recovery depending on the structure under the inpoundment.

The trouble with all that rain fall is it all ends up in the Gulf not back in the aquifers.

They have an alternate location that seems to be all private land based on the one map I have seen over on the LSHT yahoo group. The goal should be not to stop the dam project just shut them out of the wilderness area.

[Nocona]

The goal should be not to stop the dam project just shut them out of the wilderness area.

I agree -- sadly, the impoundments are probably going to happen one way or another. It's just a matter of trying to mitigate the damage and keep them from the protected areas, as you said.

[Nocona]

Nacona:
Very good history lesson but a lot of the national forest land in Texas was bought from property owners during the Depression. The result is a number of islands of private property in the National Forest, I own 20 acres completely surrounded by the National Forest just outside of Coldspring that my Dad bought about 60 years ago.

Yes - good point. There is a lot of private land "inside" the national forests. Do they ever contact you about purchasing your property nowadays?

[Schuetzen]

Nacona:
Yes the Forest Service would love to "buy" it they just don't want to pay anything near what it is worth. It is not an issue anyway because even if I wanted to sell it, I would not sell it to the United States Government.

[berninbush]

Well, good news I see from the LSHT group... the dam got voted down, at least for now.

[berninbush]

Well, I just got to try out Nocona's book for the first time this weekend-- a friend and I did 6.5 miles of the Huntsville section (between Cotton Creek Cemetery Road and I-45).

The trail wasn't as wet/ muddy as I had feared after all the rain we've had, although as described in the guide, some portions were a bit swampy. The book came in particularly useful in one spot where it wasn't obvious which direction the trail went next-- we weren't sure if we were supposed to cross the small creek in front of us or go alongside it, and the blazing was ambiguous. I pulled out the book and learned that we were indeed supposed to cross, and after that we were able to find where the trail resumed. Thanks, Nocona!

Saturday was a perfect, gorgeous day for hiking. It was so great to get sunshine after what seems like weeks of overcast chill. Just makes it sweeter that my parents up Northeast are buried in snow!

[Nocona]

Good to hear some feedback that the book was useful while out in the field! Thanks for sharing!

[Nocona]

My first two book signing events and LSHT Hiking clinics are coming up! (Yep, I wrote a book! It's the first ever guidebook to the LSHT, came out last November and is entitled The Lone Star Hiking Trail: The Official Guide to the Longest Wilderness Footpath in Texas.)
The first is at the Downtown REI store in Houston on July 6 at 7pm and the second at the REI at Willowbrook on July 8 at 7pm. You can register for the event online to secure a seat. And yes, it's free! I plan to give a slide show with photos and information about the Lone Star Hiking Trail geared towards hiking and backpacking. I'm sure there will be time for discussions, as well.

Hope to see some of you there.

Houston REI - Downtown location
7538 Westheimer Rd
Houston, TX 77063
(713) 353-2582
July 6th at 7 p.m.
Register at: http://www.rei.com/event/6475/session/7850

Willowbrook REI - North Houston
17717 Tomball Parkway
Houston, TX 77064
(832) 237-8833
Register at: http://www.rei.com/event/7756/session/9746


And a link to the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Hiking-Trail-Official/dp/0899975046/ref=cm_rna_own_wish_img

Karen

[berninbush]

I took a bunch of middle school girls from a tough urban neighborhood out on the LSHT a couple of weeks ago. (When I told them we were going hiking, the most common question was, "What's hiking?") They loved it! We did the Stubblefield section along the west shore of Lake Conroe. The biggest surprise of the day for me was when I got to Mile Marker 16 and realized I'd passed up the place I meant to stop along the lake... with the drought, the lake was so far down that I didn't even recognize the spot!

[Red Hat]

haven't been out on this trail in years... what with hiking the AT and all, but I might have to give it a go again sometime this winter...

[berninbush]

February's a great time to hike it, after deer rifle season ends. I've hiked there in November but the surrounding gunfire can get a little intimidating!

[Nocona]

January, February and March are all excellent months to hike it!

[Harrison Bergeron]

I started at Stubblefield hiking east the week of Memorial Day last Spring. I saw exactly three people in four days on the trail. It's amazing how much work goes into maintaining a trail for so few people. The heat wasn't bad but it rained the first two days -- which was far preferable to the horseflies I battled for the next two days!

I almost saw a gator in Lake Conroe, judging from the size of the splash, but he was gone by the time I got there. And contrary to the book, I actually did see a small gator in Alligator creek. Not much other wildlife other than a large garter snake sound asleep smack in the middle of the trail. I had to poke him with my staff to wake him up!

The Double Lake area was the highlight -- I had the whole place to myself. The long road walks were the low points. I'd like to re-do the Big Creek area sometime with the horse flies aren't so thick..

By the way, the bridge over the San Jacinto river is completely gone now. Luckily I found a tree crossing about 200 yards north, but then I had a hard time finding the trail again on the other side. The remains of the bridge supports were still there but hidden in dense brush. It's funny how a trail doesn't look like a trail unless you're standing on it.

All in all it was a good hike for Texas and I plan to do the western half the last week of December.

Thanks, Nacona, for the excellent trail guide!

[berninbush]

Jon, sounds like we've done the whole trail between us... I've done everything west of Stubblefield. Now I'm working on the sections to the east.

Ditto on the trail guide!

[beakerman]

If I understood Mr John (of the LSTHC) the forest service is not going to allow the rebuilding of that bridge. My son had wanted to do that as his Eagle Project but when we approached the folks at the LSTHC about it we were told the Forest Service is blocking it right now. Something about not being properly engineered and what not.

So I guess we will all just have to suck it up and cross the logs or get our feet wet.

[berninbush]

So the Forest Service thinks it's ok for hikers to cross on a fallen log, or climb up and down banks to wade a possibly flooded river, but not cross on a bridge built by an Eagle Scout? Lack of logic...

[MkBibble]

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'