Prior to beginning our grand Texas state parks travel adventures, I had no idea that Texas was home to four national forests. A lot of our road trips took us west rather than east, which made it easier for these forests to exist outside of our radar. After we decided to visit a forest, we looked at the options available and opted to go with Sam Houston National Forest. This forest is operated by the US Forest Service and consists of over 160,000 acres. That’s a lot of forest!
I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about camping in this forest once we started researching the forest. Pictures of scary-looking feral hogs popped up, as well as pictures of snakes and warnings of ticks (hello Lyme disease!). After I convinced myself to calm down, I was drawn to the images of birds and the beautiful trees that also came up during my Google image searches. Portions of Sam Houston National Forest and Lake Conroe rest side by side, which makes it a popular location for birding. Most people love birds, right? They’re a lot less terrifying to think about than feral hogs, that’s for sure.
We packed up and hit the road and the weather was everything we could have hoped for – there was still a winter chill in the air, but the warmth of the sun provided a nice balance. It was my first time camping during the winter, which meant we brought along a lot of warm layers and blankets, just in case. I tend to get cold easily and the last thing I wanted was for the experience to be ruined by my being cold just because I had not packed the layers I needed. Those layers came in handy because that night we had freezing temperatures and ended up with a little bit of frost inside our tent. But I’m jumping ahead of myself…
The drive into the park was awe-inspiring. While they’re no match for the redwoods in California that I’ve seen pictures of, the pine trees in the forest were the tallest trees I’d ever seen. The campsite area we selected after we arrived was brimming with activity, thanks to the MLK national holiday, which made it a three-day weekend. I enjoy solitude a lot, but it’s also comforting and reassuring to be camping alongside other families and friends who are having a good time. We may not know each other, but I still feel a sense of community because a common love of the outdoors brings us together, if only for a short time.
After we set up our tent we went on a brief hike on a nearby trail. It had just rained in the area in the days leading up to our visit, making the hike a very wet and muddy one, though still beautiful. We saw and heard so many birds on our hike and it made me wish I could recognize bird songs in order to identify them all. We heard many woodpeckers in the forest, were greeted by small, yellow Kentucky warblers at our campsite (picture included below!), and were generally surrounded by countless tiny birds everywhere we went.
The rain posed a different problem when we returned to our campsite – starting a fire in the face of wet / damp wood! It took some time to get it started, but once it was going, it made the cold night bearable and allowed us to enjoy the sight of the many stars in the beautiful night sky. I’ve really come to appreciate that every location where we set up camp has a different sound, based on the creatures that inhabit the area. While we could hear coyotes off in the distance, we overwhelmingly heard frogs throughout the night, which was more comforting than the howls of the coyotes.
The following morning we had breakfast, packed our things up, and spent the majority of our time exploring the Lone Star Hiking Trail. This trail is 128 miles long and consists of three major sections – we stuck primarily to one area and covered about 8 miles total that day. The sights along the trail and feeling tiny in the face of towering trees was quite a beautiful experience. Winter in Texas is truly one of the best times to go hiking and camping!
Sam Houston National Forest
394 FM 1375
New Waverly, TX 77358
(936) 344-6205
