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Houston Area Parks

38K views 396 replies 13 participants last post by  1911Scorpion 
#1 ·
Hey I wanted to start a post not only for me but for other locals who may not know about all the parks that we have in and around our area.

What I would like to do is basically post up where you have been, what the park is like (mud, trails, ect...), maybe a difficulty level (as in will you break your quad here), and also the parking or accessability to the park.

Currently I am a bit limited since I sold my truck and pull my quad to places with my car. Some places I can get to and park/ride (National Forest) and some I wouldn't dream of trying to take my car in.

I think this would be informative and helpful for some.

Hows that sound to everyone? Worth the time and effort?
 
#261 ·
Wow Capn, what are the odds of getting a hole in your tire from somebody else's lost hole plugger. The irony is extreme. I think you should consider getting a lottery ticket.
 
#262 ·
OK, reserved a cabin for the 6th and 7th of November at River Run.

If your interested in meeting up there, let us know.
 
#265 ·
I know it's supposed to rain this weekend. Anybody wanna go ride this weekend?
 
#266 ·
Ok, just a reminder; Nov 6th, 7th, and 8th BadElly and me are headin' over to the River Run ATV park in Jacksonville. We have a cabin that can sleep plenty of people. If you're interested in coming along, let us know.
 
#267 ·
Wish I could go with you guys on this one, however I should have some good news after this weekend. I am picking up a beater to haul my quad around with. Now weather be damned I can get in and out.

Its nothing impressive and I am paying very little for it so I cant complain.

2000 Oldsmobile Bravada...Its all time AWD and has a little 4.3 V6
 

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#268 ·
Congrats, that looks good! We'll take some photos and share 'em.
 
#270 ·
Oh gawd, it was sad. And no photos to share.

We arrived on Friday, around one or so. They had recently gotten a lot of rain. We check in and unpack everything. Went for an exploratory ride. That place is really big. Saw more than a few deer on the trails. The mud on the trails was manageable, no worries. They had some mud-bogs we avoided, but looked forward to seeing the unwashed masses throwing themselves at it. The rain was relatively light, off and on.

We get back to the cabin about a couple hours later and hooked up with a small party of people that knew the trails really well. We went for a couple of rides. Popped my cherry with my first Night Ride! I like it.

We head back to the cabin and sack out. So far, so good, right? We were really looking forward to a solid, full day of riding on Saturday.

But Mother Nature had other plans. That devious bitch.

There are two roads to enter River Run from. One of them was already under water. The road we came in on was fine.

Saturday morning when everyone was eating or getting ready to ride one of the employees found me; He remembered I tow my trailer with a car. The river was supposed to rise another 6 inches and more than likely drown the remaining road. I would probably end up not being able to leave the park if I waited too long. BadElly tows his with a truck, but decided to leave as well. Within an hour and a half were were all packed up and ready to leave. I didn't cry too much. Just a little pouting.

During this time, the employee (Can't remember his name, but a good guy) started making his rounds to everyone and gave an updated report; A revised forecast for the river indicated it would rise another 12 inches, not six.

So all in all, we were there less than 24 hours. We only got maybe 4 1/2 hours of riding in. Round trip is 6 hours of drive time. With all the preparation and packing, it was really an upside down thing.

We'll go back as soon as scheduling allows, but if there's even a chance of the roads flooding, I won't make it.

The Park is really good (What little we saw of it) and the riding we experienced was top notch. I look forwards to going there again.
 
#271 ·
Syko...I'm sorry to hear that the trip went that way.

Seems like we both had a run of bad luck...The SUV I picked up seemed perfect...until I let it sit at home for 24 hours and cranked it the next day and heard the lifter tapping pretty damn loud. It went perfectly quite after 2 minutes of running so that tells me that they warmed it up before I picked it up.

I will be returning it to the owner in Willis this saturday morning. From there since my wife has been cool as hell through all of this and including the fact its been a year I've owned the quad and still have not taken her out on it...I will be jogging from Willis up to Sams for a couple hours of riding. I can't stay too long since I litterally am house sitting my families house/pets this weekend.

Just dropping that info out in case anyone is going to be up that way and wants to tag along.
 
#272 ·
I'd meet ya up there but I'm heading to San Antonio with buddies from work. Guess I'll finally see what the River Walk is all about.

Be safe and good luck with the car.
 
#273 ·
If you get a chance swing by Henry's Puffy Tacos... And LuLu's cafe for breakfast. We never make a trip to SA without hitting them up.
 
#274 ·
Ok, unless I luck into being off on an unscheduled Sat or Sun, my next days off will be Dec 21-22 and Dec 28-29. Those are both Mondays and Tuesdays.

Anybody interested in riding the Sam Houston National Forest? I won't go by myself; The place is too big and remote. But the riding is top notch!

If you do decide to go, you'll have to get an OHV permit. They cost about $16 and are good from Sept thru Aug. You can get them through the parks department and some of the motorsport places sell them...
 
#275 ·
Wish I could join you, but week days are a big no go for me. I have gone twice by myself out there and never got lost. That RiderX app you have will get you everywhere you need to go and back home safely. That was the only place I have used it at.

Also do not forget your helmet along with your ORV permit.
 
#276 ·
Yup, helmet, boots, gloves...

I love the riderx app. Used it for the little bit we rode out at Riverrun.

At this point I just worry about bad luck scenarios when alone. With a buddy, it's all worry free.
 
#277 ·
Well my next day off is this coming Saturday...was thinking about hitting up DSO. Weather looks friggen amazing! I may even take the wife out if she is nice to me :hump:

I'm looking to see how the new rims/tires do! Most likely going to wind up stuck I'm sure since I went less aggressive...we shall see!
 
#278 ·
Well I went across the street to Xtreme instead...been here a little bit now...will be out here a while longer.

Freakin perfect weather!!!
 
#279 ·
So TxS, how'd it go? How'd the tires do? You're right, the weather was perfect. I was jealous.:irked:
 
#280 ·
It went great!! The day was PERFECT! I couldn't have asked for a nicer day. The park filled up very fast though since they had a toy drive that day that I was unaware of.

The tires did great as well...I never got stuck, however since I was solo I did avoid some of the really bad areas. But I also went through some sh*t when I grouped up with some rzrs and still did damn well!

On a side note that Coverall spray cut my clean up time in half! I still had to wash off the residue marks, but I only brought home about 1/4 the mud I usually do and like I said full wash down and garaged took me only an hour and half vs the usual 3.
 
#281 ·
hey Everyone,

Hope all had a awesome thanksgiving!
I haven't been able to get out on my quad since i bought it!! I'm determined to get out this friday, my wife wants to go so we were planning on going to creekside park for a few hours, pretty close to me (45 min ) , anyone have any experiences on creekside?
 
#282 ·
It's a great first timers park, I thoroughly enjoy it, it isn't too much acreage either so you learn your way around pretty fast. Just watch your step VERY closely if there is standing water anywhere out there because they allow trucks as well, so if you go running through what you think is a puddle you might wind up under water because some of those ruts are extremely deep.
 
#283 ·
Thanks! My wife and I are looking for more just trail riding, really don't want to snorkel the quad..lol. want to go out to hidden falls but kinda far for this first time out. Still got the stock tires on it too... sucks..lol waiting for hopefully Santa to bring me new tires and rims..:)
 
#285 ·
You just missed out on a helluva deal from Discount Tire for Black Friday...I snagged my spare rims/tires from them on that sale.
 
#286 ·
I can't wait to go to Hidden Falls. I want to try and get us a whole group together. That would be an epic weekend! Maybe in the spring time.

I'm going to try to get off this Saturday or Sunday to go ride. Might be able to call in a favor. I'll keep ya posted.
 
#287 ·
Man you've got some bad luck picking weekends off. I'd save it for a different time. 80% chance both Saturday and Sunday.
 

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#288 ·
Thanks for the heads up. Guess I won't be going. I'm getting superstitious. Seems every time I wanna go, the rain comes a knockin.
 
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