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Doggin’ Houston: Where To Hike With Your Dog When In The Bayou City

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It was 1900 when Houston got its first park, the Kellem-Noble land backing against
the Buffalo Bayou on the edge of town. Sam Houston Park at Bagby and Lamar
streets was soon landscaped into a Victorian delight with an old mill, a stream, a
rustic bridge, and walking paths. Since 1954 the park has been the home of The
Heritage Society that preserves eight historic structures here in the menacing
shadow of surrounding skyscrapers. The 19-acre park is a welcome spot to lounge
with your dog in downtown Houston.

To stretch out and hike with your dog the call is Brazos Bend State Park, 35 minutes
to the southwest. This area at a wide bend in the Brazos Biver is the site of Texas
founder Stephen F. Austin’s first colonial land grant from Mexico in 1822. Five years
later the land was deeded to Abner Harris and William Barrett who used the
advantageous river location to ship cotton. In the years before the state of Texas
purchased the land cattle grazed here, pecans were harvested and private hunting
parties prowled the woods and swamps. Brazos Bend State Park – one of the largest
in Texas with 4,987 acres – opened in 1984.

This is easy, relaxing canine hiking. There is scarcely any elevation change over 20
miles of single-track multi-use trails and old fire roads. The footpaths are often
wide and almost univer- sally well-maintained.

An easy leg-stretcher at Brazos Bend is the Creekfield Lake Nature Trail, a paved
half-mile trot through the wetlands. One of the most popular canine hikes in the
park is the 4.5-mile White Oak Trail through a thick forest of willows, sycamores,
cottonwood and oaks decked out in Spanish moss. The confluence of Big Creek and
the Brazos River calls up the deepest of Louisiana bayous.

One of the prime attractions of Brazos Bend State Park is its alligators. The park
features six lakes and numerous water-filled depressions that can house an
alligator. There are an estimated 250 gators over 6 feet long in the park’s waters.
Some of the best places to spot America’s largest reptiles are on the trails along the
biggest lakes – Elm Lake and 40-Acre Lake. Spring and fall are when they are most
active. Although no one has ever been killed by an American alligator in Texas
and a gator can go a whole year without eating, you will still want to keep your dog
close in Brazos Bend State Park.

For a change of pace, take the dog onto the Prairie Trail that penetrates swamplands
and upland coastal grass prairies. This is prime habitat for avian-loving canine
hikers.

Brazos Bend State Park is reached by traveling approximately 20 miles southeast of
Richmond on FM 762, or by traveling south from Houston on State Highway 288 to
Rosharon, then west on FM 1462.

copyright 2006

Doug Gelbert is the author of over 20 books, including The Canine Hiker’s Bible.
To subscribe to his FREE Newsletter on hiking with your dog and receive a copy
of Rules for Dogs in 100 of the Most Popular National Park Service Lands, visit
http://www.hikewithyourdog.com In the warmer months he leads canine hikes
for hikewithyourdog.com tours, guiding packs of dogs and humans on hiking
adventures. Tours, ranging from one-day trips to multi-day explorations, visit
parks, historical sites and beaches.