Off-road trails "lite" question

Does anyone know of any off-road trails that are more on the scenic side of things than on the extreme side? Trails that don't get much more involved than this:

Have you looked into the Big Bend area of the state?

Obviously, caution would be the word of the day considering the area's close proximity to the border.

But.....it is absolutley beautiful.

A couple of links:

http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/primitive-dirt-roads.htm

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/big-bend-ranch

That's perfect. Do you know of any a little closer in that won't require an armed guard or 10?

No, but rumor has it I can direct you to some nice shopping malls.

I was waiting for the jab, but that's ok, I already know which mall parking lot has bigfoot...kinda looking for something new.

Ya, hubby said I was asking for it. :dh:But Texas has some beautiful country out there & would love to take some "out of site" camping trips to see it. Thought who better to ask than the people here.

Ahhh…..Let me ‘splain.

My mall comment was not directed at you.

It was an intentionally self-inflicted wound…….BEFORE Matt, Candi or Steve could plunge the knife in my gut and twist it mercilessly.

Ya, I've seen some mall jabs at your expense. Gotta say...kinda funny.

Gunner_45 said:

Payback for my past transgressions…….I pretty much deserve it.

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That's for damm sure.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapataint

Julie, I haven't done much of that in Texas. I am sure some of the guys can help you out with this.

I have friends who's driveways are more challenging than that road.

Come on out to Colorado this summer and I'll take you on some really nice trails. You'll be fine. No need to worry. I wouldn't risk hurting my HUMMER, but there are some fire trails that make you wonder why everyone doesn't own a HUMMER.

"Lite" trails are great. I love just getting out and traversing forest roads and the like.

Julie there are some mild trails around the Sam Houston National Forest that aremore like logging roads.

You and the Hubby are actually ready for a little more than what you think but it would be better to find others to go with you. By the way I did not forget about you. I have a package ready to ship for you.

You can find forest service road maps here It can be hard to tell what type of surface the different roads are but comparing to google maps aerial views you can usually figure it out.

That is a nice resource Steve, thanks.

@ DJinCO: there were some awsome trails where we were in that pic but I was just wanting a laid back trip for a time with some spectacular views but still not on the paved road. I would love to hit Colorado & may hit you up on that if you're not careful!

@Green 1: it's not what you think...I had a fantastic time with you guys, felt completely safe (the last 2 trails were a little hairy for me but amazed at what my car could do), & really look forward to us all doing it again! My story went from bad to down right agonizing though. As you know at Marble Falls I ended up getting car sick (has happened to me since I was a kid). I felt it coming on when we braked for lunch & I should've stopped then but we were having so much fun I said what the hell I can finish it. Well as you know I ended up having to miss dinner cause I was too motion sick to make it. Well that ended up being the worst car sickness I have ever had in my life! Still dizzy that following Tuesday I went to work. That following Saturday at work I started getting sick (first time in 3 yrs?!). Well that fresh hell turned out to be a 1.5 week long nightmare of 3 different trips to the Dr & a near ER visit. Now I still have a bit of a headache & some dizziness (though this dizziness is from the reaction to the medicine I took vs our trip. Whew! that was a lot.

With all that said, I have felt like total crap ever since that Saturday at Marble Falls unfortunately. I am slowly starting to feel better and hopefully will be at the top of my game soon. Anyway, I had such a great time at Marble Falls that I am trying to find a little "lite" off-roading for the time being till I get over this Twilight Zone crap I have and can then get back to a little more extreme than DJinCO's driveway.

By the way, Lincoln had a blast & has not stopped talking about it. He is now on the market for a Hummer...he says now...I say soon. He loved yours! I am so happy he liked it as much as he did & liked all of you. Figures we both find something we like to do a lot together & I go & have a Twilight Zone moment. Oh, & no worries or hurries on the package; just happy you're sending anything at all. Sorry if this was a bit winded.

Great site Steve#1!

They got any drugs for that motion sickness you have?

Unfortunately Dramamine knocks you on your butt & I love my Hummer too much to try that one. They do make a patch & I don't know if it has the same effects or not so I will be looking into anything to help!

This is a bit late but I get the notices fairly often from Delorme. Get you a Texas Road Atlas so when you do hear of roads you might like you can find them.
If you happen to see this before midnight, lol because it ends then, use code 9978 to get the sale price.
http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10096&promotion=9978

They have sales from time to time and some boxed sets that are a deal. I have sometimes missed the deadline and ordered it anyway and at check out it still showed the discount.
I will try to remember to post up when there are sales.

Most of what I do is cruising the National Forest Service roads searching for waterfalls and scenery to photograph as well as camping and canoeing. That is what is so great about the H3. I can pack up and be gone for days and never leave the state.
Here in Arkansas you can volunteer with them and you get maps with marked trails and their condition. I use my GPS map plotter program on a laptop to inventory the roads I do go down.
I was the aerial photographer for Arkansas and have mapped the entire state from 10,000 feet above mean sea level using a mapping camera that shoots 10 x 10 negatives that overlap forward 60% and we got 20% side lap consistently. Great fun, and that was before GPS!
So I'm a map guy and love to study places to go.
This is the site of a Forest tower built by the CCC and has rocks laied out to designate the location number back when WWII was ramping up. The planes could check their way points when flying on training missions.
I see lots of Texas plates in extreme West Arkansas when camping weather is nice.

Cossatot River, great at flood stage for canoeing, when most of these rocks are submerged. I got trapped in the "Washing machine" in this picture at flood stage longer than I care to remember!!

One of hundreds of falls in the back country

Maybe someday I can get up a Hummer rally get together, in all my spare time, lol.

bendyprissy said:

Unfortunately Dramamine knocks you on your butt & I love my Hummer too much to try that one. They do make a patch & I don't know if it has the same effects or not so I will be looking into anything to help!

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Julie - terrible to hear you've been struggling with this! A natural remedy that helps is ginger tablets before you think motion sickness may strike. I've spent a good amount of time on the ocean where sea sickness can be the most miserable thing imaginable and taking ginger a few hours in advance can make all the difference in the world without ending up horizontal from Dramamine - it does that to me too. It may not prevent it entirely, but it should help.

I've done some of these and they're nice day drives with the significant other to relax and enjoy the scenery. Though I'd have to agree with the Big Bend suggestion. That place feels prehistoric to me ... the geology is amazing.

http://hillcountryoutdoorguide.com/activity/scenic-drives/

The Austin to Llano drive is particularly nice ... lots of gravel road with cattle guards, a few creek crossings ... you'll see lots of livestock, windmills, deer, goats and some exotic game. I don't know about the Houston area and I'm from there - I always headed for the hills when I wanted to see something scenic ... flat land bores me.