The Enchanted Path

February 9, 2025

I’ve talked about the Enchanted Path in several posts. We first came across it during our Sun Dappled Forest and Dusty Spider Webs (Part II) adventure, and have since revisited it in Pecans, Tractors, and Dark Magic, and Last Adventure of 2023. It had been near the top of our list for a revisit, but hunting seasons and horseflies had prevented us from exploring it. Now was a good time to go, as the weather was good, hunting season was over, and the horseflies have not yet emerged.

But what would we find? Where would it lead us? A hidden realm? A magical kingdom? A secret civilization of technologically advanced raccoons?

The road we call the Enchanted Path is actually Forest Service Road 202M, which is located off of Forest Service Road 202/John Warren Road in the Sam Houston National Forest near the Big Woods Hunters Camp.

The road surface is gravel and is raised for at least part of its run. It does not appear to have been maintained for a while, and is covered in pine needles, fallen limbs, and some trees. The gate has been closed since we found it. The road is not drivable, anyway.

The first part of the path is fairly easy to walk, despite a few small, fallen trees and some tree limbs.

The woods are thick on both sides of the road. Most of the trees seem to have regrown in a natural pattern since this area was last logged. One long section near the entrance is planted in rows, but it is not immediately obvious from the ground.

Some attention has been paid to drainage along the path, at least near the entrance. We came across a couple of dry, shallow creeks that crossed the road through culverts. The waterflow for the second creek must have been pretty high fairly recently, though, as there was significant erosion on both sides of the road.

We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife on our short hike. This is not unusual for this time of year, though. The most abundant fauna that I saw were a handful of wolf spiders scurrying through the pine needles. We did hear some woodpeckers, though.

The path runs fairly straight. Looking back, we could see the truck at the entrance.

Most of the forest floor is fairly clear, but there was one section where the yaupon trees have gotten a bit thick. I don’t know how often they perform prescribed burns, but it is obvious from the color of the lower tree trunks that one was performed here not terribly long ago.

I spotted an enormous fire ant mound near the path. It was at least two feet tall, if not taller. I suppose this isn’t surprising, as this colony most likely lives mainly above ground due to the likelihood of minor flooding in this area during heavy rains.

When we started our journey from home, it was mostly overcast and looked as if it might rain. But the clouds were starting the break up while we were at the Enchanted Path.

At some point, Kristi got tired and decided to head back to the truck. I wanted to continue on a little further. On her way back she captured this image of a big, fat gnome that was probably examining a fungus-covered pine log.

Here is a fungus-covered pine log:

Shortly after Kristi and I parted ways, I came across this large puddle that covered the entire width of the path. I noticed that the raised portion of the road had ended, and although still a gravel surface, it was now pretty close to level with its surroundings. I found an easy path around the puddle, though.

Most of the trees in this area looked pretty young to me–maybe only two or three decades old. But this one stood out, being much taller and wider than its neighbors:

Nearby, though, was this itty-bitty pine, which was about three inches tall:

It wasn’t long before I came across another puddle. My intention was to follow the path up to the logs that are visible in the distance in the image below.

There were quite a few fallen trees in this area. This one looks to have fallen a long time ago:

Looking back, again, the entrance and truck were still visible. The white “dot” below and to the right of the truck (but actually much closer to me) is Kristi!

We came across a few crayfish chimneys along the way. It may seem strange that crayfish live in the forest. Most species that people are familiar with live in or near large bodies of water. But there are several species that are content to burrow deep into the ground in places that are nowhere near permanent surface water features.

I found an interesting (to me) website call the American Crayfish Atlas that has an interactive map that shows sites where various species have been found. It lists the species name and conservation status. Although none had been cataloged along the Enchanted Path, nearby sites within the Sam Houston National Forest included the species Procambarus clarkii, Procambarus acutus, and Procambarus kensleyi, all of which are listed with a conservation status of “least concern.” So, there’s plenty of crawdaddies in the forest, I guess.

I bet you didn’t start this post thinking you’d get a short lesson on crayfish, did you?

After bypassing the second puddle, it became clear that the condition of the road had deteriorated greatly. I would have needed rubber boots to continue any further, and then there were the fallen trees to contend with. Yes, the log in the foreground is a single tree! (And it continues a good distance on either side of the image.)

Altogether I had hiked a little more than a quarter mile from the entrance. Given that I wasn’t equipped to deal with the obstacles that lay ahead, I decided to turn around and rejoin Kristi, who had decided to wait for me along the path.

After getting back to the truck, Kristi pointed past one end of the fence and said, “Does that look like the figure of a person standing out there to you?” Yes, it did. But it may have just been a stump. But it may also have been the Guardian of the Enchanted Path.

We started to drive back the way we came, but along the way I decided to take a different route–one that my brother, Jimmy, and I took when we encountered the warlock in Pecans, Tractors, and Dark Magic. But we didn’t get very far. Apparently, the warlock had seen us coming and used his dark magic to bring down a large oak tree across the road. We had to turn back and leave the way we had originally come.

So, that’s it. The Enchanted Path is not a magic corridor to a hidden realm or magical kingdom. It is just an ordinary path through a beautiful, quiet forest. If not for the horseflies, I would love to visit when things are greener and drier. And who knows? Maybe beyond those puddles and fallen trees lies a civilization of raccoons who have mastered quantum computing.

For now, at least, our curiosity has been satisfied.