April 11, 2021
We are fortunate to live near the Sam Houston National Forest. The forest covers over 160,000 acres and has several dirt roads and hiking trails running through it. It is a popular area for hiking, camping, and hunting.
Kristi and I used to drive the dirt roads through the forest many years ago, but recently it has regained our interest. We have a few favorite spots that make nice places to get away to for a bit, but are not terribly far from civilization. Most of the roads that are open to the public are easy enough for most 2-wheel drive vehicles to navigate, at least up to a point. Some of the roads run deep into the woods and should only be attempted by experienced drivers who have 4×4 vehicles with high clearance. A shovel and recovery tracks (or something similar) are a good idea to bring along if you decide to brave the jeep trails.
One nice place that is easy to access is Forest Road 213, located off of Four Notch Road on the south side of Huntsville, Texas. There are several camping spots and a trailhead along this road. It more-or-less dead-ends into a couple of jeep trails, but everything up to that point is pretty easy to drive through. The woods are beautiful through here, offering peace and quiet, as well as plenty of birds and other wild animals to observe.
Due to a limitation in Google Maps, the map above does not highlight the entire road. FR 213 turns left at an intersection. I do not recommend going straight at this point unless you have a 4×4, as the road gets a little rough back in the hunting camp. But, if you turn left you can go for quite a distance before the road becomes difficult to navigate.
A little before the halfway point between the turn and the end of the easy part of the road, there is a narrow road that leads to a clearing in the forest (see the map). The weeds grow high in this clearing, but I imagine that during some parts of the year it is fairly easy to walk through. The clearing looks like a good place to camp, with a wide view of the sky and the forest all around.
Going back out the way we came in, we turned onto FR 223, which took us back to Four Notch Road. We then headed south and visited Boswell Church. There is a historical marker on the grounds.
