Beech Woods Road

Dogs Unknown

Features Birding · Wildlife

This is a nice old road through the Beech Creek Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve. The track follows an old forest road to the north end of the Beech Creek Unit. The former road bed is now overgrown with a lightly used singletrack raised up above the occasionally swampy surrounding woods. Don't expect to see anyone else on this trail for the whole day. In addition to the yaupon and holly brush, there are dozens of trees that have fallen across the trail that must be hopped over, crawled under, or skirted by going into the woods. The culverts at all the creek crossings are washed out, but we were able to make everyone a dry foot crossing, sometimes by moving downed wood into the stream or just scrambling a bit.

The track ends at a pipeline right-of-way that offers an open spot to take a break. Since this is mostly left to the weeds by the park service, there are no markings or maintenance, but the road bed is easy to follow. It is a great way to experience the reason this area of Texas is called The Big Thicket.

Yaupon and holly bush grow here, amongst a thicket of other things.