Brays Bayou Central

The sky is blue, humidity is low and there is a light breeze – a perfect day to complete the final section of Brays Bayou trail.  We parked the car in the strip mall at Kirby and South MacGregor, crossed over the bridge to the path on the north side of the bayou where we finished up last time and set out eastwards towards Hermann Park where we had left the other car.  The path here runs close to the bayou and the steep slopes on either side protect you from traffic noise and views of the city so you are immediately transported to a slower, more peaceful world where water birds silently look for prey, swallows swoop by, fish jump high out of the water and flowers wave in the breeze.

We found ourselves instantly relaxing into another nice walk.  That is, until the first cyclist shouted “On your right!” and we jumped into single file to let him go by.  By the 20^th time we suffered this mild panic we were getting the message that perhaps rush hour is not the best time to walk this stretch of the trail.  The route is heavily used by commuters to the Medical District, which was now in sight ahead of us.  Despite any minor irritation we may have felt in the moment, it is very interesting to see these cycle trails being so well used.  To any of you who think that Houston is a city for cars only, I would say – look again – things are changing!

Cambridge Street Bridge

New Pedestrian Bridge

As we passed the power plant at the back of the Medical Center we had to admit that this really was not the most scenic part of the trail but we knew that beyond the medical district it would change again for the better.  Well, one day it will!  But today we abruptly came upon a “Trail Closed” notice and we were forced up off the path onto Braeswood Boulevard. To avoid the continuing construction work and to get over an, as yet un-bridged, drainage inlet we made our way over Holcombe Boulevard and onto N. McGregor Way before finally dipping back down onto the trail just before Cambridge Street where the trail leads under the rather innovative Cambridge Street bridge with its drawbridge styling and wide curving steps.    The landscaping here is taking shape and wide grassy banks open up to views of Herman Park.  Ahead we could see that work on the paths on both sides of the bayou is progressing well and it looks like the pedestrian bridge linking the two sides is nearing completion. 

Much to look forward to. But for today, we stepped away from the dust and noise back onto McGregor Way and, rather than returning directly along Herman Park Drive to the car, we fortunately chose the more circuitous and shady path which runs along the outside of Herman Park Golf Course and then turns into Greenway Trail which leads through the course back to the zoo parking area.  Here we hit upon the highlight of our walk!   A pair of black bellied whistling ducks were out swimming with their new clutch of young.  The fluffy black and yellow ducklings looked for all the world like 10 adorable little bumble bees.  I tried to capture the scene and include the least blurred of my rather disappointing shots!

A Dragon's view of McGovern Lake

Back at McGovern Lake we were greeting by, quite literally, hundreds of schoolchildren.  Home to both the Museum of Natural Science and the Zoo and providing acres of picnic area, Herman Park must be one of the most popular destinations for school outings.  Our plans to stop for a cool drink were thwarted as Pinewood Café does not open until 11:00 a.m.  But we did stop to enjoy and learn more about the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads by Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei.  This exhibition is on a world tour and will be here until June 3^rd 2012 so there is still time to get out and see these spectacular heads.

Enjoy Houston

Elaine


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Mason Park

This walk makes me think we should rename our blog to Elaine and Tamara's big adventures. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out where to go next, where to go to get through, where to go to get across the bridge, where to go to get around the fence, where to go to get back on the other side of the water, where to go to get around the mud, and where we are now. It was a long walk (approx. 5 miles), but by far the funnest we've been on. The walks just keep getting better and better.

Our initial goal was to walk the trails at Mason Park, (1.4 miles) but as you'll read, you'll realize we got a little side-tracked. We did start out there though; we parked in the free parking provided within the park, off of S. 75th St, and hopped on the first trail we saw that looked like it would take us around the park. There are several trails within Mason park so if you go there and feel uncertain as to where to get started, just follow the other walkers/joggers. There were a lot of people out using the park the day we were there. Everyone seemed to be really friendly and didn't hesitate to say hello, which was very nice - some trails don't offer up those kinds of friendly folks. 

Mason Park itself is an older park, having gotten its start under a different name in 1928. Acreage was added to it over the years along with a community center, a swimming pool, tennis courts and other upgrades.  Some parts of the park look better maintained than others. One of the most wonderful things about these older established parks are the enormous trees they have, and Mason park does not disappoint. Having a picnic under one of these giant shade-givers would be worth the trip alone but the area has so much more to enjoy.

The trail winds around the park and gives way to a wider path, set next to the bayou. Several years ago this section of the bayou had its banks widened to ease flood situations and at that time, the wide concrete trail near the water was built and some land was set aside for conservation.  The bayou is so wide here, if it moved a little faster you would think it was a big river. These industrial and conservatory efforts have created a setting in Mason Park  that is void of city-feeling. You'll find yourself looking around to get your bearings. On a couple of occasions I had to look around to  find the big buildings of downtown to make sure I hadn't been transported to the most rural, country river in Texas. The sensation, down by the bayou  -especially this section- is fantastic.

The main trail that circles around Mason Park ends near where it begins - at the parking lot off S. 75th; but if you feel up for more adventure, like we did, you can walk over the bridge and across S. 75th St. to Dallas St. We followed Dallas St. west a few blocks, through the residential neighborhood, close to where it ends. Here, Dallas St. lets into more of the formal, wide-trail, bayou conservation land, and beauty that is found across the way at Mason park.  It's difficult to spot the trail head at first because the area surrounding this part of the trail is still being developed, but once we got going on the trail the stark construction landscape quickly gave way to over-growth and wildflowers. This section of the trail is isolated and obviously less used, but more beautiful than the more widely known section at Mason Park. As a fact, I don't believe we saw one person on this part of the trail while we were there - just some golfers at the adjacent golf course. There were lots and lots of wild sun flowers which had grown so tall they had walled in the trail in several sections, lending to that feeling of being transported out of the city.

Soon we came up to an entryway to a trail crest, which is clearly a bit older and has probably been there since before the bank widening project occurred. Here, at this secondary trail, the walkway switches from concrete to asphalt, and the surrounding growth rearranges itself from wetlands to forest and thicket. One of the first things I noticed along this part of the trail were the wild mulberry trees full of ripe berries. My husband is from Iran where mulberries are consumed in abundance, and was especially happy to hear this bit of information. I think we'll go back soon to pick some. Aside from the berry trees, it's difficult to even begin listing off all the other hundreds of trees, vines, bushes, creeping wild flowers, and birds we noticed. One of the real beauties of this part of the trail was the Morning Glories which had crept on just about everything and were in full bloom. We saw lots of birds too, most were swooping and diving, and then hiding in trees -  we could hardly catch a color, much less identify them, but we had a lot of fun speculating about what we thought we had just seen. This portion of the trail ends near the Gus Wortham Golf Course driving range. There are two signs (end and begin) near this "end" that says it is the Brays Bayou Trail, so even though it's not physically connected, it must have been conceived of and built at the same time other sections of the Brays Bayou trail were. 

Morning Glories

After making a pit-stop at the golf course club house, we retraced our steps on this choicest section of the trail and found our way back to the main trail where we headed south, around a bend in the bayou, toward Lawndale St. This south part of the trail had lots more sunflowers and other interesting flowers, like the Sensitive Briar for example, which I think should be renamed Reunion Tower because that's what it immediately made me think of  - Dallas' Reunion Tower, lit up at night. I am endlessly amazed by the wild things that grow in Houston.  It should be noted that this section of the trail had some wash-out on it so was pretty muddy in places. We tried out different methods to get around or through the mud as safely as possible. Our shoes got pretty muddy, but we didn't fall -- knock wood. We happened to be there after a rain so I doubt the trail is always muddy.

Sensitive Briar

The trail ends abruptly at Lawndale Street where we stopped and spent some time figuring out how to get back to the park without backtracking through the mud. We decided to use the bridge on Lawndale St. to cross over the bayou, and had determined that respectfully walking through the beautiful Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery would be the nicest and easiest way to get us back near Mason park. The cemetery is enormous and we thought for sure we would find an outlet on the back side of it...no such luck. We didn't want to walk back through the cemetery because we were so tired having already walked over 4 miles. Some debating and trial and error about how to get out ensued; although, thankfully, neither of us suggested climbing over the fence. I won't go into too many details about the trials and errors, but let's just say, there was some squeezing and ...ahhhemm....some not fitting and some more squeezing involved. In the end we found a nice adult-sized alternative to exiting the cemetery - a bit further down we found a wide gap in the fence that didn't require any squeezing, bending or other acrobatics. I would recommend to any walkers who try out this path to by-pass the cemetery and use the neighborhood streets (as indicated in the map below). 

From the cemetery exit point, we could see the original bridge we had crossed over from the park but had to spend a bit more time figuring out how to get back to it - thank goodness for GPS. We mapped out what looked to be the shortest path and set out, encouraging one another that we could make it this final distance. We had gone about five miles at this point and were pretty well worn out, but eventually, we did make it back to the parking lot where we had parked our cars. 

This walk was beautiful, interesting, and an adventure to be certain. Next time, I think we may just stay on the trail, even if it means walking back through mud but I certainly wouldn't trade in this experience for another.

Happy Houston Trails

Tamara

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Brays Bayou Hike and Bike Trail - Central West

This section of Brays Bayou Trail was just more of a really good thing. I'm going to refer to this part of the trail as the central-west section; and even though it approaches down town Houston, I must say,  some parts of the trail feel very rural. While walking the trail, it was so nice, to get that feeling we'd succeeded in escaping the city.

As with most of Brays Bayou Hike and Bike Trail, this is an asphalt trail, un-lined  - but wide enough for walkers and bikers to pass one another yet still stay on the trail. There are drinking water fountains found every couple of miles, and this section even had a lowered fountain for our four-legged, furry friends. There are interval training stations all along the trail for those who desire a more dynamic work-out. Benches, for a rest, can be found occasionally. I haven't seen any toys or jungle gyms for kids to play on but we did pass two sweet tree-swings that kids would fight for a turn on.

Parking for this section of the trail is an issue. Of course one could always go into the surrounding neighborhoods and park on a public residential street, but Elaine and I try to avoid that when at all possible. This time we parked one of our cars at Chimney  Rock and North Braeswood Blvd (Braeswood Square Shopping Center), and another at the shopping area on the corner of Kirby and South Braeswood Blvd. We met at one locale, then took one vehicle to the other and started our walk from there. This seems to work out really good on the longer trails. It did make for a pretty long walk at 4.3 miles - not the longest we've done but we were pretty tuckered out at the end.

Herbertia

If wildflowers are what you enjoy, this section of the trail is a great pick (no pun intended) during spring time. They seem to have bloomed early this year but were still out in abundance.  On one section of the trail you can find a pocket prairie, where apparently the Houston Audubon works with other organizations to relocate wild-flowers from developing construction sites (where the flowers may be obliterated); thereby, saving the flowers and ensuring proliferation in the Houston area. It's a wonderful thing that the Houston Audubon does. Aside from the small pocket prairie, all along the trail, are flowers to see. We try our hand at identifying them but we may make mistakes here and there. Please send us an email if you happen to notice a mis-identification of any flower or animal species. We love to learn!

Cormorant and Texas Spiny Soft-shell Turtles

Mocking Bird

Along with all the flowers, we saw some animals too: a lot of caterpillars, which I had no luck in identifying, a mocking bird (seemingly mocking me as he sat just feet away from me on the back of a bench), a couple of Texas spiny soft-shell turtles, and a cormorant. We saw others too, but my camera, nor my photography skills are up to par yet. Don't tell Elaine this, but she is a better photographer than I am!

Orange Cosmos

To finish off, we searched (not far from the trail) off of Kirby 'til we found a very nice Target with a Starbucks inside. After such a walk, the coffee, sitting, and chatting were divine.

Happy Houston Trails

Tamara

Wildflowers below  (clockwise from top-left): yellow Stiff-stem flax, Wine cup, wild Sunflower, giant Spiderwort, unknown, golden bell, Dayflower, scarlet Pimpernel

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Brays Bayou Trail West

Today, we revisited one of the trails which first inspired us to search for good walks in Houston.  Brays Bayou Trail runs in an east/west direction and stretches from South Braeswood Blvd just passed Sapling Way in the west, and to McGregor Park at Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in the east – a distance of just over 14 miles.    The trail crosses the bayou a number of times and in some sections there is a path on both sides. 

In an effort to walk the trail in three sections, we parked a car at each end and walked between them. This required some parking shenanigans - we left one car in Braeswood Square on the north side of the bayou at Chimney Rock and drove west to the start of the trail, leaving the other car parked in the shopping mall by Fiesta Mart.  

 

The very first section of the trail is a little rundown but as soon as you cross South Gessner Road it improves dramatically.  The asphalt path is bordered by wide well kept grassy stretches planted with many young trees and dotted with small plantings of roses, oleanders and other flowering bushes, all of which serve to keep the traffic a very comfortable distance away.  The swallows love this combination of water and open grassland and swooped and dived in numbers all the way along the bayou. The steep grassy slopes down to the bayou have been left uncut, providing good cover for ground nesting birds and ideal conditions for a wide variety of wild flowers to become established.  We spotted (from top) yellow Stiff-stem flax, Blanket flower, Granite Spiderwort, Showy primrose, and yellow Coneflower  (bottom of page, right).

 

The trail is well used and we encountered several in-line skaters and many bikers – some out for a recreational ride, others hurrying off to work. Although the path itself is quite exposed to the elements there is ample shaded seating along the way and we even passed a water fountain near Chimney Rock. 

The new pedestrian bridges at Atwell Drive and Bob White Drive have now been completed and we enjoyed a very peaceful “construction free” walk. I love the feeling of wide open spaces and long views here.  Somehow the sky seems bigger and the city fades into the distance.  This trail is a must for bikers and walkers alike.  More on the next section soon! 

We do like to stop for a coffee after our walks but we have come to realize that the further we stray from the city centre the harder it can be to find a coffee shop.  I really do not want to admit how far we drove today in our quest for refreshment but we had a lot of fun exploring the area a few miles west of the beltway …!

  

Enjoy Houston

Elaine

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Bray's Bayou Trail (East)/Levi Vincent Perry Jr. Jogging Trail

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If you've never been on any part of Bray's Bayou Trail you're completely missing out; especially if you like to walk, jog or bike - auto traffic-free for many miles. Bray's Bayou Trail begins in MacGregor Park (located just south of University of Houston) and stretches about 15 miles to the west, ending just before the 59/Southwest Freeway. Elaine and I have been walking it in sections, not really knowing what to expect in each area but being pleasantly surprised by the diversity and continuity of the trail. This being our first time at the east end of the trail we decided to start out from the very beginning (see map above), which is located within MacGregor Park. We parked inside the park which has ample, free parking. There happened to be development construction going on in the area and some street signs were missing, so a GPS would come in handy if you're not familiar with the neighborhood.

The park itself is relatively large and one could get plenty of exercise just by walking around it a few times (which we saw some people doing), but we stuck to our plan and headed down the Bayou trail. The trail is on the North side of the park - just head toward the bayou (visible from the park) and you can't miss it. This part of the trail has a dual name so don't be confused when on the trail you see a sign marked Levi Vincent Perry Jr. Jogging Trail - rest assured you are on the Bray's Bayou trail as well.

At the beginning of the trail we saw lots of university housing (you may even see a Greek sign representing your fraternity or sorority nearby) and then almost immediately, in sharp contrast, the trail lets into a lovely neighborhood with enormous homes over-looking the bayou. This is for sure one of my favorite parts of the trail, walking among those large houses with the their big front lawns made me feel I had gone back in time. In this section the trail was very quiet and the few people we encountered were friendly and energetic. We were passed by only a few bikes; on this weekday it was mostly walkers.  

The trail seemed endless with its big, loose curves and larger properties on either side, but eventually we moved into an area where the back yards were facing the trail, which did tighten up the trail slightly but also gave us so many trees and blooming plants to look at. We were surprised at how many things were in bloom in December. We can only assume that the blooms were an effort at recovery after the recent drought Houston experienced. Whatever the reason it made for a spring-like walk in mid winter. A lovely experience. 

Still heading west, and ever closer to Hermann Park, we soon began to see a few businesses, apartment complexes, and more cars along the cross streets. We decided after about 2 1/2 miles to turn around, which happened to be at Ardmore Street.* We had walked thus far on the south side of the bayou, not quite sure if the trail on the north side was completely asphalt or partially dirt. The bayou is wide enough and has just enough grass growing along it's edges, it often shrouds the trail on the opposite side. In some areas there is an asphalt (or concrete) trail, and other areas there is only a well-traveled dirt trail, and still occasionally no trail at all. Pleasantly though, at the east end of Bray's Bayou Trail there are fully maintained trails on both sides. For our return trip, we crossed over the bridge on Ardmore, headed east on the north side and were equally happy with this sister trail. Here we sighted things like the beautiful Riverside United Methodist Church steeple, which hadn't captured our attention while walking west. 

 Following our walk, since there were no coffee shops nearby, we drove from MacGregor Park, over the bridge and down the road (just a few blocks) to the main campus of the University of Houston. Since neither of us are that familiar with the campus, we proceeded to get lost while searching for coffee -we had fun none-the-less and the university students were very pleasant and willing to help us with directions to a coffee shop. It was beautiful weather on that day, which hi-lighted the University of Houston campus so I'm sure we will feature it on a future blog. 

In future, we'll also be featuring, in sections, the rest of the entire Bray's Bayou trail. Be sure to check back if you are interested in walking or biking this trail.

Happy Houston Trails

Tamara

* About 100 yards west of Ardmore Street (where we turned around) is where another trail, the ColumbiaTap Rail Trail, intersects with the Bray's Bayou Trail. This long trail goes straight through the Texas Southern University Campus and ends downtown at Walker and Dowling Streets, very near the new BBVA Compass Stadium. We will be writing about this trail in a later post.