Columbia Tap Rail-Trail South-West Section

64°F and a very overcast and misty morning - the perfect day for us to walk the second half of the Columbia Tap Rail-Trail!  We thought we would start at the southern end of the trail and walk up to where we left off last time.  There is a small amount of street parking at the very beginning of the trail on North MacGregor Way just east of Ennis Street beside Mills Bennett Park and we suggest this would be a good place to start.  We cannot recommend the convoluted and rather muddy route that we decided to take from Houston Zoo through all the noisy construction of the bayou path on South MacGregor Way!  But when this final section of Brays Bayou Trail is completed, hopefully in a few months time, this will be very pleasant option.

Texas Redbud Tree

The eastern redbud trees were in bloom in the park so the cameras were out before we even got started.  It appears that a good deal of money has been invested in paving this trail and planting trees, shrubs and grass along its borders and we were impressed to find recycling containers beyond the park. 

Just before Blodgett Street we stopped to admire the St Mary Montessori School garden safely enclosed by substantial fencing. The well stocked raised beds were evidence of some budding young gardeners.

St. Mary Montessori School Garden

Over the road the trail enters Texas Southern University where it is lined with solar powered street lights and becomes busy with students walking and cycling.  We refrained from taking any extra activity at the exercise station beyond TSU and turned around at Holman Street, content that we had seen the trail in its entirety.    On the return journey we sat for a while in the TSU grounds enjoying the buzz and planning a future walk from this campus through to the University of Houston to the east.

Texas Southern University Campus

Back at the start, the trail officially ends at the bridge between the North and South McGregor Way but of course we still had a way to go to get back to our cars!  We chose the slightly easier route along the north side of the bayou and through Herman Park Golf Course back to the zoo. 

No morning walk is complete without coffee so we drove off to Dirk’s Coffee on Montrose for refreshments and a pleasant seat outside in the now warm sunshine.

Enjoy Houston

Elaine

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Columbia Tap Rail-Trail - Northeast Section

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This trail was discovered by accident when I was researching about the Rails-to-Trails projects all across the United States. We have a few of these rail conversion projects in Houston, which we will no-doubt highlight in future blogs. Today though, we tackled the northeast half of the Columbia Tap Rail-Trail.

The trail starts in an interesting location, not in a park or a residential area as is typical for trails, but right on the edge of Old Chinatown on the near-east side of downtown Houston. In the early days, it would have, of course been a logical location for a train to cut through Houston, since that area is also an old warehouse district. The trail begins at Dowling and Walker Streets. We found this to be an intriguing part of town because there is a lot of construction going on in the area, including the BBVA Compass soccer stadium just two blocks over .There's not much parking, other than on-street parking in the vicinity of the trail head, but public (pay) parking does begin to occur about four blocks west nearer 59 Freeway and the George R. Brown Convention Center. I suspect that the Compass stadium will have pay parking as well, once it is complete this spring, but that's conjecture. 

Rail Trail (Left) - Purple Metro Line (Right)

The trail itself is relatively new concrete, and nice and wide - plenty of room for two people to walk next to one another and allow for passing bikes and other walkers. It is marked with a yellow line in the middle. The trail starts out rather nostalgically, right between two old warehouses but quickly lets into a big, easy turn, pointing us into the southwesterly direction. Just at the turn we began to see the active railroad tracks (there happened to be a train blowing its horn as we passed)  in the nearby distance. Here at this turn, right next to the trail, and much to our surprise, is a soon-to-be-completed portion of the Southeast/Purple Metro line. These new Metro lines couldn't be ready too soon for Houston and it's ever-growing population and traffic. It's was so nice to see how it's progressing. Just after the Metro line veered off in the opposite direction from the trail, we noticed quite a lot of new apartment housing on one side and business expansion on the other. 

Beyond all of the new construction and immediately to the east of the trail (between Leland and Hwy 45) is the enormous Oak Farms Dairy milk processing plant - a tidy and interesting sight lined with milk trucks. Neither of us knew it was there until we walked by. It's an impressive sight, something kids may be interested in seeing if they walk by.

The west side of 45 revealed the greater Third Ward residential area, chock full of quaint little houses and sprinkled with churches and a few small businesses. We passed by quite a few friendly folks, all seemingly headed to specific destinations. We didn't pass by many exercisers on foot, although we were passed by a few fellows on bikes. We made it to Holman St. before we got tired and turned around. I can't say there was much in the way of fauna on this walk, although we did manage a picture of some pretty flowers and over-growth. On the return trip we also spotted a hawk on a power line - seemed to be hunting in a vacant lot.

Over-all I loved this walk because it was so interesting to see the east business district and the new developments there. I think we'll take our husbands back to this trail for a bike ride. It'd be perfect for a Saturday morning bike ride.

Happy Houston Trails

Tamara