Hi, folks! I'm really excited to get my son out camping this year, and he's ready to go. We live in Houston, so I'm essentially looking for something within 4.5 hours driving of Houston that has some good hills and mountains that we can go hiking on. I would prefer primitive/secluded options, but would accept great campground recommendations as well. I've been looking on HipCamp and not really finding much. We'd likely be going in October once Texas starts cooling down.

Dinosaur valley is awesome, pretty hilly and had primitive sites that are mostly secluded.
Also should be within your driving range in Glen rose

No hills or mountains, but the Lone Star Hiking Trail is great for a Fri-Sun backpacking trip.

Lost Maples SNA has several hike in primitive sites. Not a whole lot of elevation.

You have to go pretty far west to get any serious hills or mountains.

aggie_wes said:

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Dinosaur valley is awesome, pretty hilly and had primitive sites that are mostly secluded.
Also should be within your driving range in Glen rose

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Second this. I've taken my 3 and 4 year old to Dinosaur Valley twice. Primitive sites require reservations and are about .5-1 mile hike from parking - that's plenty when your hauling a bunch of crap. We liked campsite 3 and 4.

Colorado Bend SP.

Hill Country SNA is another option.

HIghway 290 Underpass in Austin is nice. Some of the best crack in the area.

I second Colorado bend. Lots of hills and lots of primitive.

Inks lake SP may be a good jumping off point. They have group primitive available, not sure about for families.

Pedernales Falls has a side of the park that is all hiking trails and I believe hike in sites.

Buescher State park/Bastrop state park have primitive camping only areas and lots of hiking trails, and are not that far from the Houston area. There are hills, but nothing I would call "mountainous".

I would make sure Dinosaur Valley didnt burn in the Chalk Mountain fire

Out of all these, Lost Maples remains my favorite. Combining east and west trails gets you a nice three day hike. A to C has decent elevation change as well as a couple of spots on the west trail.

FunkyTownAg said:

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I would make sure Dinosaur Valley didnt burn in the Chalk Mountain fire

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You should be good to go.
TPWD website for the dinosaur valley SP says it's fully open. Only warning is a burn ban on wood & charcoal fires that was put in place on 6/24/2022.
Texas A&M forestry service website for chalk mountain fire has no current evacuations. Fire is 67% contained and approx 6400 acres as of 7/29/2022 update.

Not mountains by any stretch, but there are some surprising hills on trail between the lakes - Rayburn to Toledo Bend

We live near Boerne and my son went through cub and boy scouts here.

For the SA area, concur with other's suggestions:
Hill Country SNA
Lost Maples SNA
and Pedernales Falls.

Also Enchanted Rock (not exactly primitive but there are sites you have to hike into).

Oh and Lost Maples and Enchanted Rock fill up early, so book campsites early!

If you're driving out on a Friday and arriving in the evening, Lost Maples can be hit or miss. There are some close in areas that had a decent amount of partying. If you get there early enough, you can hike around to the areas that are fairly empty and it's really enjoyable.

All of these have some decent hiking terrain with reasonable hill country elevation changes. Not Colorado, but pretty good to get in shape. In 2019, we did all of these every 3-4 weekends from January to June preparing for Philmont and everyone was in pretty good shape for New Mexico.

TrustTheAwesomeness said:

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We live near Boerne and my son went through cub and boy scouts here.

For the SA area, concur with other's suggestions:
Hill Country SNA
Lost Maples SNA
and Pedernales Falls.

Also Enchanted Rock (not exactly primitive but there are sites you have to hike into).

Oh and Lost Maples and Enchanted Rock fill up early, so book campsites early!

If you're driving out on a Friday and arriving in the evening, Lost Maples can be hit or miss. There are some close in areas that had a decent amount of partying. If you get there early enough, you can hike around to the areas that are fairly empty and it's really enjoyable.

All of these have some decent hiking terrain with reasonable hill country elevation changes. Not Colorado, but pretty good to get in shape. In 2019, we did all of these every 3-4 weekends from January to June preparing for Philmont and everyone was in pretty good shape for New Mexico.

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Our scout troop used to go to Enchanted Rock and hike in. I would reserve Buzzard's Roost for them. It's not a normal campsite near other people. It's quite a bit more expensive but it is intended for groups. However anyone can rent it if I remember correctly.

You used to have to call to reserve it but you might be able to do it via the website now.