I have never been before, but I have a strong interest in backpacking. I have lots of friends that are boy scouts and eagle scouts, so I would be going with a knowledgable group. I have been looking at Hill Country SNA and Inks Lake SP, any other good places?

"The road goes on forever and the party never ends."

quote:

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any other good places?

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Oh yeah. The Olypmic Mountain range in Washington State.

I think of myself as a Texan through and through, but if you want good backpacking, then you will need to look outside our great state.

i mean, Enchanted Rock can only get you so far.







Now having said this, I realize that "good" backpacking is a personal thing. What do you define good backpacking as?
Elevation change? Good vistas? Following a river?

http://backpacker.trimbleoutdoors.com/TripSearch.aspx?state=TX&mode=ByState

Backpacking in Texas is a lot like Kayaking in Texas.

You get wet, but it may take some effort.

The trip we always did when short on time was in the Sangre De Cristos between Santa Fe and Las Vegas. There are a couple of 13's up there and the weather is favorable to backpacking (i.e. cooler).

Lake Georgetown is good. I'm going this weekend and will let you know about the trail.

And you don't have to go too far for great backpacking. The Lone Star Trail is a 128 mile backpacking trail that stretches from Cold Springs to Richards in the Sam Houston National Forest. I've read a few trail logs from it and it seems like a great trail.

If you ever want a backpacking buddy let me know. I love going.

I live in northern Round Rock, so Georgetown would be real easy to get to. Just about 10-15 min from my house. I would really like a trail that follows a river, because I like fishing a lot, so I want time to do that.

lake georgetown is a good hike, 16 miles around ( my troop put up all those damn mile markers) best stretch is from tejas to cedar breaks, there are a few primitive camping sites out there as well

oh tejas, we used to party there all the time back in high school and go on druken midnight hiking trips, that was fun stuff, I guess 16 miles would be good for about 2 days, I was looking for something about 4 days though, anyone backpack at inks lake? I'm just afriad it will be real busy in the summer, I want to get away, and I also want to hike along either a river or stream

"The road goes on forever and the party never ends."

I've hiked some of the trails at Inks and they are OK. I've been wanting to go to Hill Country SNA. I imagine you would have a lot of horses on the trail there. Lost Maples is really good and you hike along several streams and such. Campsite C is on a couple of ponds. You may also want to look at the trail that runs from Mineral Wells to Weatherford.
Unfortunately, Texas is extremely short on public lands. I love spending time in the Southwest because of all the BLM and national forest lands.

drive a bit further and do some backpacking in Big Bend. The "high country" (for Texas at least) won't be as hot as the desert floor.

Good stuff.

Go hit Guadalupe Mountains and McKittrick Canyon. The only native population of trout in the state of Texas.

Lost Maples SNA and Enchanted Rock are both good places. It isn't Philmont, but it'll do.

If you like to fish the tank on the back side of Enchanted Rock is full of fish-last time I backpacked there two of us took rods and both caught between 50-60 fish. Nothing big bt fun to catch.

[This message has been edited by Rebbasser (edited 6/26/2007 6:39p).]

Goodness Rebb... Philmont isn't the only place to hike in the world!

Personally, I'd rather hike the Val.

I really wanted to take a trip to Colorado and just follow a river and spend about 7 days fishing and backpacking. Then my Eagle Scout friends mentioned that that is probably not a good first trip. Those pictures definetly give me something to look forward to.