Columbia Tap
By Blaze on 2/6/2014
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Distance: 8.50 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 34 minutes
For those of you not familiar with the "Rails To Trails" project, many old, unused historic railroads across the nation have been and are being converted into hiking and biking trails. This helps preserve the history of the railroad route as well as restore utility of the land.
The Columbia Tap is one of those "Rails To Trails" project. In fact, it is one of the trails that has been adopted into the "Rails To Trails" Hall Of Fame (I didn't even know there was one!). This trail is a wide, 2-lane, cement walkway and a long linear path. It makes one turn on the northern end, giving it a "7" shape.
I caught the trail at N. MacGregor Way (near Ardmore Ave) and walked south. The trail crosses over Hwy 288 and ends on the other side. From there, I turned around and walked north. The trail takes you through the Third Ward, a not-so-nice part of Houston, through the campus of Texas Southern University (TSU), and then ends just shy of the George R. Brown Convention Center off Hwy 59. The trail is well-maintained and the signage is good, although there are no distance markers or trail maps along the way. If didn't research this trail and just stumbled upon it, you wouldn't know where it goes or ends.
Cool, cloudy, windy day in Houston. Temps in the upper 30s/lower 40s had me timbers a-shiverin'! Good motivation for a quick pace. :)