Nice Trip
McKinney Roughs
- 12/27/2013
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 3.00 Miles
Duration: N/A
Checked this trail out durring the Xmas break, has nice well marked and maintained trails with a few god views.
nice little hike
Visitor's Overlook
- 12/22/2013
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 2.00 Miles
Duration: N/A
a nice short hike. Really sirprized that the trail head is not better marked. Spend some time pokng around the cematery. Here is some information about the town of Quarry and link abut the cemitary
QUARRY, TEXAS. Quarry is on Wolf Creek 1½ miles from Lake Somerville and fourteen miles from Brenham in extreme northern Washington County. It derived its name from its stone quarries, the economic base of its prosperity in the 1890s. By 1884 Quarry was a station on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. In 1891 its post office opened with Ananias M. Conover as postmaster. By 1896 Quarry had grown into a small distribution center with a justice of the peace, a sheriff, a lawyer, two doctors, a hotel, and a Baptist church. Quarry commerce flourished briefly with cotton processing, the development of quarries, and an influx of railroad employees. Commercial competition from larger Gay Hill, in Washington County, and the decline of stone quarrying in the area resulted in the rapid elimination of the commercial and processing sectors in Quarry. The community's post office was closed in 1905. Later in the twentieth century Quarry had several railroad tie manufacturing factories. In the 1980s ranching was the economic base of this community, in which the population was by then predominantly black. The name was still listed as a community in 1990.
Williams- Quarry is a cemetery that is no longer used. I have been told it was an African American cemetery that was abandoned in the mid-fifties when it was decided that the Somerville Cemetery would allow burials based on where you lived instead of race. Many of the graves are unmarked. Volunteers of the Army Corp of Engineers are doing some maintenance of it. They have tried to drum up some enthusiasm of the local family members for it's maintenance in years past but with no luck. There may not be many local family members left. Marked graves show burials between 1911 to 1955. Family names include the following: Bouldin, Franklin (WWII vet), Harris, Hunt, Robinson, Ratliff, Sayles, Spencer, Williams and Young.
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/tx/topic/cemeteries/Etx/Washington/Cemetery/Williams.htm
Big Bend Ranch SP - Closed Canyon Trail
- 12/3/2009
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 1.00 Mile
Duration: N/A
It was a cold overcast windy day with a snow on the way. It was getting late and the the forecast was for snow late that afternoon. The Canyon opening is a short walk from the parking lot. The Canyon has a few twists and turns, high walls and narrow base. There has been a storm witih high winds the nigh before. The floor was littered with fallen vegetation and what appeared newlly fallen large rocks -glad that I was not there durring the storm.
Saw no one while there. Got a little creepy - chould hear the wind blowing as well as a group of blackbirds calling from high up at the canyon's opening that I could hear echoing throughout the canyon. It has a very surreal feeling. Thinking back on it - wow what a trip!
Up high
Lake Bryan
- 8/23/2005
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 5.00 Miles
Duration: N/A
The main trail loop is on the two damns that make up about 80% of the boundary of the lake. There is a small stretch of trail where one damn ends and you need to follow a county road through a small rural residential area before the trail picks up on the other damn and loops back to the beginning. There are many small loops that branch off the main trail and wind to wooded areas. Several of these side trails are quite nice and there are a few small bridges that cross both dry and wet creeks. Since the main loop is on top of a pretty high earthen damn, it provides for an interesting view over the lake and area countryside. Please note that this trail system was developed mainly for bikes.
There is a smaller trail system inside the park itself. These trails have markers that identify some of the trees and other plant life that is found along the trails.
Map of the park http://www.lakebryan.net/Portals/bcaf6460-83a0-455d-abd6-44348ed69c2d/mountain_bike_trails.gif