Sam Houston National Forest

While we were in Lake Conroe, we explored the Sam Houston National Forest, an incredibly lush, green pine forest. Loblolly pines have rough-textured bark that sticks out from the tree. Shortleaf pines have smoother bark, more like plates of bark. Loblolly pines have large cones and their leaves are groups of three twisted pine needles. The Shortleaf pines have smaller cones and straight pine needles usually found in groups of two. Loblolly pines are found in moist areas, while Shortleaf pines are more drought-resistant.

As you can see by the map below, the Sam Houston National Forest is in chunks and pieces, intermixed with private lands.

We set out to explore the forest by going west on FM 1097 and crossing Lake Conroe. On the west side of Lake Conroe, we turned right on Lake Mount Pleasant Road. This is a windy road that crosses farmland and forest, we stayed to the left whenever the road forked. This part of the byway was all mature pine trees, so we pulled over to listen to the sound the wind made through the trees.

The road ended in a T-intersection with FM 149, where we turned right (north). The road ran through Loblolly and Shortleaf pines. We came to a crossing of the Lone Star Hiking Trail.  This 128-mile trail is off limits to horses, bikes and ATVs.  It is possible to hike segments of the trail by leaving a car at a designated parking area or having a friend pick you up at the end of the hike.

Stubblefield Lake

We drove east (right) on  FR 237 to FM 1357 where we turned east (right) again.  We headed north (left) on FR 215 to Stubblefield Lake Road.  Stubblefield Lake is an oxbow lake separated from Lake Conroe by the wanderings of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.  The trees around the lake were mature, mixed hardwoods and pine trees. This is not an RV campground, the sites are short and have tent pads. Some sites overlook the lake. The campground is convenient to hikers of the Lone Star Hiking Trail.