Memorial Park, TX

History: Houston's Memorial Park is located on the grounds of World War I-era Camp Logan. It has been a city park since 1924, and is named for those lost in The Great War. Depending on where you travel in the park, you may find remnants of Camp Logan, such as concrete walls, or bits of old blacktop.


Overview: Memorial Park is a 1,503-acre city park with tennis courts, baseball fields, a golf course, fitness center, swimming pool and at least 10 miles of official biking/hiking trails, some paved, some not. (There are a couple more miles of unofficial trails.) At least the unpaved trails are multi-use.The paved trail along Memorial Drive is so popular, my first impression was that I was seeing a walkathon or marathon. It makes Camelback's Cholla trailhead look sparsely populated.

The unpaved trails south of Memorial Drive can be difficult to follow, due to heavy vegetation -- thus the nickname "Ho Chi Minh Trail" -- and many of them being unofficial (e.g. the southern leg of the green loop). The heavy vegetation makes it hard to spot bikes, so stay alert. As I did, you will probably make many wrong turns, even if armed with a map, but you can't get lost: If you hit the river: head north.

I could not find any rural hiking options in the area -- Houston is a ginormous metropolis -- so Memorial Park is a solid option near the middle of the city for any visitor's who want something more than the exercise room in their hotel.

2014-02-27 kingsnake