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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. Check out the Official Route and Triplogs. Leave No Trace and +Add a Triplog after your hike to support this local community.
One-Way Notice This hike is listed as One-Way. When hiking several trails on a single "hike", log it with a generic name that describes the hike. Then link the trails traveled, check out the example. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.
Most recent Triplog Review
Memorial Park
I had scheduled two days in Angleton, TX, for a kart race, followed by three days just north in Houston visiting family. When the kart race got cancelled due to too few entries, the visit became five days. (Can't cancel plane tickets without some quality ankle-grabbing. 
) I like to hike at least once wherever I go. I figured I could squeeze in at least one short hike, maybe two, with sessions in the hotel exercise room on the days where we had other plans. I looked around and ... well ... Houston is big. I knew that. But the side effect is that any rural hikes are well out of town. As the purpose of the trip was not hiking, or driving hours to a hike: I needed something inside the metro area. I happened upon the Houston Trailrunners' "Ho Chi Minh Trail" -- that's what they call it -- map of Memorial Park. Works for me. 
The "Ho Chi Minh" trail nickname is appropriate, at least for the Green Trail, which was narrow, muddy and heavily vegetated. It even had the remains of old concrete structures, like Kurtz's compound in "Apocalypse Now". (I kept myself amused during the hike by quoting dialog from the movie.
)
I got misdirected numerous times, as there are many unofficial trails, which explains the difference between the official distance and the distance on this triplog. No big, can't get lost.
) I like to hike at least once wherever I go. I figured I could squeeze in at least one short hike, maybe two, with sessions in the hotel exercise room on the days where we had other plans. I looked around and ... well ... Houston is big. I knew that. But the side effect is that any rural hikes are well out of town. As the purpose of the trip was not hiking, or driving hours to a hike: I needed something inside the metro area. I happened upon the Houston Trailrunners' "Ho Chi Minh Trail" -- that's what they call it -- map of Memorial Park. Works for me.
The "Ho Chi Minh" trail nickname is appropriate, at least for the Green Trail, which was narrow, muddy and heavily vegetated. It even had the remains of old concrete structures, like Kurtz's compound in "Apocalypse Now". (I kept myself amused during the hike by quoting dialog from the movie.
)
I got misdirected numerous times, as there are many unofficial trails, which explains the difference between the official distance and the distance on this triplog. No big, can't get lost.
2014-02-23 kingsnake
