Dad's House

People keep asking me where we live to have so much wide open space so I thought I would give a better description. My father was born and raised in Rusk County, Texas, before moving to Houston. We visited family here all my life and I always wanted to live here. I loved playing in the woods as a child and I still love playing here as an adult.

We live halfway between two small towns. There is a small store within a five minute drive in each of three directions. Drive a mile down the road off the highway (you won't see any houses and you are surrounded by our property). Turn left onto the dead end road and drive another mile to its end. On the right side of this road is a deer lease and on the left is our lease. When you get to the end of the road you will be at our mail box. We have two very old four-room houses, a very nice work shop, Dad's new house, and our small "manufactured home".

Jack and I moved from a four bedroom home, to a four room home ... everyone thinks we're crazy.

Your first sight is of the lavender colored workshop flanked by the two old houses. They're ancient and falling in. Their roofs are good and we use them for storage but they won't last much longer. You have to drive around back to find our actual houses. When I walk out my front door I am looking at the back of the workshop with it's 6 bay carport. Dad's house is on my left and my vehicles are parked on my right. This "front yard" is about 80 feet long and about 30 feet across to the shop. Dad owns one acre here and all the buildings are crowded onto it. We are on top of a hill.

I can walk to my left and behind Dad's house to a trail that leads off into the wilderness. We have been working on extending this main "Back Trail" and it is currently a good two miles long. At the first fork I can go due east or southeast. At this fork I am on one acre which belongs to someone else. The southeast fork is the main trail. The east fork leads to a run off creek which only has water in the rainy season. Cross that creek and you are in old forest - extremely tall pines, a few cedars, some oak, almost no underbrush. Dad owns 16 acres here. It is all old forest - I love it in the fall and winter and can walk for hours here.

The southeast trail goes just a little way and turns left. Here is one of our leases. I'm not sure how many acres are here. Together, the two leases and Dad's property are about 760 acres. To my right is another minor trail which leads to a pipeline - our 4 wheelers' super highway. I take the eastern route. Only about a dozen steps and I come to another trail. It goes to Alan's Point (named after my brother who discovered it). Alan's point is nice and quiet and has a fall which sings merrily in the rainy season. This is the "First Creek" which is also a run off. I follow the Back Trail.

After a good, brisk walk I arrive at a bridge across the First Creek. I am now walking due south. On the right side is a ditch that leads down into the creek. Follow it to the right about three good steps and you find a nice, two foot high fall that is very comforting. Oak loves the pool below it. It is one of the few places that he can actually submerge his whole body. (Yes, he puts his head under and blows bubbles.)

The falls at George's Gorge I cross the bridge and go up a slight rise. Another nice trail branches to my right. It Down in George's Gorge leads to George's Gorge, Hali's Island, and Dyno's Steps. A really great place to take the kids and turn them loose. There is just enough water for them to get wet and a great, long-but-not-tall fall. Hali's Island is not very big, but juts up out of the creek like a skyscraper. The creek bed is about 15 feet below. The island could hold a small one room cabin nicely. Dynomite is Alan's dog. He was down in the gorge and wanted out. He is a huge boxer. He dug some steps to get out. The steps are worn away by wind and rain, but we still call it Dyno's Steps.

I pass the trail to the gorge and continue south. Soon I arrive at the "Second Creek". Second actually has water in it all year in some places and is fed by run-off and by several springs. My nieces were amazed when they first saw the water bubbling out of the ground. It's pretty cool. On the other side of Second, I climb a hill until I am huffing and puffing. At the top, the trail forks again. One fork to the southeast and to some extremely old forest. The other fork to the west and the pipeline again. I have walked about two miles.

I prefer the left fork and the old forest. I walk down the hill - a very long return climb, but nice going this way. I cross the "Third Creek" and climb steadily for about a hundred yards. I turn to my right and walk another half mile. This is the end of the trail. I lie down on the ground and look up at the sky. The pines are tall and extremely old. The oaks are tall and wide. The pines sway with the wind and make a wonderful hushing sound. As I watch them sway, I lose my balance and feel dizzy for them. I rise and return to the bend in the trail. Here is a prize... a grapevine as thick as my lower leg. The vine reaches high into an oak tree and then across to a pine to climb ever higher. I wonder if the muscatines up there are better than the ones I can reach.

Instead of following the bend, I go straight across and down a steep slope. Here is Second again just a little upstream from where Third runs into it. I have not been very far upstream - yet. I follow it downstream and only a short distance. Here is the "Cold Tub". It looks like a hot tub, but the water is like ice. It's an amazing fall. It drops about four feet into a pool that is about five feet deep. The water has carved seats into the sides of the creek and a natural stone dam keeps the water inside. Unfortunately, by the time it is warm enough outside to enjoy this place, the water becomes a little stagnant and uninviting. Some day I will be brave enough to try it in winter when it is beautiful.

Another short walk and I am at the joining of Second and Third. I follow Third back to the Back Trail. Now I must walk up the hill and then two miles back to the house. And I am back on my front porch.

I look north past my trucks and there is a main power line that runs almost due east-west. A little further east it bends and streaks to the northeast. I walk under the lines to a row of trees. From here it looks like solid forest but is only about 30 feet wide. There is a path through them here and another closer to the front of the property. I cross through here. To my left is a trail to the pipeline. To my right is a triangle shaped meadow with the line of trees acting as one side. In the farthest corner is Dad's deer stand and a gate to a neighbor's pasture.

The neighbor is a nice guy and lets us fish in his "tanks". Tanks are stock ponds - where the cattle get their water. There are three tanks on this property and two of them have some of the fiercest fighting bass you'll ever want to meet.

You can barely see them in this picture. I'm in the corner of the triangle and a trail is straight across from me. These are the "Plum Trails". Three of them leave the meadow and meet an east-west trail. We call them Plum Trails because of the wild plums. They're sweet, they're tart, they're bitter, and they're wonderful. They only grow in this one area, but there are thousands of them. We have two varieties, red and yellow. Dad prefers the yellows, but I like them all.

I follow the trail to my left and arrive at the pipeline. It runs due north-south and I turn north. A short hike and I meet a fork of the the east-west Plum Trail. A few more yards and the other fork. I continue north and climb a small hill. From here I can see for miles in either direction down the pipeline. To the north it crosses the highway and continues on into unexplored (by me) territory. To the south - more unknown. On my left is a trail that Dad cut especially for the kids - Tractor Trail.

He used to take them for tractor rides. He built a sled - a big one - that he could pull behind the tractor. He nailed an old bus seat to the sled. A grownup and several small kids could sit on the seat and the bigger kids could stand behind it. Off they would go into the woods to jump off and grab berries or plums, returning to the sled before it got too far way. Dad made this trail when plums were no longer a big attraction. If I had to guess, I would say it is about two miles long. I haven't driven it in my Jeep yet. It meanders around and returns to the pipeline closer to the north end of the lease.

This trail is fun for the kids on the 4 wheelers these days. They have outgrown the tractor and the sled has since fallen apart. Our 4 wheelers are work horses. They have big, shallow wooden boxes on the back and smaller ones on the fronts. These boxes carry tools and other items that we need when clearing the trails. But pop in a piece of foam rubber and the big boxes make great seats for two or three kids. We lose speed, but we have a great time.

The only thing of real interest on this trail is place where it gets close to the road. We used to sit and wait for cars to come by just so we could wave. The kids were young then and it was fun for some reason. Unfortunately, we only get about a car an hour. Oh, there is another place the kids liked - the tunnel. In one place the trail goes under some great old trees and is actually carved out from under them. You can't see the sky for about 20 feet. It's cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Back at the pipeline, on my right is another trail that leads to an old deer stand - Dave's Trail. This trail also goes downhill. We keep a feeder out there and it's a great place to watch the deer and wild hogs. I haven't done much exploring out that way because the place was timbered about 15 years ago and the underbrush is thick. Add that to the wild hog factor and it can be dangerous.

I stay on the pipeline for a mile and come to the "Last Creek". It isn't actually, I cross it and walk another hundred yards and a very shallow run off marks the end of our property. I am very near the highway here and don't like it very much. There is a hill close by and trucks use their "jakes" to slow down. Jakes are loud and disturb the tranquility. I turn and go back to Last. I have only been a few yards up the creek to the east. There is a great, wide pool there that Oak loves dearly. This time of year it is stagnant and smelly between rains so we don't come here any more. To the west, I have followed the creek to the road but it is just a few feet to another of my favorite spots. Lift an elm branch, duck under some vines. On the right, the creek bank rises almost gently compared to the left which is a cliff. Not a tall cliff and mountain folks will laugh at me for that - it is only about 10 feet high. We call this the "Grotto". It's much like being in a cave. The steep bank has ferns and roots sticking out of it and there is a very nice pool with a tiny-but- rushing fall. The trees form a year-round roof. It is peaceful here and the sounds from the highway pass overhead unnoticed. "Pig nuts" grow here and the animals frequent this place in the fall. I don't know what pig nuts are - they look like tiny walnuts. I look close and see tracks of raccoons, snakes, and deer. A small dog track - probably one of the feral pack that lives here.

I duck under the vines and return to the pipeline. It is a long walk back to the driveway from here. We usually bring the Jeep or a 4 wheeler because it is a steady climb.

I cross the driveway and the go-cart track and continue south along the pipeline. This is our daily This tiny fall is on our daily walk. route to take Oak to "swim". It's a steady descent to First. We pass the two trails that lead to the Back Trail. Another deer stand sits close to First. Here there is a very musical fall that is not at all tall. We can cross here and continue south to Second. Second is impassable here. It's banks drop straight down to water about two feet deep and is a haven for snakes. We have water moccasins, copperheads, and coral snakes here although we usually only see the timid copperheads around the house.

Just before we get to Second, we can take the trail to George's Gorge. This is a much shorter way to the Gorge than the Back Trail. If we were able to cross the creek here, we could walk about a half mile to a fence. On the west side of the pipeline and on the other side of the fence is a commercial deer lease. We don't trespass on their property and they don't hunt on ours. I hope this tour has helped you to understand where I live and why. I deal with the red bugs, the briars, the snakes, and the critters - and I wouldn't go back to Houston for anything.