Cagle Rec Area - Mar 2006

We really enjoyed our leisurely visit with Frank's family in San Antonio, but I must admit that after spending a month in a very tightly packed RV park, I had a severe case of "hitch itch" and was really looking forward to getting some elbow room in a pretty setting.

Our first destination was the Cagle Recreation Area in the Sam Houston National Forest. Having never visited the piney woods of east Texas, this seemed like a good time as the weather was forecasted to be sunny and warm and the dogwood and redbud trees were supposed to be in full bloom. I'd read that the Sweetgum Campground was especially pretty with lots of spring blossoms amid towering pines and, being a newer campground, it had full hookups to boot.

We weren't disappointed when we arrived and found the campground to be a lovely and peaceful pine forested setting. The campground was next to Lake Conroe, but the dense trees kept us from having much of a view of the lake. However, we were only steps away from a path leading down to the lake and that path connected to a three mile nature trail that took us along the water's edge, around a penninsula, over to the next campground, through a pine tree grove and then back to our campground. We hiked this trail every day and thoroughly enjoyed it's beauty and tranquility. We were only one of three campers in the loop, so things were delightfully quiet and I no longer had to listen to our neighbors tv nor smell their cigarette smoke -- what a blessing.

On one of our outings, we drove over to Huntsville State Park and on our way, we stopped at the very tall Sam Houston Statue. At 70' high it's touted to be among the tallest in the country and is visible for miles because it towers above the equally tall pine trees that surround it. Can you see itty bitty Frank in this picture? He's on the right side sitting at the base of the statue.