(See the Flickr Album for all of the photos)
My wife and I visited the Big Thicket National Preserve on July 17, 2016.
We traveled up to Cleveland. TX from Houston (about 50 or 55 miles) on US 59/I-69. The left Cleveland on FM 787, to FM 1293, to FM 100, which took us to US 287/69 (all of this was another 50 miles) We turned left there and the preserve visitor center is just a couple of miles up the road on the right.
It is a large area of very thick forests and undergrowth in East Texas that used to cover a large area from the Sabine River to the Trinity River, roughly bordered but Interstate 10 on the south, and stretching about 100 miles north.
It was impassable by wagon and, like the Everglades in Florida, is a region of varied and very diverse ecosystems, plants, and animals.
It is now much smaller as large portions have been inhabitated, farmed, forested, and oil extracted. But, a large number of mostly interconnected areas have been protected with upwards of 100,000 acres.
The visitor center is well done, with a lot of displays and information. While there, one of the Preservation Ranger/Guides. Ranger Cain, told us that the best road to travel and get really into the thicket was the Rosier Park Road in the Lancer Unit. He explained how to get there, off of FM 770, so we drove down and took that road.
Very much worth seeing, and not too well known...so not crowded at all.
