To close out the year, our lab traded the usual restaurant lunch for something a little more adventurous: a day hike together in Sam Houston National Forest. The idea was simple: get outside, walk a stretch of the Lone Star Hiking Trail, and celebrate the end of the semester with time in the woods instead of around a table.
We headed to the nearby Sam Houston National Forest, home to the 96‑mile Lone Star Hiking Trail, the longest continuous footpath in Texas. Our plan was a relaxed 6.3‑mile walk through the pines, indulge in relaxed conversations and some Shinrin-yoku. The Lone Star Hiking Trail winds through mixed pine and hardwood forest, with gentle terrain. Our chosen segment offered classic East Texas scenery, soft pine needles underfoot, quiet creeks (albeit dry), and long, shaded stretches perfect for time away from screens. Sadly not many birds at this time of the year.
Of course, no good field story is complete without an unexpected twist. A wrong turn at a junction turned our 6.3‑mile hike into an impromptu management exercise. We found ourselves 3.4 miles away from where we needed to be, with half an hour of daylight left. We watched the clock and the angle of the sun with growing interest. We needed to make quick decisions and it was up to me (Giri) and Kolton as the two drivers, to make our way rapidly to the actual parking area. It ended up needing us to trail run large parts of the 3.4‑mile way in near darkness to reach our cars before full dark settled over the forest. Signs of feral hogs and the howls of coyote made the last few minutes of our walk in darkness, an unexpected wilderness experience on an otherwise tame hike. By the time we were all driving back, everyone was tired and ready to get home (probably).