Secluded And Remote
By Blaze on 5/7/2013
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Distance: 7.10 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 19 minutes
The E. O. Siecke State Forest is a large plot of land off FM 82 approximately 4.5 miles southeast of Kirbyville.
Finding it was a bit of a challenge because there are no road signs indicating where it is, just a short dirt road that leads you to unmarked trailhead. In addition, there are no printed trail maps and I could not find one on the internet. So, my goal was to try and map this out using my GPS.
Basically, this area consists of a lot of trees with sections that have been clear cut and a lot of old logging roads running throughout. The main geologic feature is Trout Creek. Several paths take you to Trout Creek, but none of them take you across it. Every time I thought I found a way across, I hit a dead end. As a result, I had to backtrack several times.
The mosquitos are really bad. Even with DEET on, I was terrorized constantly by these little annoying pests.
Other than that, there really isn't anything to see. The areas that were heavily forested and clear cut in the past were fairly sobering, though. I understand that we need wood and that trees are a renewable resource, but seeing the clear cut areas rubbed my conservationist heart strings the wrong way.