since this has a few texan's attention i read a review a few years ago where some people camped on a river not far from north dallas hiked following the river for a few days and even floated in tubes for a few miles! this sounded like such an awesome trip and all of my kids are carrying there own this summer and we are ready! so any advice on this or similar hike give me a heads up. thanks

I had to giggle when I read this. It kinda depends on what you call not far. To hike in Texas, I drive 5 1/2 hours to Lost Maples or 6 1/2 hours to Palo Duro....if I want to hike close then I drive to Arkansas which is only 4 hours away :)

Reliable tubing is probably around Austin/New Braunfels area. You can sometimes tube up here in North Texas but it helps to do so right after a flash flood. Luckily, New Braunfels is only 4 hours away...which is really only just a hop skip and a jump for Texas driving.

Hey all..

I'm going to be spending a few months this fall/winter in Austin while I get ready for my PCT adventure and while Austin is great for running, I'm a bit worried about keeping up with my backpacking adventures.

Where in the world does one backpack if one lives in Austin? And does anyone actually backpack who lives there??

slip over to bigbendchat.com and you will get lots of feed back. While mostly focused on the Big Bend they also discuss areas all over the state.

Jen, I might be moving there in the fall, so I am also interested in if there is any hiking in the general area. If There is, I'd be happy to hike with you sometime.

Pack tubing?
Why has nobody mentioned this yet? That sounds freaking amazing.