devwil68

Thinking about making our first trip to Hidden Falls tomorrow.

Any advice or thinks to know before heading out???

Decided this tonight! Lol

tjkamp

I really like hidden falls.

If you are going solo, I recommend hooking up with a group, it is pretty easy to get turned around in there if you are in your own. Not so much a worry of getting lost, but more a worry of accidentally getting on a trail that is much more intense than expected.

Awesome place though. Very friendly people.

Happy Jeepjng.

Sent from my iPhone using JK-Forum

devwil68

Turned out awesome! People there were great. Stay'd solo most of the day, but had a couple of followers who bailed on one of the north loop off-camber hills that we chose to do. Will plan on heading back at some point, crazy windy today thought!

Rumbloki

Nice pics.

resharp001

LOL, digging up some old threads to reach that 25th post.

napene04

I am going to make it out there soon! Any suggestions? Looking for somewhat light trails. My wife always starts sweating when we go offroad and now she is pregnant so I don't need her stressing out on the trails lol

lincolns mullet

It's changed out there with all the rain over the last several months so some of the trails are harder than they used to be. I'd say stick to levels 2 and 3.

With my wife's anxiety while wheeling and not trying to tear up the Jeep too much, I stick to those anyway.

resharp001

Signage out there used to be top notch, but has really gone downhill over last couple years it seems. I was just out there in October and most of the trail signs seemed to be gone or downed. Their rating system is kinda off the mark too. There are things like the Toyota trails that are rated a 3, but are really nothing more than dirt trail through some tight trees. That said, there are some 3s that are probably more than you want to get in to if you're looking for "light" trails. The perimeter trail is nice and offers a various lines though things, but also offers bypasses if you're not up to what's ahead of you. A lot of the stuff out there looks worse than it is.....but I know how spousal units can be. It's a lot of limestone out there, so some of the trails can have tend to have a loose footing. In general, it's a great park, but I'd say not the kind of park where you should go solo.

Unless you're just going to be in that hill country area anyhow, BMRA out east in Gilmer might offer a wider variety of things that a pregnant wife wouldn't stress about.

napene04

Thanks for the info! I will have to check out BRMA and see if I can get her to agree to go for a day of wheeling. Do they let you camp there?

resharp001

You can camp at both Hidden Falls and BMRA. Both offer RV/trailer camping, or just primitive tent camping. Fees are generally about the same at both parks, ~$30/day for wheelin' and $10 or so for tent camping. You can take some firewood and have a little fire at night too. Different landscapes obviously between east Tx and the hill country, but from what you've said, I think you'd find more to do out at BMRA. They have plenty of easy #2 type trails that are just dirt trails through the trees. The adventure trail is easy too.....and then a lot trails that branch off from that. Not sure if you're going solo or not, but BMRA seems a bit safer if you're heading out alone. If you head to BMRA, Swanner's in Gilmer has great burgers -

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...mer_Texas.html

They close at 3pm though, so you have to plan for it. Also, right down the street from Swanner's is a cheap manual car wash if you need to clean some of that red mud off your wheels for the ride home. Was just out there a few weeks ago and it was pretty dry, but if you do run across any mud, that stuff really sticks.

If you want to reference the map below, all the trails to the right of the main road (behind the bunhouses, pavilion, and over by Xterra camp) are all very easy things. You can run the adventure trail that starts by Clyde's Ravine and take that back. Off that trail you could easily run Pine Hill and Whatever. There are a few like Sunday Cruise that you can head down and offer an easy bypass so you can see the obstacle but the wife probably isn't gonna want to go through it. The signage out there is superb. Off the main roads a lot of the trails towards the back will look like a steep descent, but aren't that bad. Guessing those will be more than she's wanting to do.

http://www.barnwellmountainra.com/im...p_property.jpg