Beech Creek Turns an Old Dirt Road Into a Six-Mile Forest Walk

The Beech Creek Unit gives Tyler County two very different walks from one FM 2992 trailhead. The Beech Woods Trail makes a one-mile loop through a slope forest of American beech, southern magnolia, and loblolly pine. Spring-fed streams fold through the rolling ground.

The quieter commitment starts where an old dirt road leaves the loop. It continues six miles one way into more remote parts of the unit. The National Park Service does not maintain that roadbed and warns that it can be hard to navigate, so the extra distance is not just more of the same.

The unit lies east of Woodville, just south of B. A. Steinhagen Lake, with a picnic area at the trailhead. The trailhead is about 1.9 miles north of FM 1013 and 4.8 miles south of FM 1746. Backcountry camping is listed for March through September, while hunting generally runs from October through February. Exact hunting dates can change each year. Together, the short loop and old road let the same forest work as an easy mile or a real backcountry outing.