Houston Arboretum and Nature Center Outer Loop Trail is a 2.5 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Houston, Texas that features beautiful wild flowers and is good for all skill levels. The trail is primarily used for walking, nature trips, and bird watching and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
This is a great trail to bring the whole family. Located on the western edge of Memorial Park, the Arboretum has many different trails, boardwalks, and educational field stations. Here you can see what Houston was like before urban development. There are many small trails that are within this outer loop. For more information, visit the arboretum website here: https://houstonarboretum.org/ Accessibility: The trail is paved and typically at least five feet wide. It is mostly gentle (5% or less) except for a steep section in the last 0.2 miles. This can be bypassed by taking one of the inner trails back to the parking lot. Other shorter wheelchair-accessible trails within the Park include the Alice Brown Loop/Ravine Overlook which has been designed for wheelchairs and the Palmetto Multi-sensory Trail which is 0.3 miles long and is designed for those with visual impairments. Users have noted that you may need equipment with large all-terrain wheels.
More crowded than other trails. The lack of cyclists and even runners makes it great for dog walking and families who want to walk four across with their child running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Edit to add: the amount of people that put “hiking.” Lol, okay.
This was a nice little stroll for being in the city. The trail was very well maintained. There were quite a few people there including many with dogs. As our dog isn't the greatest in crowds I definitely wouldn't bring him here. We were surprised to see multiple armadillos just scavenging among the leaves just off the trail. This would be a great place for families with kids, as there are many short trails off the main trail and you could loop around to do shorter distances if necessary. It was $5 to park, and we didn't have to hunt too hard to find parking, though I wouldn't be surprised if you had to do a few loops around the parking lot on busier days.
easy trails, several off the main outer and inner loops. Goats are super cute and a pleasant surprise! trails are mostly shaded. Nature exhibit is good and they had some live animals on display. Loved the wildflowers and tall grasses.
beautiful trails. it's easy to get lost so make sure you get a map or download the all trails app and follow it.
Easy walk on well-maintained city park trail. The trail is probably more interesting during growing season, but there were no bugs in November. Typical urban aspects include noise from highway along one portion of the trail. One field had a hundred goats let loose for vegetation mowing.