Mountains in Texas?? (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: live, moving to, suburb)

[lvmytruck]

HELP.....Thinking of moving to the State of Texas. Really don't know a thing about Texas but here is what I am looking for as far as a place to settle. Is there a part of the state where one can live near mountains or the woods and or water? somewhere outside of a big town and yet not to far to drive if I wanted to go to town. I would be very grateful for some imput from someone who knows alot about this great state.

[ClarenceBodiker]

The mountains are in far west Texas near Mexico -- Alpine, Marfa, Marathon. There aren't any big cities here. I guess El Paso is a big enough city near the mountains, but you'll want to do some research because El Paso is not for everybody.

The woods are in far east Texas. Think Tyler, although it's about an hour and a half to the closest big city.


Houston is pretty heavily wooded in parts and about an hour from the beach. Maybe a small suburb or town near there. Somewhere near Austin is good, too. No mountains, but it's hill country and one of the most scenic parts of the state. Great lakes, hills, etc.

[bluescreen73]

The mountains and forests in Texas are fairly mutually exclusive. The mountains are in the desert and the forests are (for the most part) in the lowlands. The Hill Country is nice but I wouldn't call it mountainous in comparison to the Rockies.

[Willsson]

Trees and water...

Check highway US 59, northeast out of Houston, from Cleveland, though Lufkin and Nacogdoches, to further north almost to I-20. There are national forests around and east of there. And a few nice lakes.

Visit the Texas Travel Guide for more info

[Westerntraveler]

the mountains are in Far West Texas

[DitsyD]

There is a lot of water in the Gulf of Mexico. You could pick a city from Beaumont to Brownsville.

[7ry1an3]

Originally Posted by lvmytruck

Is there a part of the state where one can live near mountains or the woods and or water? somewhere outside of a big town and yet not to far to drive if I wanted to go to town.

You just described most small towns outside of L.A. Houston has woods and water (lakes and the coast) but its very flat. And where ever you find mountains or hills in Texas there won't be many trees or water. It is a great state but for scenery you gotta sacrafice one for the other.

[savanite]

Originally Posted by 7ry1an3

You just described most small towns outside of L.A. Houston has woods and water (lakes and the coast) but its very flat. And where ever you find mountains or hills in Texas there won't be many trees or water. It is a great state but for scenery you gotta sacrafice one for the other.

South of Abilene, you'll find some good sized hills and woodlands.

The Cedar Hills area in Dallas has hills and woods.

Palo Pinto county is hilly and has a lot of forest cover.

[die Eichkatze]

Mountains with trees near Fort Davis, but it is a 3 hour drive to El Paso or Midland....












Mesas with big canyons and a pure river with a neat waterfall....got that covered too (pic is during below normal flow):

[gy2020]

You're about 300,000,000 years late for the big mountains in Texas. Back before the dinosaurs in the amphibian era we had a large mountain chain that stretched from Georgia through Arkansas and came down through Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and wound up in Mexico. This was the first major mountain range caused by the collision of the North American Plate with the South American Plate. Unfortunately it has eroded away. At one time it was larger than Rocky Mountain range. Water and wind will do that. The Cretaceous hill country is laid down on top of the old range. If you dig down about 1,000 feet in San Antonio you can see the roots of the range.

Early to middle Paleozoic rocks in Texas are typically carbonate deposited in epeiric seas. Exceptions include a significant area of Cambrian sandstone in west Texas, and some shale strata from the Devonian and Mississippian periods. The Ouachita Mountains were uplifted across the state during the succeeding Pennsylvanian period; this provided a nearby source of sediment for shale and sandstone, along with more marine limestone deposition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Texas