Earlier in the week I decided two weeks is too long for a lull in camping trips! I scoured the internet to locate a worthwhile trail within 4 hours of my home. After 1-2 hours of internet research, I struck gold in Texas! I stumbled upon Angelina National Forest, which in itself, looked fairly intriguing. When I found web pages about an abandoned sawmill and Boykin Springs, I was sold. Now THAT looked interesting enough for me.

Kiwi and I set off later in the day due to ‘car problems’ which turned out not be my inability to discern a locked wheel from a dead car battery… Yeah, go on and laugh. Any who, I cooked all of my meals in prep and packed them in a cooler. That way all I had to do was light a fire, wrap my meal in tin foil, and warm it up in a pan over the fire. Soon enough I’ll progress to cooking my food on site!

After driving 248 miles we arrived at Boykin Springs Recreation Area. The campsite has a fire pit, a lantern pole, picnic table, and gravel tent site. Two restroom facilities are on site, one is a expansive washroom with one shower and 4 restroom stalls. Upon arrival I was greeted by the camp host. He informed me Hurricane Rita blew most of the Recreation site to bits years ago, so all that remains are 17 sites, instead of the 42 they once had. He also warmed me we’d encounter a few collapsed bridges on the Sawmill Hiking Trail. The idea of such a challenge made me grin. No bridge? Ha! See if that stops me. Spoiler! It didn’t. 🙂

I set off at first light to trek the Sawmill Hiking Trail. I was dead set on locating and exploring this abandoned sawmill. I enjoyed 2.75 miles of hiking alongside the creek before I found what I was so eager to witness: Aldridge Saw Mill! This mill was originally built with wood, carried to the site via ox cart. I can hardly fathom how excruciating long such a process would take. Even if you chopped down the surrounding pine trees and put them to use, the process alone would take a tremendous amount of physical effort. Not long after the sawmill’s establishment, the railway saw fit to build a spur into it. A town sprouted and flourished alongside this newfound economic wonder. In 1911 the wooden design was devoured by a fire. It was quickly rebuilt with hand-poured concrete. This new mill out processed the old one and produced 125,000 board feet of lumber per day! Alas, its success was to be short lived. All over America, large cooperations began to delve into the lumber business. The mill’s success was briskly declining. Come 1915 another fire delivered the final blow to Aldridge Sawmill. The combination of economic hardship and disaster were too much for the business to withstand. The mill blew out the back walls to extract and later sell the machinery. With no mill to provide the families work, the small town of Aldridge dissipated. You could call it a ‘ghost town’ if a trace of their homes remained… By 1935, the abandoned property was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service and has remained in their possession ever since.

Kiwi felt right at home in these wicked woods. She had the time of her life exploring all the nooks and crannies of the mill’s ruins. While she wandered about, I took my sweet time photographing and exploring the site. We ate an early lunch then set off back to our campsite.

Boykin Springs Recreation Area gets 5/5 stars in my book! An absolute gem!



The unique ruins open for exploration, the fancy washroom, and camp side creek provide you with an overall awesome camping experience.