The new year brings on all kinds of aspirational and imaginative ideas: learning a new language, running a 10K, reading 20 books, etc. My favorite activity, though, involves creating my trail dream sheet, an old military term for a list of desired duty stations. Dream sheets can be about locations, conditions, or even literary influences.
Have you ever wanted to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail, or raft the Gauley River during dam release season, or follow in the footsteps of Ellen Meloy as she tracked bighorn sheep in southern Utah? This is the time to put together a dream sheet and maybe even pick one to try in 2026.
For me, this year is about Texas authors and Texas trails. During a tour of the Wittliff Collection last year, I was gobsmacked to discover TXST curated John Graves’ papers. ‘ Goodbye to a River’ enchanted me toward rivers in a way Mark Twain never could, and his prose still beckons me to load one of my dogs into a canoe and seek out a sandbar to sleep on for a few nights. So the first trail on my dream sheet this year is an overnight paddling trip on the San Marcos River (which is infi- nitely prettier than the Brazos).
Graves also wrote ‘ Hard Scrabble’, which, as best as I can reckon, is the Texas version of ‘ A Sand County Almanac’.
Like Leopold, Graves takes stock of a single piece of land over its history, exploring its relationships with human cultures, animals and conditions. And unlike the romantics, he does so as a person belonging to the land who labors with it not as a sanctuary but as a livelihood. The second trail on my dream sheet this year is the Doline Trail in our River Recharge Natural Area. Observing it in every season and channeling my inner Graves and Leopold to take stock of my own Hays County Almanac.
Finally, this year, I want to follow in the footsteps of Ben English, author of ‘ Out There: Essays on the Lower Big Bend’. Backcountry Brad and I listened to his book on our last trip out to Big Bend and the offtrail regions he named around Burro Mesa piqued our interest. Then, at one lunch at Don Dario’s this fall, Backcountry Brad showed up with a map and route outlining an ambitious expedition on, around, and over the Mesa to include the mysterious Apache Canyon. I just hope I make it back from this one.
2026 is shaping up to be a great year on the trails. So what’s on your dream sheet?
Leopold and a Hays County Almanac
Backpacking with Ben English
