Backpacker Magazine – September 2010

Local Hikes: Dallas, TX

The best hikes near Dallas, TX.

by: Shannon Davis

Tags:
• Texas
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• Adventures
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Your Guide
Dallas Sierra Club (texas.sierraclub.org/dallas/)

Your Hikes
» White Rock Lake Trail, White Rock Lake Park At 1,015 acres, this park is the largest in the Dallas metro area, and one of its most popular. “Don’t let that scare you,” says dayhiking committee chair Judy Cato. “Hiking the shoreline path while joggers, cyclists, and sailors recreate creates a cool outdoor community.” Total distance: nine miles. Miles from city center 7; Trip ID 776655

» Cedar Breaks Trail, Cedar Ridge Preserve “This nature area in Dallas’s southern suburbs features, literally, our city’s only hills,” says outings committee chair Bill Greer. Link the Cattail and Cedar Break Trails for a short, but surprisingly steep, 200-foot climb along a cedar-shaded three-mile lollipop. Miles from city center 19; Trip ID 776659

» Outer Loop Trail, Arbor Hills Nature Preserve Quick fix alert! Hit the 1.7-mile Outer Loop Trail in this 200-acre oasis for a trek or run through creek-laced upland forests and blackland prairie. Or pack your mountain bike to hammer the two miles of banked turns on the designated biking trails. In June, a confetti of wildflowers like bluebonnets, buttercups, and coreopsis blooms, while oak trees bud along Indian Creek. Miles from city center 24; Trip ID 776661

» Cross Timbers Trail, Lake Texoma SP From Juniper Point Recreation Area, the Cross Timbers Trail traces the cliffy alcoves of the southern shore 14 miles to Rock Creek Camp. “It winds through blackjack oak and spindly pines along rocky bluffs with frequent overlooks,” says Cato. “It’s also a great area to spot bald eagles in winter.” Hike it point-to-point in a day, or layover at one of three campsites (Eagle’s Roost, accessed via a .5-mile spur at mile six, has views across the 89,000-acre lake into Oklahoma). Miles from city center 86; Trip ID 14049


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