DFW Hiking: Finding Trails

I have a long list of trails and places I plan to explore and review for North Texas Trails, almost 200 at current count, and that’s not counting the kayaking routes I want to explore. I’m not going to run out of new places anytime soon, that’s for sure. Whenever I get asked, “How do you find these places?”, I have a few methods I use to locate new trails.

I thought I’d share a few of these, in case you’d find it useful!

If you’ve never used AllTrails before, you’ve been missing out. It’s a great free, tool to find trails and get some idea of what you’ll find there. You can find trails that are near you, get a brief description, an idea of how long they are, a GPS preview of the trail, photos that people have uploaded, current weather conditions, and reviews that people have made. What I like to do is to look at recent reviews and get an idea of what the conditions are like. That can be very useful, as some trails can get rained out, and recent reviews can tell you if they are fine or not.

There is also a map option, which will let you zoom around the area to find trails. I’ve found a few spots that way, which I’ve added to my list of places to check out. The only drawback is that it shows ALOT of trails. I’ve been to a few that I realized just weren’t worth my time.. It’s a great tool to find trails by area, but be aware that some of those trails may underwhelm.

I recently reviewed Outdoor Explorer TX, and greatly enjoy using it! As I said in the review, the app has several use cases. It provides a nearby trail list, based on current location. It also has a map showing the full location of all the trails that they offer. Unlike AllTrails, Outdoor Explorer is a curated list. The pros of that, mean that the trails listed here are going to be some of the better ones. The cons of that mean that there may be things nearby that won’t be reflected, or they just haven’t gotten to yet. Another key benefit of this app is that when you are out at the trail, you can see your location mapped out on the actual trail maps themselves. This is a key differentiator with Outdoor Explorer, and I can’t say enough good things about this tool!

When the weather isn’t conducive to being outdoors, I like to think about new adventures and places to go. I’ve put together a huge list of trails, and many of those I’ve found just playing around on the map apps on my phone. I just scroll around, and see what shows up. My strategy has been just to scroll around looking for green spaces, especially when a park icon shows up. The Tishomingo Wildlife Refuge is one spot I found this way, which I plan to visit this year. I also found the LBJ Grasslands this way as well. Once I find spots that look interesting, I’ll do the standard web searches to get more info, but surprisingly enough, I’ve found quite a few spots just idly looking. The key is just to be zoomed in the right amount as you scroll around, and look for the park icons with names.

This one is fairly obvious, but you can find information going right to the source. I’ve found state parks that look interesting that are in driving distance, by going to the Texas Star Parks website (they also have a fantastic app you can download). I’ve done the same for the Oklahoma State Parks site, and done a little research on Arkansas and Missouri, for those closest to Texas. I’ve visited a lot of the local state parks, you can find a list here, but there are still many more I’d like to visit that are a bit further out.

I’ve also found Wildlife Management Areas as well, which give more spots you may want to explore. A word of caution for visiting Wildlife Management Areas, hunting is allowed there (and in the grasslands), so I’d be cautious about visiting during hunting season, and wear bright colors if you do go.

There are some other great blogs out there that I like to check out. For instance, I’ve found some equestrian trails via Where the Trails Are. Their audience is horse enthusiasts, but many of the equestrian trails are multi-use (like LBJ Grasslands, CrossTimbers, Rocky Point, Bob Jones). Another site that I enjoy is DFW Urban Wildlife, which is a fascinating site by a guy who sets up cameras around the area to see what kinds of wildlife he can capture. Beyond being an interesting site, sometimes he’ll put up cameras in a location I’d not heard of, so I’ll then add those to my list. DORBA also has a website that lists all the mountain bike trails that they manage. Fort Worth has a similar organization you can find here.

Finally, books are always a great option! When I was first trying to find trails, many of the above tricks (AllTrails, Outdoor Explorer, etc) didn’t really exist in the 1990s, but you could find trail books written by locals outdoors people. There are quite a few written based on activity type (Mountain biking, hiking, kayaking), and can vary based on geography (some are Texas wide, others are specific to North Texas). I’ve found that the guides that are statewide, tend to skimp on the attractions close to home, but the ones focused on DFW offer a lot of great info. Keep in mind, the information in many of these books can get quite dated. Trails expand, sadly sometimes they just vanish like Fairfield State Park, roads and parking areas change, etc. So I’d recommend looking at the publication date, or revision date, ahead of purchasing.

There are several excellent options out there, the top one I’d suggest is Amy Martin’s Wild DFW, which is not only a list of adventures in the area, but also a field guide to the nature that is around here. Her book isn’t really a trail guide, but it does provide quite a few places you can explore. Seriously, if you enjoy the outdoors, this is an excellent resource to have!

Two other trail specific guides that may interest you are Kathryn Hooper’s “Best Hikes Dallas / Fort Worth” and Joanie Sanchez’s “60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Dallas – Forth Worth“.

These are the main ways I’ve been finding trails to explore, and like I said I’ve got a list of close to 200 trails on my ‘to do’ list. There really are a lot of natural places here to explore, you just have to know where to go. While I hope this site is helpful for you to find a new adventure, these other methods may provide additional benefit!

What about you, are there any other methods you’ve used, to find trails?