DFW Biking: Gravel Trails

Looking for the best gravel trails in DFW? Well let’s get started!

Gravel biking has been having a moment. It is one of the fastest growing sectors of the cycling industry, with sales jumping over 109% between 2019 to 2021, and no sign of stopping anytime soon. If you spend much time on Youtube watching cycling videos, you are bound to have seen many that are devoted to gravel. Gravel bikes fill in that void between a road bike and a mountain bike, allowing flexibility and performance on both pavement and off-road. A bit like the old ‘hybrid’ bikes that never quite did so well off the road (at least my hybrid didn’t, I rode it on a DORBA trail once and bent the frame).

Gravel trails are not where you want to go out on a road bike. You’re not going to have a good time. The gravel could be finely graded or chunky, ruts can develop in those trails, which makes them very unsuitable to the smaller tires found on road bikes. I personally don’t have a gravel bike, so use my mountain bike, which has served me well.

There are quite a few gravel trails in the DFW area, so I wanted to do an article showcasing which ones I’ve found, that may be worth exploring. I’ve not been to all of these yet, so I’ll indicate below which ones I’ve been to (with a link to the review), or which ones I haven’t gotten to yet (and a link where you can get more information).

The Trinity Levee trails in Dallas are one of the most well known gravel trails in the city. They follow along the Trinity River floodplain, and you can follow them either on top of the levees or down inside the levees depending on where you are on the trails. You’ll also have access to the Trinity Skyline trail (which is a paved trail accessed at the Sylvan Avenue Bridge near Trinity Groves). There are miles and miles of trails here to ride, and you’ll likely have the place to yourself as when I’ve ventured away from the Skyline paved trail, I’m often the only person out there. Standard cautions apply in terms of safety.

The Lakefront Trail in Little Elm is a relatively short 4 mile trail that extends from McCord Park out along Lake Lewisville. It’s a wide gravel trail, bordered by shrubs and trees along the edges of the trail. There are some lake views the further you go from McCord Park, but when I visited the trail was flooded so I wasn’t able to make it all the way to the end. If you want to visit, check out the review as I had some issues finding the right place to park. The best place I found to park, was at the McCord Park Splash Area.

Another shorter trail, the Colony Shoreline trail is around 3.5 miles one way, but you can extend that ride if you bike into the Stewart Creek Park’s dirt trail, which adds about another mile. This gravel trail gives you more views than the Lakefront Trail, as you bike through a more natural area, and then transitions through a neighborhood that offers lake views at the northern end. This is a well marked and maintained trail, and I did see wildlife while I was there (birds in the lake, a coyote passing on the trail). While it is close geographicaly to the next trail, it’s about a 15 minute drive between the two.

Also in The Colony, the Tribute Shoreline Trail has 2.5 miles of gravel to ride, or 5 miles round trip. Not a large gravel trail, and unfortunately not easy to ride over to the nearby Colony Shoreline Trail for additional mileage. It is very well maintained with benches and informational kiosks and views of the lake. You can even see across the lake to the dam at LLELA. Perhaps a better trail for hiking than biking.

This is a bit more like it! This trail, part of the Lake Ray Roberts State Park system, has approximately 10 miles of gravel trail (12 for equestrians), although not all of it is currently usable. Unfortunately due to some blockage in the Trinity River, the southern section of this trail is suffering from flooding and erosion problems. You can access the trail at three different points (Inside the Isle Du Bois State Park, at the 455 trailhead, or the 428 trailhead. The 380 trailhead I believe is closed due to the flooding south of the 428 trailhead. As with any other state park trail, you need to pay to use it, so make sure to bring some money to avoid fines. The trail itself follows the Trinity River as it flows from Lake Ray Roberts to Lake Lewisville, and provides some sunny and some shady areas, with an interesting detours to see the dam, an old bridge, etc. Definitely worth a visit!

While I have been to Lake Mineral Wells State Park, I’ve not biked the railway yet. This 20 mile trail connects Weatherford to downtown Mineral Wells, with a connection into the state park. I haven’t ridden the trail yet, so I can’t give any specifics. I’ve seen quite a few mentions that there are issues with bridges being out, and bad ruts on the trail. The downed bridge appears to be closer to the Mineral Wells trailhead, so starting at Wetherford may give you longer ride without needing to cross. Per a recent review, it sounds like a bridge replacement was in process in February 2025. You can look on AllTrails for more recent reviews. As this is part of the State Park system, you will need to pay for usage. (From what I’ve seen, it appears to be mainly gravel, let me know in the comments if I have this wrong).

I have been to Fort Richardson State Park, but it was in the heat of the summer and we didn’t have our bikes with us. The Trailway connects the main state park, to the Lost Creek Reservoir in a nearby unit of the state park. This is a 9 mile gravel trail, that follows Lost Creek. Since I’ve not ridden it, I can’t provide a lot of information, but I did find this Youtube video that shows the ride if you are curious.

A 130 mile trail just a short drive from Dallas sounds amazing! When I first read about the Northeast Texas Trail, it got me super excited at the thought of such a long trail to explore. However, the more you read about this trail, the more you learn about the caveats. This trail starts at Farmersville and extends through northeast Texas to New Boston. Along the converted rail corridor, the trail passes through many small cities along the way. The problems I’ve read about however are that the trail has some beautifully maintained areas, and others that are bush whacking to get through. Some riders have complained about aggressive dogs and unfriendly local property owners unhappy about the NETT trail. Looking at the official website, there does seem to be continued progress to improving the conditions on the trail. If you want to ride this trail, you can find a lot of videos on Youtube showing people who have biked portions, or even the entire trail (including workarounds when they had to abandon the trail for a bit). There have been talks at this trail being added to the State Parks program, which would greatly increase the funding available to improve and maintain the trail. The trail itself has different kinds of terrain, so keep that in mind too. The initial section in Farmersville is paved for 2.5 miles, which then transitions to gravel and other surfaces from what I can tell. Also there some of the bridges are trestle tracks, so you need to walk your bike across. I’d recommend the link above for more info to plan your trip, should you want to visit, including this page which lists conditions between segments of the trail.

What Else?

This list isn’t as extensive as I would have liked, but there just aren’t as many long distance gravel trails in the area, as there are paved trails. When I’ve asked others how to find other gravel routes, the main advice I’ve been given is to make your own. You can look on Strava to find gravel routes that others have developed outside the city limits. Driving out into rural areas, you can take advantage of country roads to pull your own path. Spinstry also does gravel races, and members can access a routes library with over 1,500 routes across multiple states (not sure how many in our area). The Trinity Trails of Fort Worth also has gravel sections, but I’ve not explored those as much as I’d like to, so not sure where they are or how extensive they are.

What about you? Any major gravel trails I’ve missed, and should add to this list? Let me know in the comments!