kuba83

For being so near to a big city it may surprise some. It has a few primitive campsites and lots of regular "park-in" sites. It has decent hiking trails though they're not very long, great for an afternoon or even after work outing. "Talala Trail" and the "Duck Pond Trail" are the two hiking trails. These are probably less than 2 miles total, (I'm guessing here, could be less).

The mountain bike trail is one of the best in the area, (my opinion, I ride there a lot). It has 3 loops, a 2.5, 7, and 12 miles. The terrain is quite varied, some hills, native grassland prairie, scrub as well as larger trees and plenty of cedar. The bike trail can also be hiked, just go in the oppisite direction of the bikers. In the spring and summer watch out for snakes, they like to sun on the trail.

Throughout the spring different blooms blanket parts of the trails, if you have the stamina to walk the bike trails there are some areas well worth the effort, around any given twist in the trail there may be a suprise. There is one very nice overlook on the bike trail that gives a wide view of the lake over an inlet of dead timber, very nice sunsets here, but it's about 3 or 4 miles into the trail.

I have come to think of the park in two halves, the north and the south. As you drive past the headquarters you'll come to the intersection where you can go straight or right, or left. Straight or right lead to the north part of the park. Here is where the marina, beach, playground and a few camping areas are. Take a left and your going south to the hiking trails, mountain bike trail, several camping areas, primitive campsites, one boat ramp, a couple of fishing piers, picnic areas and the Penn farm site.

Right now (Feb 2006) the lake is quite low, as is just about everywhere else.
And being winter the park is fairly brown and dull. Come spring and a little rain it should green up nicely. Its a great destination for those in the area who don't want to drive for a few hours. Can't say it would be worth driving up from other parts of the state but like I said for being so near to DFW its a little oasis amongst the traffic jams and city life.

As was said it is also near the old Dallas Nature Center, now called the Cedar Mountain Preserve(?). This is also quite a surprise as you turn into the area from a heavily populated residential neighborhood. Once you go down into the trails you almost forget your actually in Dallas city limits. These are some fairly interesting trails with somewhat dense forested areas leading into a scrub or grassland section to the west of the preserve. I think there are a total of at least 8+ miles of trails there, maybe more. Its on the edge of an escarpment that runs north to south for quite a few miles. Its a bit of a hike if you follow the Fossil Ridge or Cat Tail Pond trail as there is a bit of a altitude change down to the end of the trails.