Archive for November 23rd, 2008

Running from Buck Swanson Park in the north to Lake Benbrook in the southwest, the Trinity Trails is an amazing network of paved and dirt trails where savvy Fort Worthians go for a ride or walk in the country, all the while staying inside the city limits.

There’s something peaceful and liberating about riding a bicycle along this 40-mile long bike trail network. In a world where bicyclists are stopped continually in order to allow auto traffic the right of way, or simply to keep  safe from cars, the Trinity Trails offers a vision of what a two-wheeler’s universe would look like – wide green swards, narrow asphalt trails interspersed by bridges and tunnels, and relative quiet, broken only by the rush of water going over an occasional spillway on the river or another bicycle swishing by in the opposite direction.

The paved trails run predominantly along the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity River, where long, sloping grassy banks give some memory of the bucolic cow-town history of Fort worth. Bicyclists rule the roost, although joggers, pedestrians and dog walkers, plus horses on certain sections of the trail, can travel.

The Trinity is a wide, slow moving river bordered by long, green banks in many areas near the trails.

 When: Open twenty-four hours; use caution after dark.

 How: Enter and park at major parking areas at Lake Benbrook, Heritage Park downtown, Trinity Park, Gateway Park, Rockwood Park, and Cobb Park. Other parking areas listed on trail map.

 

 

 

Rules

for safe transit from the Trinity Trails trailmap:

 

1. Be courteous
2. Yield to slower users (that means pedestrians and horsemen)
3. Keep right.
4. Pass cautiously on the left.
5. Give an audible signal when passing (a shouted “on your left” is more common than any other)
6. Yield when entering and crossing trails
7. Use lights at night.
8. Please don’t litter.

Map: Pick up a free paper map at Fort Worth Visitor Center inside the Will Rogers Center at 3401 W. Lancaster or go here for Trinity Trails map.

 

A bicyclist stops for a snack at Panera on University Blvd., just a few yards from the trail