Off-Road Adventure

A beginner's guide to Dallas-Fort Worth's 12 best bike trails

The 3.5-mike Katy Trail makes for a leisurely ride.

Photo via DallasParks.org

Hiking is great and jogging is fine, but sometimes only a bike ride will do. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has plenty from which to pick, spanning everything from easier paved loops to tougher off-road trails. Here are some of our favorites.

Arbor Hills Nature Preserve
Where: Plano
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult
In the know: Arbor Hills lets bikers have the best of both worlds. This 200-acre park has about 3 miles of paved trails and 2.8 miles of off-road trails. The diverse animal and plant life that call the park home might convince you that you're far away from civilization, even though the park is only about a mile from the Dallas North Tollway.

Cedar Hill State Park
Where: South Dallas
Difficulty: Difficult
In the know: Serious bikers can log 23 miles at the DORBA trails within the 1,800-acre Cedar Hill State Park. These trails were created by mountain bikers, so you know they’re adventurous. The three consecutive trails range from 3 miles to 12 miles and all share path access with hikers (read: be careful on those sharp turns). There is a cost of $7 per adult per day.

Frisco Mountain Bike Trail
Where: Frisco
Difficulty: Easy to difficult
In the know: Also called the Northwest Community Park Trail (for the park in which it begins), this off-road trail includes four connected trails that run a total of 8.1 miles. The outer-most trail, Ranger Loop, is flat and mostly straightaways, making it friendly for kids and beginners. The Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association maintains the trail, meaning it’s usually in tip-top condition, unless a recent rain storm has left it muddy.

Gateway Park
Where: Fort Worth
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
In the know: Smooth terrain makes Gateway Park ideal for beginners and straight, open trails make the park even better for those who want to build up some speed. The 3.5-mile loop on the west side of the Trinity River is relatively flat, while hills scatter the eastern 5-mile loop.

Harry Moss Park
Where: North Dallas
Difficulty: Moderate
In the know: Five connected loops make up this 5.5-mile trail at Walnut Hill Lane and Greenville Avenue. Plenty of trees make for tight twists and turns on some trails, though the yellow bypass and black and red loops are not strenuous. Switchbacks on the purple and orange trails are for the more advanced bikers. Enter the trail through the Buckeye Beverage parking lot.

Katy Trail
Where: Central Dallas
Difficulty: Easy
In the know: Katy Trail is the ideal bike path for those who like to ride with a purpose. Start at the northernmost entry at Dedo’s Place near SMU and ride just east of Cedar Springs Road to Katy Trail Ice House, where you can sit on the shady patio and knock back a summer beer or an iced tea before riding back. The entire trail runs 3.5 miles.

Oak Cliff Nature Preserve
Where: South Dallas
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult
In the know: You don’t have to go far into the 8 miles of trails at Oak Cliff Nature Preserve to feel secluded from city life. The scenery within the six hiking and biking loops ranges from open fields to wooded forest. Several water crossings make off-road biking more fun — albeit muddier.

Northshore Trail
Where: Flower Mound
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult
In the know: Park in the center of the trails at MADD Shelter, just north of Lake Grapevine, and take any of the seven loops that span 23 miles. The loops are labeled by level of difficulty, meaning Loop 1 is the easiest and Loop 7 is the most challenging. DORBA also maintains this trail, but check Facebook to see if the trail is closed due to weather or debris in the pathways.

River Legacy Park
Where: Arlington
Difficulty: Easy to difficult
In the know: The 10 miles of biking here are worth it for the lookouts alone. Parts of the trail within the 1,300-acre park are concrete, but several miles of off-road trails exist along the river bank and surrounding Lake Viridian.

Santa Fe Trail
Where: East Dallas
Difficulty: Easy
In the know: Santa Fe Trail is best enjoyed in conjunction with a ride around White Rock, as this trail connects the lake to Deep Ellum. Meet up with this trail just north of Gaston Avenue and Garland Road and take it down to Deep Ellum, where you’ll have your pick of restaurants and watering holes when it's time to refuel. Just remember to take it easy on the food and drinks, because you’ll still have to bike back.

Trinity Trails
Where: Fort Worth
Difficulty: Easy
In the know: If you only know of one trail system in DFW, it might be Trinity Trails. These 40 miles serve as a central artery and connect with many other trails throughout the city. Start at a popular trail head such as the Fort Worth Botanic Garden or Log Cabin Village, or park at the quieter Trinity Strand Trail.

White Rock Lake Park Trail
Where: East Dallas
Difficulty: Easy
In the know: It’s tough to own a bike in Dallas and not make White Rock Lake one of your usual stomping, er, riding grounds. The toughest part of this 9.4-mile trail is keeping your eyes on the road instead of on the scenic lake. Bikers and pedestrians share the path at here, so keep a close eye out for others and be considerate. If you’re not taking the whole loop, park on the north side around the dog park or White Rock Paddle Co., and bike the east side, which gives you a killer view of downtown.

nature health parks fitness

income analysis

This is how much a single-income family needs to make in Texas in 2026

Photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash

The income needed for a single-income household to raise a child in Texas is lower than it was last year.

With childrearing costs in the Lone Star State adding up to tens of thousands of dollars per year, many Texas families are navigating a difficult decision: should both parents work or should one parent stay home to raise the child?

For Texas families that choose the latter, the working parent needs to make nearly $73,000 per year to support their child and the stay-at-home parent, a new income analysis has revealed.

The newly released SmartAsset report used MIT's Living Wage Calculator to estimate the annual living wages needed across all 50 states for a three-person household with two working adults and one child, and a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. Costs included food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes, and "other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent needs to make $72,925 to support their stay-at-home counterpart and their child, the study found. That's $1,809 less than what was needed in 2025.

Meanwhile, the combined income needed for a household with one child and both parents working full-time is $85,030.

Texas ranked No. 42 in SmartAsset's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working parent, one stay-at-home parent, and one child. That also situates Texas as the 9th most affordable state for single-income families. But there are risks associated with only having one breadwinner in the family.

"A single income family with small children potentially saves in child care costs over a household with two working parents," the report's author wrote. "The main disadvantages are the lost salary and retirement contributions, Social Security earnings history and employer health benefits."

There aren't any specific tax benefits to having a parent stay at home to raise their child full time, but SmartAsset says single-income families can claim a tax credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

"[S]ingle-income families may claim the Child Tax Credit — up to $2,200 per qualifying child for 2026 ($1,700 refundable) — on the same terms as any other family," the report said.

SmartAsset's latest report only looks at costs on a statewide basis, but the cost to raise a child will also vary greatly depending on the city you live in. Raising a child in Dallas-Fort Worth might pose a challenge for some families, where the cost for childcare alone adds up to $10,736 and overall costs can surpass $23,000.

For households with two children, there might be additional strains on what a family might consider a "comfortable living." A March 2026 SmartAsset study determined a Dallas family with two working parents need to make a combined income of $214,490 to have a financially stable life while raising two children.

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income needed for single-income families are:

Arkansas ($68,869)
Mississippi ($70,054)
Kentucky ($70,179)
West Virginia ($70,283)
North Dakota ($71,219)
Oklahoma ($71,365)
Louisiana ($71,406)
Missouri ($72,862)
Texas ($72,925)
Tennessee ($72,946)

smartasset reports texas family income