recreation news

New 5-mile mountain bike trail gets rolling through woods and prairies of Denton

Person riding a bike through Marion Sansom Park

There'll soon be a new place to do this.

Photo courtesy of Fort Worth Mountain Bikers' Association

A 240-acre mountain biking space is under way in Denton, on the Hartlee Field Property next to the Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center.

The city's first official mountain biking area, it will consist of five to seven miles of trails running through hills, woods, flat spaces, and open prairies, city officials say. There are two small stock ponds on the property, as well.

It's part of a Denton city initiative to make sure there are bicycle trails all over town, connecting the lakes, the greenbelt, and major thoroughfares. Currently, there are more than 200 bike trails throughout the city, but the plan is to eventually double this number.

Drew Huffman, Denton assistant director of Parks & Recreation over Operations and Planning, says the Hartlee Field Property is the perfect location for mountain biking trails, but not just because of the varied terrain. The land has been sitting there largely unused used for decades.

“The Waste Water Department bought the property in the mid-’90s for a future waste water treatment plant,” he says. “Through their master planning, they decided that a treatment plant may be necessary, but it may not be necessary for 10 to 40 years. Or, it may never need to be built. Or, it may need to be just 30 or 40 acres, not 240 acres.”

Huffman says he used to work in the Waste Water Department and knew about the property all along.

“As soon as I moved over to the parks department, we worked on a memorandum of understanding to use the property for mountain biking trails,” he says. “If they’re not going to use all of it for what it was originally planned for, a mountain bike course would be great to put there. If a treatment plant is ever needed, the trails could go around it, and a fence could be built to keep people out.”

The bulk of the construction of the mountain bike trails will be done by local residents.

“We’ve had a lot of interest by volunteers to help with this project,” Huffman said. “Over 130 volunteers have signed up to help build the trails. They are raising awareness, posting signs, trimming brush, marking and planning where the trails will go, and installing trails,” using such hand tools as pruners, hand saws, shovels, and loppers.

“The volunteers are really excited,” Huffman says.

They hope to finish the project by December 2021, he says — or earlier.

parks sports

Movie Review

Shaun the Sheep gets PG-spooky in new movie for the Halloween season

Photo courtesy of Aardman / Sky UK LTD / StudioCanal 2026

Shaun the Sheep in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom.

Since his introduction over 30 years ago, the Aardman Animations character Shaun the Sheep has been almost as popular as the studio’s flagship characters, Wallace and Gromit. There is never a shortage of trouble Shaun can get into as he leads his flock and proves to be a thorn in the side of his farmer and Bitzer, the farmer’s loyal sheepdog.

His antics lead everyone down some slightly spooky roads in the new film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. At first, things are only slightly awry as Shaun and the flock are growing a secret pumpkin patch to have their own jack-o-lanterns. But when the farmer accidentally destroys the pumpkin patch, Shaun tries to regrow it quickly with a Frankenstein-esque experiment.

However, disaster looms when Shaun uses an old bottle of Hair-Gro as the container for the serum he creates. Naturally, the balding farmer uses it on his head, and everyone soon discovers how truly successful it is, with pumpkins growing out of control and the farmer sprouting hair all over his body. Through a series of mishaps, the farmer becomes the titular beast, creating mayhem while Shaun and others try to stop him.

Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, and written by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow, the film goes down just as easy as every other Aardman project has. They get the Halloween vibes started from the opening credits, with things like the sheep doing the “Thriller” dance, and continue the fun throughout, referencing everything from Psycho to Friday the 13th in a nice, PG way.

With no script — every character is mute save for reaction noises — the movie relies on sight gags for its humor, and the Aardman team is endlessly inventive in that respect. Sometimes it’s small things like a sheep using toilet paper rolls as binoculars, and sometimes it’s something like forcing the Bigfoot-like farmer to be shaped into a rectangle as he escapes through a window. But there’s a never-ending stream of such moments, so even if one doesn’t tickle your funny bone, chances are the next one will.

The biggest benefit of the characters not talking is that there’s no need for deep character development. The filmmakers do a great job of giving the basic traits of each character, and then use those attributes to color everyone’s actions for the rest of the film. Shaun is the troublemaker, the farmer is a bumbling fool, Bitzer is preternaturally smart, and the town’s vet is empathetic, and the combination of those characters and others makes for a highly entertaining blend.

Like all Aardman creations, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is a fun lark that doesn’t make its audience think too hard. With just enough references to keep viewers engaged but not so many as to be overbearing, the film puts its well-worn characters to good use once again, delivering a Halloween season story that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

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Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is now playing in theaters.

movies film