A Soggy Beginning: Texas Buckeye Trail

(I apologize for lack of pictures. I took this adventure before I decided to blog about it and didn't think to take many pictures.)

So as I was laying in bed on this aforementioned Sunday afternoon, I began researching just exactly what there is to explore in Dallas. A quick search brought up the Texas Buckeye Trail, a popular trail through the Great Trinity Forest. So I did some research just to figure out where I was going and what I was gonna be doing, called up a couple of friends, packed my bag and got going.
We rolled up to the entrance, a cul de sac at the south end of Bexar street right next to Bolton Farms, in my jeep at about 2:30 pm. I was worried about parking before we got there, but there are parallel spaces all down the right side of the street and in front of Bolton Farms, and the area was not crowded. Parking was definitely not an issue. There were two other cars there, and we saw a group of college aged guys headed up the levee. We checked out the map, and I took a picture for later reference, just in case we were to get terribly confused.

The map at the entrance to the levee

We didn't make it far before we did end up getting terribly confused. We walked across the small footbridge and diagonally up the levee, following the stone trail until we got to the top of the levee, at which point a gravel trail continued across the levee east and west. We didn't know where the trailhead was, and had to consult the above picture to figure out that it was actually to the west. With that confusion cleared up, we continued the expedition westward, until we spotted the trailhead.

The path that leads to the top of the levee

There was a narrow dirt path that lead down to the concrete trail, which lead into the forest. Having finally found the beginning of the trail, we excitedly embarked on our first exploration. We got about a quarter of a mile into the forest, then noticed that the entire trail up ahead was either covered in slick mud or under water. We decided to push on anyway. We continued walking, and a few minutes later, we came to the split in the trail. We could go left and follow the unpaved Buckeye Trail to the Buckeye Grove Loop, famous for its beautiful Buckeye blooms in the spring, or we could continue down the paved trail to the Trinity Overlook. As much as I would have loved to go down the Buckeye Trail, this was impossible, because the trail was under a foot of water. The only option was to continue down the paved trail. 

So continue we did, but not for long. About a hundred yards down, we realized that the paved path, too, had succumbed to the flooding. It was impassible, the whole trail from that point on having been converted into a pond complete with two to three inch long crawdads and tadpoles. It was a beautiful sight, but it meant no forest for us that day. We were forced to turn around.

Looking at the levee from the trailhead

We made our way back out of the forest, wondering what to do next. I wasn't leaving until I had had my fill of adventure, so we decided to walk along the levee and look for anything that might seem adventurous. After about 15-20 minutes of walking along the levee, we came across the entrance to Rochester Park, a seemingly neglected lake with a small island in the middle. We walked around a little and spotted a few interesting sights including a small alligator gar, a snake, and a wooden table with fishing hooks and mutilated minnow remains on it.

We made our way back to the levee and walked down for about another 30 minutes, until the levee curved and headed toward the highway. At this point we turned around and made our way back to the jeep.

Overall, it was a successful adventure. While we didn't get much time in the woods, we did get to do some exploring, and discovered an amazing area of Dallas we hadn't ever even thought of before. We will be making another journey back here in the near future, hopefully when the trails aren't flooded.