Fue Un Accidente in Arbor Hills

After a two week long hiatus, I finally was able to get back out into the wilderness of DFW. During my time away from exploring, I spent a week in Costa Rica on a mission trip, where I joined a crew of ruthless explorers and white water rafters. We called ourselves "Team Unique Bad Boys" (all name credits go to Luke "Unique Bad Boy" Parker) and after a series of mishaps adopted the slogan "fue un accidente," meaning, "it was an accident." After we returned to Dallas, we decided to have a team adventure.

Team Unique Bad Boys in Costa

We chose Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano, Texas as our destination, and we went early in the morning to attempt to escape the inescapable heat of a Texan summer. We arrived at around 9:30, and quickly set off into the woods.

Trail Entrance

 We set off without much idea of where we were going. I tried to look at the map, which had marked on it the main concrete trail and a few of the natural surface trails, but I had no idea where we were on the map, so it didn't help much. We decided it would be pretty hard to get too terribly lost, especially since we had my GPS, which visually tracks our movement so we can backtrack if we get lost, so we felt comfortable just wandering around.

There were many different trails and paths to choose from once we were in the woods, and I felt a little overwhelmed at times, so I delegated the responsibility of choosing which path to take to the rest of the team. After a few minutes of walking, we came across a clear creek.

The Creek

 Our only snake encounter of the trip took place here at the creek. We saw a water moccasin slither into the water and under a log, and it left us totally alone. We took a few pictures then went on our way.

We followed the trail we were on (Indian Creek Trail?) until it let off on the main concrete trail. From there we spotted another trail off to our right, so we decided to follow it. About 15 minutes or so after we entered this trail, we realized that it was actually a mountain bike trail. We decided it would be safest to get off of the bike trail, so we don't risk getting plowed into by a speeding mountain bike. The only problem was that the mountain bike trails were each somewhere around 3 miles in length with no intersecting paths or turnoffs. If we wanted to get off the path in the next hour, our only option was to turn around. So we turned around and made our way back to the concrete trail, which we then followed up to the pavilion for a bathroom and water break.

After taking our break, we made our way back into the woods and followed a rather hilly combination of paths on the north side of the park for about an hour, until it crossed over the creek and lead to a pavilion called Fort Arbor. We stopped here for a water break and ate some Chikys, a popular Costa Rican cookie bar, that Blake had brought with him. From there, we followed the Riparian Loop Trail until it connected with the Outer Loop Trail. We took this trail back to the concrete main trail, and followed that for a while, taking minor detours through natural surface trails every time we saw one.

It's hard to see, but this tree is growing out over a 15 foot drop. I'm making this stupid face because I slipped and almost fell in.

Olivia living life on the edge.

We eventually made our way to the lookout tower, a small pavilion on the edge of a steep incline that looks out over the whole park. We stopped here and ate some oranges we had brought, reflected on the beauty of nature, and shared some favorite memories from our trip to Costa. We spent a total of about 15-20 minutes here, then kept going.

The Lookout Tower

A mesquite tree on the prairie

 We made our way to the Outer Loop Trail again, and followed it along the outskirts of the preserve for a while. It took us through a prairie on the west side of the preserve, and the openness was well received.

The prairie

This trail eventually lead alongside train tracks before reentering the forested area. We decided to detour onto a loop trail that lead into the forest then met back up with the Outer Loop Trail, but as we got into the forest, there were many different loosely defined paths, and we couldn't pick out which one was the right one. In the true spirit of our slogan, "fue un accidente," we got lost in a poison ivy infested patch of heavily wooded forest. Using the tracking feature of my GPS, I lead us back to the main trail, and we found our way out, but we were all pretty certain we had gotten poison ivy. Luckily, none of us ended up getting a rash, though. 

After this close call, we were ready to call it a day. We made sure there weren't any areas we had left completely unexplored, then headed to Sonic to reward ourselves for a long day of adventure. 

YOUR TURN

If you liked what you saw with this adventure, you can head out to Arbor Hills and explore it for yourself! Arbor Hills Nature Preserve is located at 6701 W Parker Road, Plano, Texas. It's about a 30 minute drive from downtown Dallas. There is a concrete trail that loops through the whole park and natural surface trails that branch off from this trail everywhere. You could easily spend an entire day walking every trail. The park is kid friendly, with a playground near the front pavilion. The park also has a long system of bike trails - the only place bikes are permitted in the park. Bring lots of sunscreen, bug spray, and water, and consider bringing a hiking stick. I used my hiking stick heavily on my adventure here to keep me from slipping on rocks and to push poison ivy and stickers out of the way so I can pass safely. If you plan on off-roading, consider wearing long protective pants, as there was a lot of poison ivy off of the main trail. There are also snakes, but I didn't have any problems with them.