We headed west on I-20 to check out Cedar Hill State Park. It would be only my second run there and we were planning to run the biggest loop. When we arrived at the ranger station, we were told that the trails were closed because they were too muddy. Whatever. I can understand that bikes can really tear up a trail, but we already had mud all over our shoes. I keep my Texas Gold Passport so that I can run on a whim and not pay the $5 entrance fee. This put a sour note on things.

So we headed to our old standby, the Cedar Ridge Preserve. We put in a couple of loops and 2 hrs on Cedar Brake trail and then called it a day. It was less mileage than we might have had at the smoother trails at the State Park, but the terrain will certain pay dividends at Bandera.

I’ve been meaning to take advantage of the Texas Gold Conservation Passport I bought a few weeks back so this week I headed down to Cedar Hill State Park south of Dallas. DORBA has a maintained trail out there and I was curious to see what it was like.

The trailhead is on the far side of the park near the lake and was easy to find from both the park map and DORBA’s website instructions. There is a nice sign there explaining the three loops. I started out to the left, following the bike trail. Hikers are pointed to the right to complete loops in the opposite direction.

The trail is nice smooth single track with a lot of switchbacks to get up the hills. As expected for a bike course, it is overly windy for a runner, but still a nice workout from the ups and downs. It is not as well marked as L.B. Houston, but it was still easy to find my way without getting lost. There are only a couple of decision points and to complete the smallest (green) loops, I just kept taking a right.

Just after the green loop cuts through the woods to pick back up on the trail, you ascend a bit and come into an opening with a fantastic view of Joe Pool Lake. There was a crisp breeze in the air that was blowing the tall prairie grasses making the run pretty enjoyable.

If this were a less windy course, I’d probably go back more often, but will probably use this more as a way to change things up and get some decent ups and downs into my workouts. I will probably check out Cedar Ridge Preserve soon to have something nearby to compare it with.