New Movement to Install Mountain Bike Trails at South Lakes Park

Denton residents are collaborating with Denton Parks and Recreation to expand existing trails at South Lakes Park to add to Denton’s growing opportunities for trail riding.

Rough preliminary outline of where the new trail may go.

Similar to the Denton Mountain Bike Trail off of Hartlee Field Road, progress in South Lakes Park will rely heavily on volunteers. Denton resident Caleb Wills is leading the project in collaboration with Denton Parks & Recreation.

The project will be broken into two phases. Wills and city staff are in the early stages of marking where the Phase 1 trail could go, taking special care to protect important native trees and plants. The trail will also avoid interaction with the existing gravel walking path in an effort to keep foot and bicycle traffic separate and to reduce risk of a collision between the two.

According to Wills, the planned trail will be “drop-bar friendly,” meaning that the trail should be rideable even without a mountain bike. Mountain bikes have wider handlebars for better steering, while bicycles with drop-bar handlebars are more narrow and difficult to steer in challenging terrain. The trail will likely be unpleasant for anyone on a bicycle with smooth, narrow tires like a road bike, however.

For the time being, updates and volunteer opportunities will be posted in the Denton Offroad Trails Association group on Facebook. It may be a few weeks before any volunteer days are scheduled.