You’ll find plenty of opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors around McKinney, Texas, including various bike trails that are suitable for all ages and abilities. The next time you want to explore the area on two wheels, you know you’ll have a great time when you take a ride on a few of these best bike trails around McKinney.
Erwin Park
Image via Flickr by Texasmtbtrails
At 212 acres, Erwin Park is one of the largest parks in McKinney. This park maintains its reputation for outstanding mountain bike trails.
The park is home to 10 miles of mountain bike trails maintained by the Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association (DORBA). The single-track trail loops around the entire park and delivers an even mix of wooded areas and open fields. Its surface consists of packed dirt with a loose, powdery top.
While you ride under the trees, you’ll want to keep an eye out for some tricky roots and rocks to negotiate. You’ll also find various fabricated improvements on the trail, such as bridges and stones, to help support traction through the muddy spots and on descents.
If you want to spend several days enjoying the trail, Erwin Park has 10 designated campsites available on a first-come, first-served basis after the park has fulfilled all guest reservations. Plus, if you hit a rough patch on your ride and need to fix anything, you’ll appreciate that the park offers two Dero Bike Repair Stations for minor repairs. These stations include tools, an air pump, and a stand to hold the bike.
City of McKinney
The City of McKinney has developed the On-Street Bicycle Transportation Master Plan to create an on-street bicycle network that makes it easier to traverse and explore the area by bike. The heart of the bicycle network is a system of Bicycle Boulevards. These routes, intended for a range of bicyclist skills and abilities, travel mainly through low-speed, low-volume neighborhoods.
In addition to the Bicycle Boulevards, the system includes bike lanes on two- and four-lane roadways. These streets have a posted speed limit of 35 mph or less and slightly busier traffic than you typically find on a Bicycle Boulevard route. The shared roadway routes serve as connectors between Bicycle Boulevards and other bike trails in the city. While the routes are open to all cyclists, you might feel less comfortable on them since they share the road with faster traffic.
If you’re interested in exploring this network of bicycle lanes and trails, the interactive bicycle map is a great way to get an overview of the city and find places where you would like to ride.
Sister Grove Park
Sister Grove Park is a 75-acre park located about 14 miles east of McKinney and north of Lake Lavon. The park has an extensive primitive trail system open to hikers and off-road bicyclists and maintained by DORBA. However, it is essential to note that the 8-mile single-track trail is closed when the trail surface is wet.
Altogether, you’ll find four loops on the trail system. At a mile long and with an elevation gain of 54 feet, the Puppy Loop is the easiest of the four and is suitable for beginners. The trail consists of smooth, packed dirt. Half of it travels through an open prairie, and the other half goes through wooded areas. Although the trail has one small pipe ramp obstacle, you can avoid this obstruction by going around it if necessary.
The Lake Loop and Safari Loop are both 2 miles in length. The Lake Loop climbs 81 feet and includes one jump with a bypass. The Safari Loop offers a bit more of a challenge since it has an elevation gain of 117 feet. It also has a mix of smooth, packed dirt and roots to navigate around on your bike.
If you want to work your legs, you can tackle the Sister Loop, which is 3 miles long and has an elevation gain of 108 feet. This trail is the most technical of the four loops. It has numerous fabricated features, including a few jumps and an armored spillway. Additionally, this trail features two expert lines that are more difficult than the rest of the trail. The expert sections are marked with a sign and have a bypass route.
Serenity Park
Serenity Park is a picturesque 16-acre park located west of downtown McKinney. The park has various activities for everyone to enjoy, including a hike and bike trail that connects with Gabe Nesbitt Park. The trail starts at the northern end of the park along Berkshire Road. It loops around the fishing pond and winds through a small wooded area as the trail travels south through the park. Once you come out of the wooded area, the trail has a tunnel so that you can safely go under Eldorado Parkway.
On the other side, you can continue to take the trail south until you reach Hudson Crossing, or you can go right to enter Gabe Nesbitt Park. This park offers an outstanding variety of activities, including baseball and softball fields, a tennis complex, a skate park, a jogging track, the John and Judy Gay Library, the Apex Centre, and the PSA Arena.
Wilson Creek Trail
Photo by Godwin Oparah on Unsplash
The Wilson Creek Trail is a scenic hike and bike trail that connects the Creekview Estates community with Towne Lake Recreation Area. Along the way, the 5.5-mile traffic-free trail passes through several parks, including Al Ruschhaupt Park and Bonnie Wenk Park. It also has a convenient tunnel that goes under Virginia Parkway so that you can safely bypass this busy road. The smooth trail is ideal for bicyclists of all ages. Plus, if you want to extend your biking adventure even farther, Bonnie Wenk Park has a 0.43-mile Pond Loop trail and 0.44-mile Dog Park Loop trail.
When we at Huffines Kia McKinney want to head out for a fun bike ride, these are the top trails we like to explore. Did we forget to mention one of your favorite bike trails in the area? If so, please be sure to contact us and let us know. We’ll happily add it to this list!