It’s amazing how you can live within twenty minutes of something and not even know about it. Two weeks ago, while out running some errands, my husband and I decided to pick up some sandwiches for a late lunch and take them to a park to eat them. He did a quick Google search on his phone to see what parks might be nearby, and that’s when we discovered this little gem.
The Arbor Hills Nature Preserve sits on the western edge of Plano, a suburb of Dallas. We live just a couple of miles north of Plano, so we spend a lot of time there shopping, dining, etc..
This 200 acre park has 2.3 miles of paved trails, some natural unpaved trails, and a off-road cycling trail. We stuck the paved trails since the ground was still a little wet from the recent rain.
The preserve also features 3 distinct ecoregions: Blackland Prairie, Riparian Forest, and Upland Forest.
There are 3 really nice pavillions located above the trails. There are no picnic benches located within the preserve. The pavillions were empty that day, so we were able to enjoy a nice quiet lunch while looking down on the preserve.
After finishing our sandwiches, we headed out to explore the preserve. There were several people on the trail either running or riding bikes. I imagine it would be a really neat place to run, too bad we don’t live closer. Twenty minutes is a little far to drive very often just to go running.
Not too far into our walk we spotted this little guy. “Eh, what’s up, doc?”
There were TONS of butterflies flying around us as we walked. I don’t think I’ve seen that many since I was a kid. The wildflowers were in full bloom on the day that we were there, including a a small patch of bluebonnets that you may have noticed in the first picture.
One of the neatest spots in the preserve is this scenic overlook.
The only bad part was in being able to overlook the preserve is that you also get a view of the nearby powerlines, homes, and office buildings. 🙁 That being said, if you just ignore that part, you really do feel like you are getting away from it all, if only for just a little while.
Do you have a special place in your city/town that you like to go to “get away from it all?”
What a lovely place! It’s so nice that places like this exist outside of a big city. It’s nice to get away and escape into nature, even if for a few hours. Thank you for sharing a local Dallas-area place! P.S. Love your tag line! 🙂
Thanks Flavia! It really is a neat place to visit. We went back last week because we enjoyed it so much.