Plano Bike Trails #1: Oak Point Park
Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve is my favorite place to ride my bike in Plano. This park spans over 800 acres, and has about 8.5 miles of concrete trails and five miles of soft-surface trails. You can ride your bike on the paved trails, and walk on the unpaved trails. I like to do both! There is a cool wooden bridge that goes over a wetlands area. I usually lock my bike up there, and take a walk/hike on some of the unpaved trails, which really makes you feel like you are out of the city and in the forest. Most of my photos of this park are of the unpaved areas because that’s where I stopped and got off my bike! There are not too many photos of the paved trail, because it would have messed up my Strava times(!) if I stopped.
Getting there and exploring trails:
There are lots of trails here, and many loop around, or branch off in different directions. The trails within Oak Point Park each have their own names, like Santa Fe Trail, Rowlett Trail, etc., so while there is a trail section called “Oak Point Trail,” what you’re really doing is exploring lots of trails within Oak Point Park. FYI, if you want to get some more miles in and see another pretty lake/pond, The Santa Fe Trail connects with Bob Woodruff Trail, which takes you to Bob Woodruff Park. To help you get around, Plano Parks System has this map of Oak Point Park—but it doesn’t list the trail names, so I find it easier to use Google Maps.
Trails that connect to Oak Point Park:
You can drive out to Oak Point Park and bike from there, or get to it from a connecting trail. I don’t have a bike rack, so I bike from my house in North Central Plano, which takes about 40-45 minutes—but it’s worth it! I like to take bike trails the whole way, which is not the fastest way, but it is the most fun. I start at Chisholm Trail, at the trailhead on Legacy Drive. From there, you can continue South until it intersects with Bluebonnet Trail East, just past Jack Carter Dog Park. Go East on Bluebonnet and follow it all the way down to High Point Tennis Center. The trail turns left just past the Tennis Center, on Chase Oaks Drive, and you will feel like you’re off the trail and just on a regular sidewalk that has bike lanes, but you’re actually still on Chisholm Trail. Keep going alongside Chase Oaks until you get to The Courses at Watters Creek Golf Course, and there, the trail will turn left. You’ll cross a bridge and bam! You’re in Oak Point Park.
Keeping Plano Clean:
The City of Plano hosts a Fall Waterways Cleanup each year to keep our parks clean. They provide free trash bags, gloves and other cleaning supplies if you register in advance. The last few pictures in this gallery show me and my kids and friends from my Rotary Club cleaning up a waterway just next to a bridge at Oak Point Park, where trash had created a bit of a logjam. See the before and after photos! We did this cleanup a few years ago, and I look over the bridge from time to time to see if it still looks nice—it does! Here’s a link to organize a cleanup, in case you’re interested in helping out.
