HICKORY CREEK - Volunteers are continuing to pour their time and talents into the Elm Fork Trail, a walking and equestrian trail cut along Lewisville Lake's north shore about a decade ago.
Porter Walker of Hickory Creek is helping a civic effort to rehabilitate facilities at Sycamore Bend Park. The town plans to submit a grant application to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department by Feb. 1.
"We're trying to get a trail head and parking for equestrian trailers and a rest area for the riders," Walker said.
The restrooms need electricity and other work, she said.
Hickory Creek leased the park, which some residents call the best-kept secret in their town, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2009. Sycamore Bend Road was recently repaved from Turbeville Road to the park entrance. Other improvements made inside the park include a boat ramp that was built, in part, with assistance from state park funding. In April, Hickory Creek opened primitive campsites at the park.
For regional trails, Texas Parks and Wildlife funds up to $200,000 for projects that benefit non-motorized users. The money comes from the National Recreational Trail Funds of the Federal Highway Administration.
Corinth parks volunteer John Hoeffler said the walking bridge installed on the trail near Oak Bluff Drive in November was the last major link between the Elm Fork trail that starts near Old Alton Bridge in Copper Canyon, winds through Corinth, and ends at Sycamore Bend in Hickory Creek.
The Pilot Knoll Trail winds around another peninsula into Lewisville Lake - from Old Alton to Pilot Knoll Park in Highland Village.
An equestrian group cleared the trail 10 years ago, Hoeffler said, and volunteers in Corinth have helped keep the trail clear since then. More improvements are planned in Corinth, too, he said.
Master Naturalist and Shady Shores resident Ron Fellows has been mapping all the hiking and biking trails in Denton County and publishing the free guides to the trails on the Internet.
He hasn't mapped the Elm Fork Trail, but he will soon now that it has been reopened.
"We started to go out there and they closed it in two places because of the [FM2499] bridge construction," Fellows said.
While most of the people downloading trail information from the Trails of Denton County website live in the area, visitors from South America, Europe and Russia have also studied the trail sites, Fellows said.
Corinth resident Phil Shelp lives near the trail and also helps with its maintenance. Unlike many other multi-use trails in the area, no bicycles are allowed on the Elm Fork Trail.
Some parts of the trail are narrow and could be a problem if a horse and a cyclist met at such a spot, Shelp said.
He sees lots of families enjoying time on the trail, but it's never really busy, he said.
"It's so pristine," Shelp said.
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.
