Outdoor Recreation

The City Would Like to Remind You, Bicycles Are Vehicles, Too

The City Council made it pretty clear last month that it's not quite ready to take the bold step of barring drivers from throwing things at cyclists. This is in keeping with general reluctance to turn Dallas into a legitimately bike-friendly city, a reluctance that seems to stem both from an ill-def ... More >>

Councilwoman Angela Hunt Doubles Down on Criticism of Dallas' Half-Assed Bike Plan

Last week, as a City Council discussion of the don't-throw-stuff-at-cyclists ordinance degenerated into a litany of members' pet peeves about cyclists (we're looking at you, Sandy Greyson), Angela Hunt became visibly frustrated. Hunt, who rides a bike herself and has been the council's most vocal cr ... More >>

In New, Bike-Friendler Dallas, Drivers Have a Friend in the Morning News' Tod Robberson

With all the feel-good talk recently celebrating Dallas' hesitant but progressing embrace of cycling (Painted bike lanes! A don't-be-a-dick-to-cyclists ordinance!), it's easy to forget about the concerns of the driver. Never fear. Morning News editorial writer Tod Robberson is here to champion thei ... More >>

City Dawdling Leaves Trinity Canoeists Up Shit Creek

Dallas Has Its First Real Bike Lane, and It's in Oak Cliff

It's easy to bemoan Dallas' glacial progress on the bike plan that is supposed to, one day, connect the city with an extensive network of bike lanes, but credit should be given where it's due. In the spring, it was the shared lane that randomly sprung up on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard next to F ... More >>

Paddle Fiends, You Got Your Fest

While Dallas Chokes on the Trinity, the Suburbs Show Us How It's Done

Hop in the canoe with Schutze as he cries himself down the river.

Fort Worth Skunks Dallas on Bike Plan

It was shortly before or not long after I read Robert Wilonsky's post from earlier this week about Dallas retaking its rightful crown as the country's worst major city for cyclists that I wiped out, in suitably humiliating fashion, as I rode my bike to work down Hillcrest Road. I would blame the fal ... More >>

Bike Guru Gil Penalosa: Striped Bike Lanes Aren't Enough to Make Dallas a Cycling City

The City Hall staffers who last year tried to toss road blocks in the path of a City Council plan to stripe 840 miles of bike lanes in Dallas -- that's 840 miles more than what the city has now -- might be pleasantly surprised by part of what Gil Penalosa will have to say at his "Urban Bike Systems" ... More >>

Back, Pedal: Dallas Bike Lanes Won't Be Easy, But They Just Might Happen After All

The bureaucratic red tape for bike lanes is loosening in Dallas. Well, OK. There's talk of it loosening. Which, for those who like to want to ride their bicycles, who want to ride them where they like, is better than nothing. At today's meeting of the city council's Transportation and Environment C ... More >>

Dallas Is the Worst When It Comes to Cycling to Work? Gee, Can't Imagine Why. No, Wait ...

​I've been trying since daybreak to reach Max Kalhammer, the city's bike coordinator, to talk about the not-at-all-surprising results of the Alliance for Biking & Walking's 2012 Benchmarking Report, which says we're one of the worst big cities in the entire country when it comes to people ridi ... More >>

Council Told City Can't Afford Bike Lanes, Which Is Why BFOC's Looking for Donors

​So much for that Bike Plan briefing. The council's transpo committee didn't have time to get it today, so it's been backbenched for now. Shame too, since Street Services second-in-command Beth Ramirez's pavement markings briefing was so fascinating, as in: Did you know it costs anywhere between $ ... More >>

Bicycle Advocates Win a Game of Chicken

City Hall turns back on fudged numbers for bike lanes.

Tonight's 45 Fest at Dada Remembers Frankie Campagna and Adam Carter

It's been nearly a year since the devastating news of Frankie Campagna's suicide rattled the Dallas music community. Only three months later, when the wound was still fresh, Campagna's Spector 45 bandmate, bassist Adam Carter, followed in his footsteps.Now, a year later, the dust has settled for som ... More >>

Drowning the Whistleblower on the Doomed Trinity River Wave

The man who warned of danger at the city's Trinity whitewater park gets sold downriver.

Cowabungle: Corps of Engineers Says Don't Blame Them for That Effed-Up Dallas Wave

​I have been dealing with both the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in recent weeks seeking answers to questions about the "Dallas Wave" or "Standing Wave" man-made rapids that the city has installed in the Trinity River just downriver from downtown. It was intended to be a recreation ... More >>

In The Heat of a Turbulent Summer, Charles Allen Keeps on Paddling the Trinity River

Photos by Leslie MinoraCharles Allen gives Trinity canoe tours extraspecially early to avoid the unbearable afternoon heat.​This morning, Charles Allen, who runs Trinity River Expeditions, pulled his white 15-passenger van into the parking of the Sylvan Avenue boat ramp, positioning the bulky ... More >>

Charles Allen Warned the City its Trinity River "Wave" Might Kill Canoers. He'll Pay for That.

​Should have seen this one coming. Hope it's not my own fault. On Monday I reported here that the city is going to spend some $76,000 to have its screwed-up and unusable fake rapids in the Trinity River digitally modeled by an engineering company that builds sewage treatment plants. That's ho ... More >>

Wave Bye-Bye? That Ill-Conceived Whitewater Feature on Trinity River Nearly Claims a Life.

​On May 5 I wrote a column about the city's bungled "whitewater feature" in the Trinity River -- a fake rapids for kayaks that cost $4 million to build -- and I included the following observation about a so-called safe bypass around the fake rapids for canoers: "One powerful current slams you ... More >>

No Paddling Allowed on Trinity River Paddling Trail. Which, Come to Think of It, Is So Dallas.

​Thank goodness. Finally reached Judy Schmidt, marketing director for the city's Trinity River Corridor Project, to ask about tomorrow's grand opening of the Trinity River Paddling Trail. I had been trying to reach her since last week to ask if she was going to warn people they might be killed. Bu ... More >>

The Trinity River's 'Standing Wave' Crashes into Reality

The city spent millions on a kayaking park that almost no one can use -- and the money's still flowing.

On May 10, the "Dallas Wave" Officially Becomes Part of One of Seven New Texas Paddling Trails

TPWD/Michael BlackwellPaddling down the Dallas Trinity Trail​The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department sends word: May 10 is Texas Travel Rally Day, during which the TPWD will officially launch seven paddling trails in North Texas, beginning with the 8 a.m. shove-off from the Walnut Creek Paddling T ... More >>

Oak Cliff Activists--Between Their Bikes And Gardens And Chickens And Goats--Seek To Redefine Their Community Without Destroying It

One Dallas Biker Takes His Fight Against City's Helmet Law to Federal Court

​Paul Woodfield had already spent years fighting Dallas's bike helmet law in county court, when the city decided to drop the original ticket he'd been given on a bare-domed ride around White Rock Lake back in 2007. With no ticket to fight, the Fifth Court of Appeals dismissed his three-year-old la ... More >>

Packed Open House For 2011 Dallas Bike Plan Leaves Many Impressed And Very, Very Hopeful

Photos by Daniel Rodrigue​Ten minutes before the 5 o'clock kick-off of last night's 2011 Dallas Bike Plan Open House, there were already some 100 folks milling about City Hall's 6th Floor Flag Room. And by the time officials busted out the PowerPoint at 6, all but a handful of the seats in the 26 ... More >>

Jim Schutze Joins The Urban Explorers Who, Amid The Poisonous Snakes, Bacteria And Quicksand Of The Trinity River, Seek To Reconnect The City To Its Natural Beauty.

Into the Great Outdoors and Back in Time for a Proper Sub Sandwich

Patrick MichelsNo big-city ad executive signed off on this one. But it sure makes you want a cookie.​The Great Outdoors Sub Shop 6918 Greenville Avenue 214-739-1928Dude Factor: 7 (or Smokey the Bear) on a scale of 1 (Winnie the Pooh) to 10 (this guy)In 1988, John Candy and Dan Aykroyd finally unit ... More >>

The Trinity Needs A-Paddlin': The City and State Are Turning 10 Miles of River Into "Trail"

​Funny thing, this showing up on the Trinity River Corridor Project Committee's agenda this week of all weeks: Texas Paddling Trail Program. Which is ...? Well, in short, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has told the city that, why, sure, it'd love to include a 10-mile stretch of the Trinit ... More >>

Maybe Brave Combo Will Give Us A Ride To The Old Settler's Music Festival...

​This year, the Old Settler's Music Festival takes place, as it always does, at Salt Lick Pavilion & Camp Ben McCulloch, just south of Austin, from Thursday, April 15, through Sunday, April 18. It's an event that's always heavily tilted towards acts that land securely in the alt-country and/or ... More >>

Some Questions Over How Useful Google Maps' New Bike Trails Feature Actually Is

​Bike Friendly Oak Cliff was the first locally to make mention yesterday of the fact Google Maps now offers bike trails -- that's the green line you see on the map at right. (Writes Jason Roberts, "It's a good way to see a birds-eye view of our trail system, and will hopefully help when plans deve ... More >>

NCTCOG, City Have Tapped Maryland Firm to Revamp Dallas Bike Plan

Danny Fulgencio​Speaking of the North Central Texas Council of Governments ...We've been waiting on this announcement since late November, when the NCTCOG and the city of Dallas put out the call for bidders interested in coming up with a new Dallas bike plan. And, lo and behold, there it is on the ... More >>

Local Libations

Dallas' Former Bike Czar Tells Newbie Riders to Go Play in Traffic

Before Dallas Gets New Bike Plan, Bids Will Be Taken and Committees Will Be Formed

On a related note, Bike Friendly Oak Cliff yesterday announced the route for this weekend's Tweed Ride.​Good news for anybody who has ever avoided bicycling in Dallas for fear of the automobile: The city's new bicycle coordinator, who moved here from Virginia, is on your side. Says Max Kalhammer o ... More >>

Bicycle Race: Angela Hunt Explains the Rift Over Separate Cyclist-Only Lanes

Angela HuntJerry Allen was among those on the ride to City Hall Wednesday. Not as good as the Ann Margolin photo, but, still.​On Wednesday, we mentioned the city's plans to make Dallas more bike-friendly by creating separate cyclist-only lanes. And, as usually happens when the subject comes up, th ... More >>

Dallas City Hall Needs a Bike Rack

Photos by Kimberly ThorpeJason Roberts, organizer of today's bike ride to City Hall, and his official proclamation​This morning, Angela Hunt made a discovery: Dallas City Hall has no bicycle rack. "It's nuts!" said Hunt, who was standing with other bikers on a chilly morning in the plaza. "We ... More >>

Barr None

Nevada Barr signs her latest thriller

Finally, a Weekend Travel Tip

The Great Trinity Forest Ain't So Great

Well, not yet anyway.

The Greatest Outdoors

Go fishing and hunting in Arlington

Rollin' in Grapevine

With A Paddle

River Boats

Paddle the Trinity

Best Sporting-Goods Store

REI Store

Where the Rubber Leaves the Road...

...and flesh sometimes meets the pavement, stunt bikers look to go legit

Dying Breed

The economy and image take a toll on Dallas' bike messengers

Best Place to Spend an Afternoon Indoors

Grapevine Mills Mall

Best Bicycle Equipment

REI Dallas

Best Camping Equipment

REI

Best place to beat the heat

Hurricane Harbor