Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge

Absolutely worth the hour+ drive to get away from Mesquite to hike and explore the peaceful beauty of this wonderful park on a beautiful day! I got there a little after 2pm and had a good 2 and-a-half hours to explore. So I first started off with the legendary Greer Island; it felt like entering a haunted house after seeing an account of the Lake Worth monster on the news a year ago - which was how I first learned about this park overall. As I continued on through the island, I kept my eyes open and kept looking over my shoulder - but hey, fact or fiction, it was worth the thrill. It has excellent trails to walk through and nice areas to view the scenery of the lake. Then I moved up a little northwest to where before the lake merges into the westfork trinity river and hung out on the riverbank and saw some deer. But however, I Love this place! Still there is more to see and I will definitely return!

We've been going to the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge for over 30 years. We decided to join as members two years ago and since then we try to walk the trails at least three days a week. At least once a week we will see something new or different. Being in our 60's we aren't really up to the more strenuous trails but have several favorites. Each trail seems to differ in several ways. Our favorite trail has more wildlife than others. We consistently see about ten white tailed deer on the trail. Recently we watched as four waded across the Trinity River for the first time. The river is the headwaters to Lake Worth.
This fall we've enjoyed the colors of the leaves and were suprised that a State Park an hours drive away had less colorful leaves and didn't see any deer or other animals other than a few birds.
Covid-19 has restricted the guided activities and the educational center has been closed but it is still a wonder place to spend time enjoying nature.

Prepayment Required! Arrived to be turned away... Required each individual to do an online Registration and Pre Payment: Create an account, each person, with the city of forth worth website, await account activation emails, pick day you want to go, it defaults to the next hour, paid, Called to have admission altered to not wait till the next hour. This entire process Took 30 minutes... After driving all the way there they will Not take payment at the gate...wish this had been at the Top of their website which I pulled up the hours before leaving the house. The park is LOVELY as always, been coming for almost 40 years, and now that we know entrance process we will Be Prepared when we return to enjoy the beauty that is nature.

This was such a nice place to get out side. Great, flat hikes easy for kids. Bathrooms were clean, picnic tables for lunch. It was a great day.