Fairfield Lake State Park
Trails: Dockery Trail, Nature Trail, Birdwatching Trail
Last hiked October 2, 2022
About Fairfield Lake State Park
Fairfield Lake State Park is 1,460 acres of oak, hickory, cedar, elm, dogwood, and redbud trees surrounding a 2,400-acre lake. The park offers grassland prairies to the west and pine forests to the east with several trails that wind through towering trees and scenic overlooks. We arrived on a Friday evening to campsite #109 in the Post Oak Camping area. This is an awesome site as it is tucked away at the end of the campground and gave us our own private access trail to the lake, where we got to experience some beautiful sunsets.
Trail: Dockery Trail
Trail Type: Hiking, Biking, Equestrian
Distance We Hiked: 9.17 miles
Amount of Time it Took Us: 3 hrs. 27 mins.
Our Elevation Gain: 317 ft.
Park Rating: moderate
Mike & Elaine’s Rating: easy to moderate
Our Notes:
After some great breakfast burritos at our campsite on Saturday morning, we headed to the Dockery Trail to begin our hiking adventure. According to the Fairfield Lake trail map, this trail was moderate at 5.3 miles one way with a “few steep elevation changes.” Parts of the trail led out to the park’s main road, and you have to walk along the side of the road for a bit to reach the next part of the trail. Keep an eye open in these sections, as vehicles tend to pass by at quite a high rate of speed.
To begin the trail, we parked at the playground parking lot in the Cooks Ferry Camping area and walked a short distance to the Access Trail that heads to both the Dockery Trail and the Nature Trail, which we did the following day. The Access Trail is about .62 miles through prairie grass and a few trees, and puts you sort of at a midpoint on the Dockery. If you take a right on the Dockery, you can hike almost half a mile to one end of the trail and then make your way back to the midpoint to continue to the other end, which takes you along the park boundary all the way to the park entrance. Alternatively, you could park at the park entrance and begin from that end if you prefer.
We found the trail to be pretty easy for the most part, and the “steep elevation changes” were few and far between. It was mostly a flat trail through the woods. We didn’t find it overly exciting – once you’ve seen the first mile the rest is pretty much the same. It is peaceful and we did see a few deer and an armadillo. We made it to the Dockery Trail Overlook, which to us was the only really exciting part of the trail as the views into the valley below were pretty. We stopped there for lunch and then headed down the trail back from the direction we had come and ended our hike early in the afternoon. After that it was time for a nice rest in the hammock!
Trail: Nature Trail
Trail Type: Hiking, Biking
Distance We Hiked: 2.4 miles
Amount of Time it Took Us: 1 hr. 3 mins.
Our Elevation Gain: 104 ft.
Park Rating: easy
Mike & Elaine’s Rating: easy
Our Notes:
We tackled this shorter trail on Sunday morning after packing up our campsite. This trail travels along the shoreline of the lake, and we found it to be much prettier than the Dockery Trail. The trees in this area are more widespread, which offers better views into the forest and an increased chance of seeing wildlife. We saw some deer on this trail and plenty of racoon tracks on parts of the sandy areas of the trail. We found this trail to be pretty easy and very serene and quiet. It was a very enjoyable hike.
Trail: Bird Watching Trail
Trail Type: Hiking, Biking
Distance We Hiked: .98 miles
Amount of Time it Took Us: 22 mins.
Our Elevation Gain: 66 ft.
Park Rating: moderate
Mike & Elaine’s Rating: easy
We finished our time at Fairfield Lake State Park with one final trail, the Birdwatching Trail. It takes you 0.7 miles out to a loop and then back to yet another loop that leads to the lake. Unfortunately, the lake has suffered from the drought conditions we have had over the last several months, and the water is pretty low. When you make it to the bench area where you should be able to sit and look out over the lake, mostly what you’ll see is a dry lake-bed with some sort of vegetation growing in place of where the water should be. We did see a few herons way out over the water in the far distance.
We enjoyed our time at Fairfield Lake State Park, but once is enough for us. The trails didn’t really offer enough of an adventure for us to want to return. But it is a nice little get away fairly close to the Dallas area for a weekend camping experience. We highly recommend site #109 or the one next to us, which is even better as it’s located on a cul-de-sac as far away from people as you can get, site #108. Happy camping!
Links to the park and trails below:
https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/fairfield-lake
https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/park_maps/pwd_mp_p4503_0078l.pdf