Entry No. 28 — the Dallas file — filed under: outdoor
Old Fish Hatchery Nature Area
A 50-acre overgrown ghost of a former fish hatchery hidden behind a gate just east of the White Rock spillway parking lot. The sunken, grid-laid ground between the trails is the leftover skeleton of the old hatchery ponds, now a moist woodland with a beaver pond and a small prairie remnant. It's only four miles from downtown but feels genuinely remote once the city sounds drop away.
The move: Park near the spillway, slip through the gate, and wander the grid of sunken old hatchery ponds looking for the beaver dam - pair it with watching the White Rock spillway cascade if it's rained recently.
📍 Before you go Access is off Garland Road via Winsted Drive: park at the paved spillway lot, or use the small dirt overflow lot just past the Santa Fe Trail bridge if it's full. The signed gate sits a short walk up the hike-and-bike trail from the lot. Wear sturdy shoes; the low ground turns genuinely muddy after rain, and it's daylight-only. Cooler months or early morning are best for birds, and it's a known hotspot for night-herons, beavers, and a feral monk-parakeet colony. It's a corner of White Rock Lake Park, so pair it with the lake loop or the Dallas Arboretum just down Garland Road.
- 📍 White Rock Lake / East Dallas
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Old Fish Hatchery Nature Area, near Winsted Dr & Garland Rd, Dallas, TX 75218
Hours: Behind a gate east of the spillway parking lot; daylight only, can be muddy
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: northtexastrails.com · Tripadvisor
last checked: 2026-06-06