Visit Katy Trail

Katy Trail
#21 of 100 things to do in Dallas

The Katy Trail is a jogging, walking, inline skating, and bicycling path that runs through the Uptown and Oak Lawn areas of Dallas, Texas, following the path of the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, which was known as MKT or the Katy. Wikipedia

Directions from the South to the Victory Park Trail Head
– Take your best route to I35 North
– Exit High Line Drive
– Take a Right on High Line Drive (High Line turns into Victory
– Park as close as you can to the corner of Houston St. and Lyle.
– The Trail begins just North of the corner of Houston and Lyle St.

Because the Katy Trail is a City of Dallas park, it is technically open the same times that other City parks are open – 5 a.m. to midnight. Lights are on from 5 a.m. to sunrise, and sunset to 9 p.m. during the late fall, winter, and early spring. As summer approaches, the lights stay on later, turning off at 11 p.m. from July through September.

Perhaps the best place to park near the north end of the Katy Trail is the parking lot behind the Lamps Plus store on Knox Street. To get to it, take Travis Street south from the Knox intersection, then take a right into the first retail parking lot on your right. Go straight and it will turn become an alley that leads you to a lot adjacent to the Katy Trail. Note that some of the spaces are reserved for E2M employees during business hours.

The mile markers on the Katy Trail are imbedded into the concrete trail every quarter of a mile and show the distance from the end of the Trail in the direction you are traveling. Whether you start at Airline Road in the north, or the American Airlines Center in the south, the mile marker says zero. The next marker you see says 1/4, and so on every quarter of a mile until you get to the other end of the Trail, when you reach the 3.5-mile marker. When you turn around, you’re at zero again.

In case you’re asking about the signs on poles along the Trail, those are 911 markers for DPD and DFD. They are labeled KT-100 through KT-125 and are tied to the City’s GPS because the 3.5-mile Katy Trail is too long to have one official address. They are approximately 1/8 of a mile apart, but they are not mileage markers.

website: http://www.katytraildallas.org