Highland Village's New Paddling Trails Opened in June. Fall Is When They Actually Work.

On June 25, a small crowd gathered at Lakeside Community Park on Highland Village Road for a ribbon cutting most residents probably didn't hear about. Texas Parks and Wildlife, working with the City of Highland Village and a group of local Boy Scouts, launched five new paddling trails along the Hickory Creek Arm of Lewisville Lake, eight miles of signed, mapped routes that brought the statewide Texas Paddling Trails count to 96. Shelly Plante, TPWD's nature tourism manager, called it a chance for paddlers to enjoy "loops and one-way trails, along with opportunities to fish and view wildlife on this beautiful section of the lake."

It's a genuinely new amenity, not a rebrand of something that already existed. But the timing of that ribbon cutting sits inside the loudest, busiest stretch of the entire boating calendar. Every single trail description TPWD published carries the same line, repeated five times: watch for motorboats, this is a heavy traffic area. That warning was true in June. It's less true now.

The Same Water, Suddenly Signed and Mapped

Lewisville Lake has always been there. What changed is that a specific stretch of it, the calmer coves and creek fingers on Highland Village's side of the Hickory Creek Arm, now has an official name, a map, and a state designation that didn't exist before this summer. Highland Village is the first city on the lake to get one.

The system breaks into five named routes, launched from five access points: Marauder Park, Pilot Knoll Park, Sunset Point Park, Lakeside Community Park, and Copperas Branch Park.

• Pilot Knoll Loop – the longest route in the system at 3.4 miles, looping out toward the cove near Sunset Point Park and back, with a float time of roughly 1.5 to 3 hours depending on wind and water level.
• Pilot Knoll to Sunset Point – a one-way run along the southern shoreline of the Hickory Creek arm, meaning you'll want a second vehicle waiting at the take-out.
• Sunset Point to Lakeside – another one-way leg connecting two of the system's access points.
• Lakeside Park Loop – a short paddle, as little as half a mile, tracing the Lakeland Drive shoreline near Lakeside Park.
• Lakeside to Copperas Branch – the final connector, linking the system's easternmost points.

Trails can be paddled individually or strung together for a half-day outing. Deputy Director of Parks Operations and Projects Brian Norton described the project as "a big collaborative effort" between the city, TPWD, and the Boy Scouts who helped prepare the launch sites. TPWD supplied the maps, signage, and inclusion in the statewide trail network. Highland Village prepared the physical access points.

Every Trail Description Carries the Same Warning

Read through TPWD's official page for the Highland Village trails and you'll notice the pattern immediately. Nearly every route note ends with some version of the same sentence: watch for motorboats, this is a heavy traffic area. It isn't boilerplate. Lewisville Lake's main body, particularly the stretch between Hickory Creek and Lakeview Marina, is built for wakeboarding, wakesurfing, and tubing, and the lake's social boating scene runs hardest from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. July 4th weekend is the single busiest stretch of the year on the water.

That's exactly the window this system launched into. A paddler who showed up in late June or through July did so during the peak weeks for motorized traffic on the very water the trails cross. None of that makes the trails unsafe. It does mean the ribbon-cutting crowd got a different experience than the one the trail system was arguably designed to offer: a quiet, wildlife-heavy alternative to the rest of the lake.

What Changes by the Time the Leaves Turn

Lake guides that track conditions on Lewisville Lake are consistent on this point: September through November is a genuinely excellent boating period, with temperatures dropping to comfortable ranges and summer crowds thinning dramatically. Weekday traffic on the lake is already a fraction of weekend summer levels, and by fall that gap widens further.

For a paddler, that means less time spent watching over your shoulder for wake and more time doing what these coves were actually built for: sliding along the Poindexter Branch Creek mouth, watching for the great blue herons and belted kingfishers that work the shallows, or casting toward the crappie and white bass that stack up in the Hickory Creek arm this time of year. The same trail that felt like a chore to navigate around jet skis in July becomes the calm, photograph-worthy paddle the launch event promised, minus most of the traffic that made the warning necessary in the first place.

Getting on the Water Without a Guess

If you already live in Highland Village and want to try this before the weather turns, here's what actually matters for planning a trip.

Access points and fees. Copperas Branch Park and Pilot Knoll Park both charge for entry, since they're leased regional parks with boat ramps, swim areas, and maintained facilities. Copperas Branch runs a $15 daily vehicle fee, with annual passes available for $40 for residents and $100 for non-residents. Pilot Knoll follows a similar structure, including a discounted half-year pass running from July through December, which is well timed if you're picking this up now. Passes are sold at the Robert & Lee DuVall Center on Highland Village Road or at the Pilot Knoll gatehouse. Marauder Park, Sunset Point Park, and Lakeside Community Park serve as the system's other launch points along the arm.

Gear, if you don't own any. Tower Bay Park, next to Eagle Point Marina on the lake's southwest shore, rents kayaks, canoes, and pontoons for anyone who wants a day on the water without owning a boat. Pilot Knoll's own park amenities list kayak rentals on site as well. For paddleboards specifically, Blue T SUP, based in nearby Argyle, rents canoes, single and double kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards and is listed as an outfitting partner on the TPWD trail page.

What to expect on the water. Small lures like jigs, crankbaits, and plastic worms work well for the largemouth bass, channel catfish, crappie, white bass, and striped bass that TPWD notes are active in this stretch. Birdwatchers should keep an eye out for great blue herons, great egrets, mallards, swallows, and belted kingfishers along the shoreline. If you're running a one-way leg, like Pilot Knoll to Sunset Point, arrange a shuttle vehicle at your take-out before you launch. A properly fitted life jacket and plenty of drinking water are worth packing regardless of which route you choose.

The Quiet Season Is the Real Debut

The launch event did its job. It put a new amenity on the map, gave it a name, and got local coverage from NBC 5 and several regional outlets. But a ribbon cutting in late June, timed just ahead of the lake's busiest weeks, meant most of the residents who tried these trails first did so under conditions the routes weren't necessarily designed to showcase. Fall is quieter, cooler, and closer to what the maps and the wildlife notes actually describe. If you've been meaning to get out on this stretch of the lake, the next two months are probably the version of the experience worth having.

If Highland Village ever has you wondering what your own place near the lake is worth, Mikel Porter Real Estate Group offers a free home valuation, no pressure required. We're neighbors first, and we'd love to help whenever the time comes.