Cottonwood Park is located across from Richardson High School in the southwest corner of the City…read moreof Richardson. It is a popular neighborhood park, but since it is one of the larger parks in Richardson, it attracts residents from around town. The park has a wide paved sidewalk that winds around the green space allowing visitors to get some exercise. There is a creek that flows through the park and has been dammed in two places to create large ponds that attract ducks, geese, herons and other wildlife. There are two walking bridges that cross the creek on the north and south side of the park. You can also find tennis courts, basketball hoops, sand volleyball, and a small swimming pool that has a separate deep end with diving boards. The pool is only open during the summer between Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend. Pool hours are limited and depend greatly on the city budget and the number of lifeguards available. A major attraction is a children's playground. It has been developed with different age groups in mind and is accessible for individuals with disabilities too. Twice a year, each spring and each fall, the city holds the Cottonwood Arts Festival. This is a juried event with artists from around the country displaying and selling their unique creations. The City of Richardson plants wildflowers all over the city each spring and reserves large areas of the park for the flowers too. It's a great place to take photos and have a picnic with your family. There are two covered pavilions that can be reserved by residents for parties, meetings, and other activities. The pavilions have tables and chairs and even electricity. I wish visitors to the park would do a better job of picking up after themselves, and I wish the city would do a better job of maintaining the park. Trashcans are often full and not emptied frequently enough so garbage ends up overflowing and blowing around into the grass and the waterway. Despite this, I really enjoy visiting this park on a regular basis. You should check it out too.

It was not like this growing up here there's so much dog poop and trash I think they abounded this…read morepark! The city needs to do something about this and if your one of these people throwing trash and leaving dog poop stop! Por favor para de estar asiendo eso

I was super impressed with this park! There's a gate to the entrance, which is open as of right now…read more8-8pm(sunset). After the gate is closed if you need to be let out, you have to call the police. But there's so much to do here! Not just the swimming area! There's a hiking trail, playground and walking trails. Beautiful views and plenty of space to social distance yourself. The trails are available for no fee as far as I could tell, but the swimming area near WhoaZone is $5. They do not take cash, only debit/credit card. The swimming area has a playground and picnic areas. I think there's a spot to cast your kayaks off over there too, but I stayed near the beach and didn't explore anything else. I saw vehicles with kayaks going over on the other side. If you have water shoes, I'd say bring them and a beach umbrella as there's no shade. The sand isn't too uncomfortable to lie in, there's just cigarette butts here and there. But I definitely recommend visiting for the day or even camping if you're into it!

Someone recommended this to me as a "sandy beach". It is a beach, and there is some sand, but the…read moreshore is probably a 50/50 mix of packed dirt and sharp pebbles. OUCH! The rock bottom extends out a couple of yards into the water, where it turns to clay. For swimmers, the rockiness is less of an issue - get past the rocks and swim/float your heart out, but the rocks along the shore make it significantly less enjoyable for babies. Running along the shore and splashing in the shallow water is painful without water shoes. For a true SANDY BEACH, check out Twin Points Park at Eagle Mountain Lake or Little Elm on Lake Lewisville instead. Twin Points is nicer, if you're deciding between the two. Pros: it's a pretty spot, with nice views. Plenty of parking - $5 per car. CREDIT/DEBIT ONLY. There is a dock for jumping off (which we didn't notice until we were leaving, sadly!). Not very crowded on a Saturday in August. Pretty clean, other than the bathrooms. Alcohol permitted (or if not permitted, certainly not regulated). Days swimming at the lake are SO MUCH FUN! Aside from the rocky shore, the only big negative was how gross the bathrooms were. We were there pretty early, so clearly they aren't cleaned daily. Also, the whoa zone is SO EXPENSIVE!!!! It looks fun but I cannot wrap my head around the fact that people pay that much to be there. It's $22 a person for ONE HOUR! Mon-Thurs they also offer a $50 all day pass. For our family of 7, I consider that cost prohibitive. Overall, it was a fun day at the lake, but Meadowmere Park is just not the best DFW has to offer.

Cottonwood Trail is a stretch of trail just over 3 miles and connects Preston Ridge Trail and the…read moreWhite Rock Trail. With this connector, it is actually possible to make the ride by bike, or on feet from Plano to downtown Dallas all on trails. It literally runs under the High Five in North Dallas to get pedestrian traffic across 635. While it is mostly safe, this area has become overrun by homeless who make encampments in the brush just off the trails. Honestly, be on alert in the area. While it is possible to get through this area without encountering them, if you come through here often enough is is undoubtedly a big possibility you will encounter some of these people who can be sometimes a little protective of their "turf". I have seen signs warning would be visitors to "Keep Out". I come through a few times a week with my dogs (Anatolian Shepherds), and I usually feel pretty safe with them. I also probably would not even notice the encampments if not for them sensing them and alerting me to their presence near us.

Found this trail while biking on the White Rock Creek Trail. Didn't try to bike it from WRC but…read morelater tried to bike it from Cottonwood Park off of Belt Line in Richardson. Followed Google GPS to figure out how to find WRC from Cottonwood Trail. All this to say it was awful! I had to bike thru areas of sidewalk that were too narrow and ran along a very busy road. Finally found the entrance to the trail and although the trail looked nice and straight it ran right along a very isolated area below Hwy 75. I stopped and turned around. No other bikers or walkers. I will try this trail from the other side of WRC to see if it gets any better. I hope that since Richardson has been voted one of the best biking cities that they will take some interest in this trail soon. It needs to be better connected to the Cottonwood Park and brought up to standards with the Dallas side.

Absolutely beautiful 75° Saturday afternoon hike among this path. It truly restored my soul. God…read moreBless Texas!!

This is a beautiful park with a nice walking path, a clean playground, a picnic deck on top of a…read moresmall pond, and wildflowers! We stopped by the park after dinner but discovered the giant field of wildflowers in the back, which made the visit a lot more memorable. The flowers are gorgeous and there are so many spots for photo opportunities. I saw 7 groups of people taking photos and they were pretty spaced out. There are paths you can walk between the flowers so you don't step on them if you want to walk in. I'm not sure how long the flowers are blooming but definitely check out soon!

We found Discover Kayak and Steve through a search in our local area for basic kayak instruction…read morefor our Girl Scouts to accomplish their paddling badge. First, working with Steve was so easy and relaxed! As you can imagine, coordinating a kayak trip with Texas weather and multiple involved Girl Scouts posed a bit of a logistical nightmare but Steve was understanding all along the way! He was understanding when we dropped a few girls and added one back on and when weather canceled us the first few times he was very clear and quick with the communication. Second, Steve was incredibly informative and patient with our Girl Scouts. This was a group of girls ages 11-15 but most of our group fell into the 11-12 year old range. He kept the girls on task and made sure they were watching at the important parts without coming across as too tough. The girls LOVED the experience and I highly recommend Steve and Discover Kayak to Girl Scouts and new kayakers alike. Thanks again Steve!

I found Steve 3 years ago and gave him a try. It was "top-knotch". He had every skill level in our…read moreclass and handled everyone with ease. Last weekend I entrusted him to teach two dear friends who ARE NOT great swimmers. One had had a hip replacement. He was so patient and accommodating. He eased their fears, taught them and they already are begging to go back out. Thank you, Steve, for helping me introduce my friends to the world of kayaking. We are planning another small group for next month already.

Grabbed our friends and headed out for an Urban Adventure. Who knew you could kayak doen the…read moreTrinity River right here in the Carrollton area!?

We did the Blast River run with single kayaks. The first part of the tour was the most beautiful…read morepart. Overall the river is clean but there were some spots where trash was deposited from previous washouts. I would try a run farther up river for a better experience next time. The staff was friendly and helpful but the rental equipment is definitely well worn and some in our group had problems with adjusting their seat backs and the seat cushions were quite hard after 1 hour on a 3 hour trip.

This place is a great mental break! I have always passed this place while I walk around the…read moreneighborhood FOR YEARS, but never thought about checking this place out. It was until i got a herniated dish and couldn't walk too far that i decided to check this place out. HOLY COW. This place is the most serene, quiet, calm, clean mini park i have seen. There usually only one it two other people here when i go, and it's like having the park all to myself. It's so tiny, so as you are walking you can see the entire park in a circle. This really helped me mentally when i herniated my disk, so now i come here when I'm stressed and need a mental break! I love this kil secret park.

Small park. Great for lap walking…read more Lovely space for photos. Trail along White Rock Trail a few steps away. Historic church near trail.

Bob Woodruff has four Lots for the dogs to rotate but they never let the large dogs have the…read morelargest lot it's always the small dogs I can see why people would be happy with that arrangement. The largest lot should be rotated so the large dogs can have more room to run and some shade trees. There are no shade trees where they keep the large dogs. It's boring it's just big piece of grass we have to watch where you step. I've contacted the management and said why don't you put some trees in there if you're not going to allow the large dogs in the big lot? And they have all kinds of strange governmental excuses. Last year they said they were going to build some type of a cover inside the lot but never did.

Beautiful place to explore! Love walking around her with friends or by myself. I've walked in…read moreterrible conditions. As well as great with ones. Love it so much. Just be careful going off trail to explore, it's easy to get lost.