Lake Ray Roberts State Park 428 Greenbelt - 10 Mil

The Elm Fork of the Trinity River below Lake Ray Roberts is one of North Texas’ most underrated paddle environments. It’s not wide-open lake water, and it’s not a fast-moving river run. Instead, it’s something rarer: a living corridor where the water moves with purpose, the banks feel ancient, and the wildlife acts like it owns the place (because it does).

Launching from 428/Greenbelt at Lake Ray Roberts State Park, paddlers enter a narrow, tree-lined channel that almost immediately transforms the world around you. The lake fades behind. The river pulls you forward. The canopy closes in. Sound changes. It becomes quiet in that way that only real nature can be.

This is the stretch where time feels a little looser.

The Elm Fork here is shaped by the managed releases from the Ray Roberts dam, which means water levels and flow tend to stay consistent compared to many seasonal rivers in Texas. That reliability makes it an ideal paddling route, but the personality of the river is still untamed.

The banks twist, roots clutch at the waterline, and old trees lean over the channel like watchtowers. It feels intimate and sheltered, almost like the river is keeping a secret.

And in a way, it is.

Long before park entrances and highway pullouts, the Elm Fork served as a natural roadway through the region.

For centuries, Indigenous peoples relied on the Trinity River system for travel, trade, and seasonal settlement, navigating along the bends and using the riverbanks as a resource-rich guide through the landscape.

Later, settlers followed that same logic. The Trinity system shaped movement across North Texas, connecting emerging communities and creating reliable crossings. Over time, the river became part of the infrastructure of expansion: an invisible map of where people could go and how they could get there.

Even today, paddling this stretch has that same feeling. The river doesn’t wander lazily. It feels directional, guiding you through the landscape the same way it has guided generations.

Historically, this paddle trail was clear all the way down to the Hwy 380 pull out, making it a true full downstream run.

However, a mile-long log jam now blocks that section, creating an impassable barrier for through-paddling. Because of this, we’ve adjusted the experience to focus on the best paddling water on the trail without frustration, reroutes, or technical navigation.

We paddle downstream toward the Clear Creek junction, reaching near the confluence, then turn around and paddle back to the 428/Greenbelt launch.

✅ This means:

• no need to “fight” the rivee 
• no stressful decision points 
• no obstacle planning 
• no portage… ever
   

It stays clean, smooth, and fun.

Despite the “10 mile” name, this route is incredibly approachable. The river here is mostly obstacle-free, with wide enough channel space for easy paddling and group flow.

There are:

• few real obstacles 
• no required portages 
• no need to climb over/under anything 
• no pullovers needed
   

This is one of the reasons the Elm Fork is such a strong group trail: it feels wild, but it paddles friendly.

This section of the Elm Fork is a wildlife powerhouse in every season.

Along the way you’ll often see:

• Osprey hunting in full aerial precision
• Bald Eagles cruising overhead or perched high above bends 
• Cormorants drying wings like river gargoyles 
• Loons and diving birds working the deeper pockets 
• Large Belted Kingfishers blasting down the channel like flying arrows 
• Great Blue Herons (up to 5 feet tall) standing motionless in the shallows 
• Green Herons tucked into shoreline brush
   

And the stars of the show:

This is active habitat with:

• beaver dens 
• otter dens 
• shoreline trails 
• slides where you can literally see where otters enter the water
   

Otters have been known to swim close by in all seasons, popping up like curious little river submarines before vanishing again.

Below the ripples, the Elm Fork carries a prehistoric vibe.

You’ll often spot big fish activity, and this area is known for:

• heavy fish presence 
• and yes… alligator gar
   

They move slow and ancient, like something that never got the memo to evolve.

After turning near the Clear Creek junction, the river changes character.

The return paddle feels smoother and faster, simply because:

• the route is now familiar
• your paddling rhythm has settled 
• the river feels more readable
   

Wildlife often reappears on the return like a second act: an eagle circling again, herons moving spots, gar rolling near the surface.

By the time you return to the Greenbelt, the river has done what it always does best:

It takes a group of individuals and turns them into a shared story.