Cleburne State Park: Spillway Trail (Blog Hike #1113)

Trail: Spillway Trail 
Hike Location: Cleburne State Park
Geographic Location: southwest of Cleburne, TX (32.25650, -97.55269)
Length: 1.8 miles
Difficulty: 5/10 (Moderate)
Date Hiked: February 2026
Overview: An out-and-back past a hand-carved spillway to an overlook of Cedar Lake.
Park Information: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/cleburne
Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming February 26, 2027)

Directions to the trailhead: From Cleburne, take US 67 west 7.4 miles to Park Road 21 and turn left on Park Road 21.  Drive Park Road 21 southwest 6.2 miles to the signed park entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the park, pay the entrance fee, and park in the small gravel parking area on the left just past the first restroom building.

The hike: Many things change over the course of a century.  For example, consider the case of Cleburne State Park and Cleburne, Texas.  When this park was formed in 1934, Cleburne was a small rural town of about 11,000 people, and its economy was mainly driven by local agriculture and some major railroad hubs.  The dust bowl and the Great Depression had taken their tolls on both aspects of Cleburne's economy, so area residents donated land to form a state park so that the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) would bring jobs to the area while building the park.

            Today Cleburne sits on the southwest fringe of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and it is experiencing rapid growth due to the Metroplex's expansion.  Cleburne State Park has become a major center of recreation, and it offers boating, fishing, and swimming on Cedar Lake, a 58-site developed campground, a primitive group camp, several picnic areas, and 11 hiking trails, most of which are less than 1 mile long.  This hike features the Spillway Trail.  While not the longest trail in the park, the Spillway Trail features this park's famous CCC-built hand-carved spillway and leads to a nice overlook over Cedar Lake.

Carsonite post marking the trailhead

            A brown carsonite post at the north side of the parking lot marks the start of the Spillway Trail.  The single-track dirt trail heads north before angling right to cross the main park road and enter the dense juniper and oak forest.  Such forest is typical of the cross timbers region of north Texas and east-central Oklahoma.  West Fork of Camp Creek, the main outflow of Cedar Lake, soon comes into view on the right.  A couple of the creek's steep-banked tributaries are crossed as the trail continues north.

Hiking through the cross timbers

            At 0.25 miles, you enter the spillway area and reach a major trail intersection.  The option going left leads to a secondary parking area, while the option continuing straight leads to the park's mountain bike trails.  Thus, you want to turn right to cross the West Fork of Camp Creek on a wooden footbridge.  As you cross the creek, notice how steep and chiseled the sides of this water channel are, a testament to the power of eroding water.

Creek in the spillway

            Next the trail climbs away from the creek, and at the next intersection you need to turn left to stay on the Spillway Trail.  Look for tan arrows on brown carsonite posts to mark the way.  The grades on this trail are not particularly steep or long, but the eroded and rocky treadway will make the going slower and harder than you might like.  That treadway is the main reason I rank the difficulty of this hike as moderate; otherwise it would be easy.

Climbing out of the spillway

            At 0.5 miles, you reach the main overlook for Cedar Lake's dam and spillway.  The terraces cut in the rock are what make this spillway famous: they were hand-carved by the CCC.  The terraces look like the famous Serpentine Wall in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, but that wall is made out of concrete.  This overlook is about 50 feet above the spillway with no railing for safety, so be careful where you step as you try to get a good view and photograph of the spillway.

Cedar Lake dam and spillway

            After heading upstream past the dam, the trail dips and then rises as it curves right to head away from the lake.  There are several narrow unofficial trails in this area, but the official Spillway Trail is wide and easy to follow.  At 0.7 miles, the Limestone Ridge Trail, which is primarily a mountain bike trail, exits right.  Turn left to stay on the Spillway Trail.

Hiking the Spillway Trail

Cedar Lake overlook

            The Spillway Trail dips through a rocky ravine as it stays close to the park's east boundary on the right.  0.8 miles into the hike, you reach the north end of the Spillway Trail.  For a nice view of the lake, turn left and make a short moderate descent to reach a lakeside overlook at 0.9 miles.  The clear blue lake waters contrasted nicely with the green and brown cross timbers forest and matched the sky perfectly on my visit.  If you have more time, you can continue north on the Coyote Run Trail toward the campground, but I faced a long drive to Oklahoma City that afternoon.  Therefore, I turned around at the lake overlook and retraced my steps to the trailhead, thus completing the hike.