White Rock Creek - Course

Course

Intermittent in its upper reaches, the creek generally follows the Dallas North Tollway and Preston Road (State Highway 289), first east of Preston, then west of Preston after the road switches over the creek near Hedgcoxe Road. Before crossing Preston, the creek encounters its first major highway as it crosses under State Highway 121 east of Hillcrest Road.

Widening slightly as it crosses Legacy Drive, the creek continues a southerly course, still west of Preston, and narrows again as it crosses West Spring Creek Parkway. It next crosses under West Parker Road where it enlivens the Gleneagles Country Club. A number of parks encompass the creek as it next crosses under West Park Boulevard (State Highway 544). Still following Preston and the Dallas North Tollway, the creek crosses West Plano Parkway, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway tracks, President George Bush Turnpike, Frankford Road, runs through Preston Trail Golf Course, crosses under Keller Springs Road, Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, runs through Prestonwood Country Club where it is joined by McKamy Brook, then crosses Arapaho Road and Belt Line Road.

After crossing Belt Line, the creek cuts east under Preston but quickly returns to a south-easterly course. From here, the creek meanders further and further east of Preston, no longer following it (or rather, Preston no longer follows the creek). The creek flows under Interstate 635 east of Hillcrest, flows along the western edge of Medical City Dallas Hospital where it widens, then flows under U.S. Highway 75 (North Central Expressway) south of Forest Lane.

DART rail bridges the creek east of US 75, then the creek crosses Royal Lane and cheers the Royal Oaks Country Club. At this point, the creek has entered a more urban environment, crossing under Greenville Avenue and Walnut Hill Lane east of Presbyterian Hospital-Dallas. From here, Cottonwood Creek (containing Floyd Brook) joins White Rock Creek which soon enters (or creates) White Rock Lake, a man-made reservoir no more than 20 feet (6 m) deep serving the city of Dallas. After White Rock Lake, the creek merges with the Trinity River.