Wichita Falls, Texas

About Wichita Falls

Wichita Falls sits on the Wichita River in Wichita County, about 115 miles northwest of Fort Worth and 140 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The city grew on oil and refining. Today its biggest employers are Sheppard Air Force Base, which trains pilots and shares its runways with the civilian airport, and Midwestern State University.

The falls in the name were washed out in a 19th-century flood. The city built a 54-foot replacement in Lucy Park in 1987. Downtown has a compact grid of old brick buildings around 8th Street and Ohio Avenue, with the MPEC convention center and Kay Yeager Coliseum on the north edge where the Hotter'N Hell weekend is based.

The climate is humid subtropical with very hot summers. In 2011 Wichita Falls became the first Texas city to record 100 days at or above 100 degrees in a single year. The city runs a tourism office under the name Discover Wichita Falls.

Riding in Wichita Falls

Riding here means flat to gently rolling paved roads across open farm and ranch land, with wind and heat as the main variables. The Hotter'N Hell routes use wide highways and county roads north and west of town toward Sheppard Air Force Base and Burkburnett. Off-road riders use the Wee-Chi-Tah singletrack, which the tourism office calls the best urban off-road trail in Texas; it hosts the HHH mountain bike races each August.

For an easy spin, the city's Circle Trail is more than 20 miles of 10-foot-wide concrete path along the Wichita River and Holliday Creek, planned to reach about 24 miles when the loop closes. The August mean high is 96.6 F, so ride early.

Getting to Wichita Falls

Most riders drive. From Dallas-Fort Worth it is about 122 miles and a little over two hours up US 287 from DFW airport; from Oklahoma City about 140 miles. Wichita Falls Regional Airport (SPS) is six miles north of town and has American Eagle flights to DFW only. You will want a car; the HHH start, expo hotels and restaurants are spread across downtown and the Kemp Boulevard corridor to the south.