Re-Wilding Home
We were about three-quarters of the way through our ride along the Trinity River when I pressed Jenni Stolarski about her work as a Realtor.
Jenni and I had touched base a few times about arranging a time to complete her story as part of her Go Oak Cliff sponsorship. My obvious story idea—one that I unabashedly still think is worth digging deeper into—surrounded Stolarski’s home, which is in a converted mechanic’s garage. What’s cooler than a Realtor who takes on a project like that?
That’s not where we landed, although it was close—in proximity to her house; not in topic. Jenni instead countered by asking if I wanted to go bike the Trinity River trails with her and her wife, Val. A feeder to the trails is basically in her own backyard. It took us less than five minutes on our bikes to hop a guardrail and start our descent into the 2,400-acre area between two levees.
“My dream is just for the rest of Dallas—Oak Cliff, especially—to get in on this secret.”
As I would come to learn, the Trinity River is one of Jenni Stolarski’s fiercest passions. So much so that the Trinity was the focal point of our conversation, including Jenni’s goal for re-wilding the area and encouraging its usage and appreciation by others.
Indeed, the trails are a place about which I’ve been curious, but passively so, and until our ride I had never mustered up the courage to venture into its winding pathways—or never mustered up the courage to ask a buddy of mine to borrow his mountain bike so I didn’t have to take my clearly-not-suitable road bike. Lest I digress, I could think of no finer two guides than Jenni and Val.
Along our ride, which happened in mid-October (you can view our live stream from Facebook here), we spotted so much wildlife; herons, turtles, and hundreds of Monarch butterflies making their way south for migration. On other occasions, Jenni and Val have witnessed bobcats, feral pigs, and—on an especially eventual expedition—a gar. There was a cricket game going on in a field I previously didn’t even know existed. Fun fact: the parking lot where the cricket players parked can be accessed by turning at the only light on the Sylvan Ave. Bridge. Stolarski would love for more people to know about all that the area between the levees has to offer.
“My dream is just for the rest of Dallas—Oak Cliff, especially—to get in on this secret,” she said.
Jenni pointed out at least two ways to make the Trinity less of a secret. The first, she noted, was that there were no easily-found maps or markers. The second was the need for improved access sites, which we experienced ourselves when we jumped the guardrail at the beginning of our ride.
Stolarski opined, “It shouldn’t be so hard to get here. It’s such a beautiful place.”
Beginners would be best suited parking at Trinity Groves, according to Val, as that’s the most accessible entry point, and offers some respite after a ride, in the form of food and drinks. Trinity Overlook—off Commerce St.—is another access point that’s easier to navigate.
In case the point wasn’t driven home, this beautiful place is not far from the heart of downtown Dallas, highly educational, and its awareness is underwhelming. For someone who hadn’t ridden a mountain bike in years, I also felt like it wasn’t too difficult to keep up (although Jenni and Val went easy on me).
This Realtor who specializes in finding people their homes is in constant pursuit of making home better for everyone. She wouldn’t even have mentioned her vocation had I not asked her, and that modesty in favor of the greater good was refreshing, pure, and soul-feeding—just like the area we visited.
