Charlise Hill-Larson, 2019

Bill has been hiking since he was an Eagle Scout in Alabama in the 1970’s. For over thirty years he’s hiked with his family in various National and State Parks, most often in Big Bend National Park. He became a Texas Master Naturalist in 2011 and is a member of the North Texas Chapter. For the last ten years he’s spent almost every weekend exploring the Great Trinity Forest with a hiking group of friends. On one occasion they hiked the 13 miles across the entirety of the forest. Most often they hike in the areas where White Rock Creek enters the Trinity River. Bill is a human rights lawyer for his day job, and is the Executive Director of the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas. In the first year of the Covid Pandemic, as an effort to add additional time outdoors to deal with the stress of leading, he began exploring different Texas State Parks which could be done as a day trip from Dallas. He has visited and hiked 12 State parks within driving distance of Dallas. 

He writes about these adventures in a column for D magazine, Law Man Walking, and also penned the Ultimate Hiking Guide to Dallas for D Magazine. 

Bill will talk about what drew him to hiking, how he approaches hiking, some tips to be a good hiker and what his favorite local places to hike are.