Thousands of cyclists rolled through Wichita Falls the weekend of August 27 through 30, the 45th running of the Hotter'N Hell Hundred, an event that started in 1982 as a one-time stunt to mark the city's centennial and never stopped happening. Registration this year capped at 12,000 riders. A separate field of runners and mountain bikers, drawn to the Wee-Chi-Tah Mountain Bike Trail Race that's been part of the weekend since 1994, added roughly 600 more visitors according to race director Jimmy Young. If any of them wandered off the main route and into Lucy Park looking for the waterfall the city is named after, they found it dry and roped off, the same way it's greeted most visitors for longer than anyone wants to admit.
That's about to change, on a timeline that's longer than most people assume.
What the City Actually Approved in March
In March 2026, Wichita Falls City Council approved funding for three projects at once: restoring The Falls, completing the Circle Trail, and converting the old Kirby Middle School into a new police headquarters. The combined price tag runs between $35 million and $45 million, with the largest share going to the Kirby renovation. Here's how the money actually breaks down by project:
| Project | Approx. Cost | Where It Stands |
|---|---|---|
| The Falls restoration | $4 million to $6 million | Demolition of rock facade starting Sept. 2026 |
| Kirby Middle School to police HQ | Largest share of the $35-45M total | Design phase underway |
| Circle Trail completion | Included in the package | One segment near Lake Wichita still unfunded |
That third line is the one worth sitting with. The vote covers "completing the Circle Trail" as a category, but it doesn't automatically mean every unfinished mile got a check written for it. More on that below.
The Falls Timeline Runs Into 2028
The waterfall's problems go back further than most residents realize. City crews spent $125,000 just to evaluate the structure, a routine assessment that turned up 110 cubic yards of mud and revealed a damaged facade and failing pumps underneath. Council then approved another $895,000 for design and further analysis. Public Works Director Russell Schreiber has said the brackish water of the Wichita River spent years eating away at the anchor ties that hold the facade rock in place.
The current plan, laid out by the city in early July 2026, has demolition crews removing the rock facade starting the first week of September, with all of it off by October. Engineers then spend the fall and winter examining the concrete structure underneath to finalize a design. Actual reconstruction, new pumps, new electrical controls, new lighting, isn't expected to start until roughly August 2027, with the whole project wrapping in spring 2028. Schreiber's own read on whether an 18-month wait is worth it: "The project is the landmark."
One detail that matters if you walk or bike through Lucy Park regularly: the city has said trail access stays open through the demolition and design phases. You'll see equipment and hear work near the river bend, but the 1.7-mile loop and the connection points into the wider Circle Trail aren't closing for this.
The Trail Most People Actually Use Isn't Waiting on the Falls
The Circle Trail is a separate story from the waterfall, and it's further along. Right now it runs over 20 miles of concrete through the city, connecting six different parks including Lucy Park and Lake Wichita Park. When finished, the full loop will run approximately 24 miles. Lucy Park's own 1.7-mile trail loop marks the western starting point of the whole system.
The piece closest to done is the connector linking Loop 11 to Lucy Park along Seymour Highway, near the Wichita Bluff Nature Area. District 4 Councilor Mike Battaglino checked on the progress himself earlier this year and reported it moving well. Once that segment opens, only one gap remains in the entire loop.
That gap has also gotten more attention lately for a different reason. In June 2026, the Wichita Falls Police Department issued a public statement banning motorized vehicles, including golf carts, electric scooters, dirt bikes, and mini motorcycles, from the Circle Trail after a rise in complaints. It's a sign of how much heavier use the trail is seeing as more of it opens.
The One Piece Nobody's Funded Yet
Here's the part the March funding vote didn't solve. The final section needed to close the Circle Trail loop runs along Lakeshore Drive on the north shore of Lake Wichita. The city applied for a competitive TxDOT grant to fund it and didn't get it. As of April 2026, city leaders were still saying this specific segment wouldn't be ready that year, even after the broader Circle Trail line item got approved alongside the Falls and the Kirby project.
Hotter'N Hell Chairman David Coleman put the workaround plainly for riders and residents alike: for now, it's easy enough to get off the trail and go on Lake Shore Drive to Barnett instead of waiting for the connector.
If you live on the Lake Wichita side of town and have been watching the rest of the trail system fill in for years while your stretch stays a gap, this is the part worth knowing: the money went to the waterfall everyone drives past on I-44, the police headquarters conversion, and the segments closer to the center of town first. The lakeside connector is still sitting behind a missed grant cycle.
Why the Trail Still Anchors August Every Year
None of this changes what the Circle Trail already is to the people who use it. Bike Friendly Coordinator Ashley Sisk has said the system was built with safety in mind first, keeping riders off roads where "that's going to expose us to a lot more dangers." Trail website director Karel Davis put it differently, saying the appeal for her comes down to something simpler: "I particularly like Lake Wichita because I like water and I like the peacefulness of it."
That mix, a practical safety project that turned into the emotional backbone of the city's biggest annual event, is why the Falls and the trail get talked about in the same breath even though they're on completely different clocks. One is an 18-month construction project with a hard start date. The other is a decades-long system that's almost, but not quite, a finished circle.
What This Actually Means If You're Local
If you're in Lucy Park this fall, expect demolition equipment and some closed-off areas near the river bend starting in September, but expect the trail itself to stay walkable and rideable through it. Don't expect water running over the falls again before spring 2028, regardless of how the construction news reads month to month. And if you're on the west side near Lake Wichita waiting for the loop to finally reach you, the March funding vote didn't put a date on your section yet. Watch for updates through the city's own channels or wichitafallstrails.com if that gap is the one you're tracking.
Wichita Falls has spent real money this year putting a landmark back together and inching closer to a finished trail loop most residents have been using in pieces for years. It just didn't fund every piece of that story at the same time, and knowing which parts are actually on the clock is more useful than assuming the whole thing wraps at once.
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