River
Trinity River
1,140 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Gulf of Mexico
In numbers
Length
1,140km
Average flow
210m³/s
Basin
45,600km²
Drop
258m
from 256 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,140 km of river and 22 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 256 m
- 48 kmGainesville16,292 people
- 99 kmLake Ray Roberts69 km²
- 152 kmLewisville Lake65 km²
- 156 kmLewisville104,039 people
- 183 kmFarmers Branch32,689 people
- 197 kmBachman Lake0.4 km²
- 203 kmJohnson Creektributary
- 217 kmRonald Kirk Bridge
- 217 kmMargaret Hunt Hill Bridge
- 218 kmTrinity River Railway Bridge
- 218 kmDallas1,304,379 people
- 219 kmMargaret McDermott Bridge
- 220 kmHouston Street Viaduct
- 396 kmCedar Creek Reservoir118 km²
- 438 kmRichland-Chambers Reservoir157 km²
- 784 kmRiverside Swinging Bridge
- 785 kmRiverside522 people
- 868 kmLake Livingston220 km²
- 917 kmFish Scale Lake0.4 km²
- 1,021 kmLiberty9,039 people
- 1,065 kmLake Charlotte3.7 km²
- 1,086 kmLake Anahuac20 km²
- 1,140 kmGulf of Mexicoat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Texas, United States
At the mouth it carries 206 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 12 seconds. It drops from 256 m to -2 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 45,600 km², about the size of EE. 6.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from November to January and May. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 196% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- DallasLargest city on its banks · 1,304,379 people
- Dallas Love Field (DAL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at DAL airport (Dallas)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water28 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From March to April and from September to NovemberThe best months to visit
Trinity River, month by month
Highest water: from November to January and May
Best months to visit: from March to April and from September to November.
From about 110 m³/s in the lowest month to 430 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Trinity River: the basin in numbers
46,108 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 6.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 147/km²people per km²
- 168maverage altitude of the basin
- 982mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 18.4°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 2.5%covered by lakes
- 19km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 21% Forest
- 28% Cropland
- 36% Pasture
- 11% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Trinity River: what you find on the way
- 3WeirsCalifornia Crossing Dam
- 6LocksLock and Dam #1, Lock and Dam #2, Lock and Dam #4 (Historic) and 3 more
- 1RapidsKickapoo Rapids
- 25Boat ramps
- 2MarinasBachman Lake Marina
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Trinity River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
9lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (9)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Ray Robertskm 65 · 32 m deep69km²
- Lewisville Lakekm 10165km²
- Bachman Lakekm 1300.4km²
- Cedar Creek Reservoirkm 262118km²
- Richland-Chambers Reservoirkm 290157km²
- Lake Livingstonkm 575 · 27 m deep220km²
- Lake Charlottekm 7053.7km²
- Lake Anahuackm 71920km²
1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Chalk Hill5.9 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Trinity River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (10)
Also: Johnson Creek, Bachman Branch, Bedias Creek, Catfish Creek, Cedar Creek, Denton Creek, Richland Creek, Turtle Creek, White Rock Creek, Beef Head Creek
Nearby
Rivers nearby
United States1,352 km240 m³/s117 km awaySabine RiverUnited States820 km270 m³/s92 km awayColorado RiverUnited States1,387 km21,700 m³/s179 km awayRed RiverUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/s320 km awayAtchafalaya RiverUnited States270 km240 m³/s334 km awayNueces RiverUnited States507 km30 m³/s346 km awayRio GrandeUnited States3,051 km85 m³/s486 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1969490) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit