Outdoor enthusiasts may soon have another challenging adventure to add to their bucket list, one that could take them across the entire state of Texas.
Texas native and outdoor advocate Charles Gandy is mapping out a multi-use route of gravel backroads and dirt hiking paths that will lead hikers, bicyclists, and horseback riders from the Louisiana state line — beginning at Orange, Texas — across the midsection of the state, all the way to El Paso at the western edge of the state. The 1,500-mile trail will bypass the larger cities and bring adventurers through historic areas, quirky little towns, and scenic parks.
While there are plenty of hiking trails in Texas state parks, most of them are “postage stamp-sized” trails that take hikers in a closed circuit, according to Gandy. Until now, the longest continuous trail in Texas has been the 96-mile Lone Star Hiking Trail that runs through the Sam Houston National Forest.
Gandy hopes the planned route, which he has dubbed the Cross Texas Trail, or XTX, will become a legacy trail, much like the famed 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail in the Eastern U.S. and the 3,100-mile Continental Divide and 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trails in the Western U.S.
Though not as long as any of these three trails, which together are known as the Triple Crown of Hiking, the XTX has more than enough to offer adventure seekers, and it is all contained within the one state of Texas.
“It’s not a straight line, but in my estimate, I think it’s the most scenic route through Texas because it combines the Gulf Coast, the Piney Woods of East Texas, the Hill Country, and the desert of West Texas,” Gandy said. “I’m interested in the coolest route, the most target-rich, true-to-Texas route.”
He characterized the eastern portion of the route as “big on barbecue, beer, and Blue Bell ice cream. The western part is cactus, rattlesnakes, dust, near death, and tarantulas.” Trail users will gain 56,000 feet in elevation as they traverse from east to west, taking in the tallest peak in the state at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
On the XTX website, Gandy describes the terrain and the highlights of each section of the route much like a poet would describe his beloved. Indeed, the effort to map out the trail is a labor of love on Gandy’s part. He is an avid hiker and bicyclist and is the founder of the Texas Bicycle Coalition, now known as Bike Texas.
Gandy has partnered with Bike Texas to plan the legacy trail. Currently, the team is testing the proposed route.
“What we’re finding is that sometimes the road doesn’t go all the way through and we need to reroute,” Gandy explained.
They try to stick to gravel back roads and one-lane highways in rural areas of the state.
“These roads are only being used by the people who live on those routes,” Gandy said, per Fox 4 KDFW. “So they’re quiet and they’re scenic. And that’s exactly where you would want to ride a bike or a horse or walk as opposed to drive.”
Some portions of the trail stretch on for miles with no place to resupply water or food, so that is another issue the team is working on.
“That’s really a big part of our mission right now,” Gandy said. “Identifying our friends along the route, people who support the trail because they either want to hike it or bike it or horse ride it, or they have a bed and breakfast or a restaurant along the way, and they can see the economic benefits of people showing up in their town.”
Gandy expects that the trail will evolve over the coming decades, with initial routes changing slightly as new rights-of-way are acquired and new stretches of trail are constructed to avoid busier roads. Eventually, he would like to see trail markers and water caches added.
Gandy has already sunk $10,000 of his own money into the project and has secured $10,000 in donations, but he is seeking another $20,000 to fund printed and digital maps, publicize the trail, and complete the trail testing work.
“This Cross Texas Trail is going to be an epic equestrian, hiking, mountain biking trail,” said Robin Stallings, the executive director of Bike Texas, per Texas Monthly. “We’ve got a lot to see, and it’s good for business to bring people to Texas. And it’s really good for public health.”
