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Started it at the very nice New Boston trailhead and after 3 miles the asphalt disappears into dirt and grass. It’s very doable on a gravel or mt. bike but this is not a paved greenway by any means. Hopefully it eventually becomes one.
Drove up to the Farmersville trailhead and left from the Onion Shed. Lots of cracked pavement for the first segment (~1 mile). Good concrete segment for next mile or so. Then it’s crushed granite with some washout in sections. Turned around after ~5 miles at FM2149 as trail surface was crushed gravel and very rough ride.
We 'tried' to do this trail today on our ebikes. They are folders with small tires and no suspension, and this is a rough trail. We parked and put in at Wolfe City. We only rode 3.7 miles round-trip because it was exhausting. There was overgrown grass, a large hole in the pathway heading north from Wolfe City, and just a general unkempt trail. It might be okay for mountain bikes, but for any other sort of bike, it would be difficult. Too bad they haven't received funding to pave or at least smooth out this 35 mile trail.
Just a heads up. The trail at least in Northern Hunt County experienced a severe ice storm and there are trees down on the trail. The areas behind my property look pretty bad from the roadways. I could not find a number to contact them to notify them about it.
The surface appears to be in good shape but the overgrowth makes this portion of the trail unusable for hiking, biking and equestrian. Bushes and trees enclose portions of the trail, it is barely passable and where there is grass, it is very tall. By far the worst part are the spiders and spider webs, they are EVERYWHERE. I stopped every quarter mile to wipe them off, they were unavoidable. I exited the trail at CR 3675, three miles into the ride from Ladonia. Had one flat tire from the thick spiked vine that were also ever-present on the trail.
Since the gates were put in and surface upgraded there has been an increase in bike and hiking traffic. One group consisted of a Veteran and his sons and friends and I was able to provide them water for their canteens. They were going to camp along the trail and I began thinking that I could develop a camping spot next to the trail if there was interest. I am about halfway between Merit and Celeste, Texas. PLEASE PLEASE take your trash and any other you find as that's my biggest complaint. Most people are very considerate and I do appreciate it.
Rode mountain bike from Farmersville to Ladonia; thru Celeste was a very good ride, just a few wet spots but trail has been maintained recently, in very good shape. Celeste to Wolfe City, lots of standing water for long stretches (walked most of these), overgrown in places and can be pretty rough riding. The four railroad trestles are not for the faint of heart, some have wide tree branches instead of railroad ties and there are gaps that could swallow a bike if you went sideways, do not ride across these. Several wash-outs in the area. No rain in previous 9 days so water problems will be there until the summer. Had 3 flat tires. Wolfe City to Ladonia has many wet spots and is somewhat overgrown but is almost as nice as the trail from Merit to Celeste. Except for the Celeste to Wolfe City stretch, this would be a five star.
Started in Farmersville and did the 2 1/2 miles to the crushed stone to the northeast. Frankly even that 2 1/2 mile was a real problem for us. My wife and I are 65+ with health issues that make riding recumbent trikes necessary.
The first issue is with the bollards that are used at each intersection with the crossing streets and roads. While I understand the need for them, they really should be spaced differently. Put the middle bollard a little to one side. That way, cars and other motorized vehicles are still blocked, but we can still get thru. We had some of these that we had about an inch on either side of our wheels requiring us to virtually stop to get thru. At one road, it was just easier to hit the grass and go around, as I saw several bikers doing.
The other issue is the bridge at about the 2 mile mark. The bridge is significantly above the height of the road. There is no gradual incline to the bridge. It's a very short incline with a very severe bump at the top. We barely cleared our frames getting over it.
Finally, the other issue is just the condition of the trail. The concrete sections are in pretty good shape, the asphalt sections are not. Then there is the issue with all of the horse droppings.
Since there are so few trails for non motorized vehicles in this area, we thought we would try this trail out. Frankly, this is the worst trail we've dealt with so far.
I took a troop on a hike from Farmersville to Celeste on October 3. The section from Farmersville to Merit is, as mentioned in many reviews below, in excellent shape. From Merit to Celeste is vastly improved from work done over the summer of 2020. There are still large rocks in the gravel, and there are still areas that will probably pose a problem after a rain, but the underbrush has been cleared significantly and the road graded. One critique—the brush has been cut back so much that there is far less shade from Merit to Celeste than from Farmersville to Merit.
Great improvement from Merrit. Very clean and well maintained. Very nice shade.
The first 2.5 miles are paved out of Farmersville. The next 2.5 miles is crushed rock. It was great for the first 5 miles. I was hoping to do the entire 35 miles but I hit the great Texas Peanut butter soil (TX Clay). After riding through the first section and cleaning the mud off the bike I hit another section. I bailed the trail and went for a pleasant 36 mile ride on the farm roads. Riding the shoulder of 78 is pretty sketchy and I would t recommend it.
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