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.

The five miles from the Onion shed in Farmersville to around the junction with FM 2194 is wide, well maintained and easy riding for most any bicycle. After that is it gravelly and very overgrown and more suitable for a mountain bike . The route is very scenic and quiet with a lot of butterflies, cardinals and horses visible in the fields but few people or cars at the crossings.

My kids go to Bland. I live 10 minutes from this trail and run it often. It would be perfect if we could resolve 2 issues: Dogs. Lots of them. Every time I go. I’ve been chased multiple times.
From Bland to Farmersville is great, but the “crushed rock” in the opposite direction from the school is not even walkable, much less a running surface. I hope we continue to see improvements to this trail. It’s almost a gem, but could be better.

I wanted to write to let you know about my experience this weekend. I selected the October Fest Trail Run Marathon about 5 months ago because it was on a Saturday, it was rated a 1 for “non technical terrain that was fast”, the description on the Ultra Expeditions site stated “crushed rock that was an easy out and back course.” This was going to be my 1st marathon at 46 years young. I was so excited! I booked a great room at a local airb&b site and recruited a friend to come and run the half. Everything was great until about mile 7. What I endured the next 7 miles out and 7 miles back was anything but “fast” and “crushed rock”. I literally had to walk most of the 14 miles. I rolled my ankle 10 times while walking. The path contained golf ball size rocks and had several ruts along the way. I shed a few tears out of frustration along the way. This was not how my dream of completing a marathon was supposed to play out. My back was in agonizing pain throughout. Please change your description and please show accurate pics of the boulders along the trail. If I had known the reality of the course I most certainly would not have signed up for the beating my body took. Thank you for your consideration.

My kids and I did most of the first part of the trail today. We had planned to go from Farmersville to Merit and back, but 4 miles into it, we turned back because of dogs-for which we were not prepared. I recommend taking a can of mace for dogs-which one will certainly run into as one gets into more remote farming areas with dogs running lose. This is truly a wonderful trail and project--one of the best things government has done in a long time. My dream would be to go from Farmersville to New Boston, camping along the trail. For now (until retirement), I will have to be satisfied with doing day-hikes along certain legs of the trail.