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The parks and the trails have been closed for some serious maintenance.
My brother and I rode the stretch of this trail between Turkey and Parnell junction over Thanksgiving. While I do recommend it, be advised about trail conditions and well equipped if you try it.
We stayed in the Hotel Turkey, which is a few blocks from the trail. (No complaints about that - it’s a fine place to stay.). The plan was to ride from Turkey to Estelline and back. But we got a late start and the going was slower than planned, so we turned around at Parnell Junction.
The biggest challenge was goat-heads. My brother’s tubeless tires held up fine, but one of the tubes on my rental bike eventually gave out - even with sealant. We had tools and a spare, but lost our Presta to Schrader adapter on the trail and walked about the last 6 miles back to Turkey. Be sure to have redundancy in your gear!
The second biggest challenge was probably the grass and general overgrowth on the trail. Some sort of lower leg protection would be well advised. We did not see snakes, but be aware of the possibility.
A third issue is the bridges. Some are concrete, but some have wood planks, and these are showing their age. Caution is advised on approach to the bridges. There are broken planks here and there, but the joists were all intact - I think. :) So, as of this writing, all bridges between Turkey and Parnell Junction were passable and safe for cycling. (Pedestrians should exercise caution. While there is no gaps to fall thru, one could twist an ankle or break a leg.)
Also, be mindful of a barbed wire cow gate between Tampico Siding and Parnell junction. It’s easy to open if you see it, but I wouldn’t want to ride into it closed!
Apparently, other trail users have been told that this section of trail is officially in a non-maintained state. We did not see any signs to this effect or hear it from anyone, but the condition of the trail makes this very plausible. I encourage any other users with relevant or updated information in this regard to post it.
In any case, the trail is remote and has very low traffic. We did not see any other trail users during our trip. Take everything you need with you! There’s no QT along this route! We thought we were conservative, but barely had enough water with us.
That brings me to sum it up like this: We covered about 45 miles that day. Maybe five or so were a warm up. About 10 to 15 were pure riding bliss: the thrill of pumping the pedals, the rhythmic navigation of obstacles - around, over, or through, and feeling the euphoria of the wide open Texas landscape and the rush of the wind on your helmet. Maybe another 15 miles were the steady grind of making the next marker point or water break. The last 10 or 15 miles? Well, sometimes the velo gods send you a bill for miles of the joyous type. All told - I’d do it again.
If you understand those sentiments, then you will probably love this trail and I can recommend it. If not, caution is advised - maybe try the section east of Clarity tunnel first.
A ride partner is strongly advised. There were two of us, but a four-person group (two adventure couples or two sets of best buds) would probably be safer and faciliate being sufficiently equipped.
One shortcut tip: The best view we found was an overlook a few miles east of Tampico Siding. If you aren’t sure about trying this trail, an option would be to park at Tampico siding (about 10 miles from Turkey - near junction of Texas 86 and county road 657) and ride east for a few miles. This section of the trail is not too bad, and the worst of the goat-heads was to the east of the overlook and closer to Parnell junction.
As a whole, I’d give this trail a thumbs up - just be sure you are prepared and know what to expect.
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.
We parked in the southernmost parking lot & biked north. The 1st 3.5 miles is a bike lane with a few pull offs at parks. The northern part of the trail was much nicer. The bike lanes are fairly wide, but if you're like us & don't care for road riding i suggest you start at the North end.
Fairly easy ride, if you start at Culebra Park you will be on asphalt/dirt in the wooded area.
This is a great trail that goes from Mockingbird dart station in the west to connect to the SoPac trail further east. There’s a road to cross near the start(Worcola St) but then exclusively bike/walk/run ducking under Greenville Ave then bridges crossing Skillman St and Abrams Rd until beyond Ridgewood Park where it crosses Fisher Rd before heading down a ramp to join the SoPac trail. Easy cycling with a lot less users than the ever popular Katy trail. The day I did it coming back between Skillman and Greenville Ave saw a coyote near the dart line.
I only cycled the section of this trail from the SoPac trail to White Rock Creek trail system. This is a functional part of the trail that runs in an easterly direction along the northern part of the E Northwest Hway. There are some roads that cross the trail as you approach White Rock Dart station. You cycle on the footpath past the dart station across the lights at W Lawther drive and then you can have miles of park like cycling at your disposal - north is the White Rock Creek trail or you cycle around White Rock Lake. White Rock
Addtl from previous review. Tip: park at the Medpark DCTA station which is mid-trail. The ride North or South.
All paved which is nice. It’s a city trail along train tracks so anywhere a train crosses a road, you get to play with pedestrian ‘walk/don’t walk’ signals. I hit about 5-8 on the northern half of this trail.
If any city trail maintenance people read this; This trail would get 5 stars from me if you erected small trail map podiums ever 1.5 miles with You Are Here markings. Or just put a nice stake in the ground with mile markers like Little Elm does on their trails.
Trail STILL closed. Lower half is under water at 380 trail head (you can’t even enter the trail head area).
This is a trail that currently connects the Ridgewood trail( located to the south west) to the Flag Pole Hill trail( located to the north east). This section of the SoPac trail is concrete paved and is as straight as an arrow. It is well shaded with trees on either side. It continues onwards north but I turned off it at State route 12/E Northwest Hway to join the Flag Pole Hill trail. Where the Ridgewood trail currently joins onto the SoPac trail there is an unpaved section that heads south under the Dart line - this will be paved eventually to continue South to White Rock lake. Will be great to see it completed.
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