We need to talk about the Cross Texas (xTx) Trail.

Don't get too excited about this proposed long-distance, multi-use trail just yet.

“We’re at the infancy stage of a big, hairy goal,” Gandy says. But he’s already started “ground proofing” the route, checking out sections to troubleshoot obstacles and meeting with people who live and work along it.  He’s even purchased an XTX brand, which he plans to use to mark fence posts along the trail. And in April, he hopes to celebrate the route with a grand opening. - Texas’s Answer to the Pacific Crest Trail? A Proposed 1,500 Mile Cross-State Hike via Texas Monthly

In early October I started seeing links posted in hiking groups I follow on Facebook touting the proposed xTx, the Cross Texas Trail. Somehow this proposed 1,500 mile trail was also going to be open by Spring 2025! Cue my eyes twitching—what now??

In 2010 my husband and I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in a little over 5 months and in early 2011 we followed that up with a thru-hike of the 1100-mile Florida Trail in a little under 2 months. I have a completed, unpublished memoir of the FT hike and host a currently-on-hiatus podcast about the Florida Trail called Orange Blaze. I know a little bit about long distance trails. Needless to say, the headlines grabbed me and so I clicked through.

Lone Star Trail, San Houston National Forest

I have often thought it would be great for Texas to have a long distance hiking trail greater than the 128-mile Lone Star Trail that winds through Sam Houston National Forest. There are a couple of other trails of similar or shorter length sprinkled throughout the state: the multi-use Northeast Texas Trail, a rail-to-trail, is 133 miles long and has struggled to be completely open for use for years and last word I heard TPWD may acquire it as a trailway; the 28-mile Trail Between the Lakes is maintained by the Sierra Club and other local groups and struggles with maintenance; the 20-mile Four-C National Recreation Trail is maintained by the USFS and even it has had sections closed for years due to maintenance issues by the USFS; the 26-mile Lake Somerville Trailway, maintained by TPWD and generally has access issues with bridges out and such; and the 64-mile Caprock Canyon Trailway in the panhandle is maintained by TPWD—I don’t know its status but no water is available on the entire length. There are other trails in the state that one can piece together to make into a longish distance trail, or at least a several night outing, such as the Cross Timbers Trail on Lake Texoma or the Good Water Loop around Lake Georgetown. There’s even a proposal for a hike/bike trail called the Great Springs Project that will connect the Alamo to the Capitol.

I love all of these trails and ideas—we should have more of them! Texans deserve access to local outdoor spaces, whether it is through a paved bike path connecting the suburbs to the urban areas or whether it is a rail-to-trail being made into recreational trail for people to experience the outdoors in more rural and remote areas.

But a 1,500 mile trail being “open” to the public by next spring is…dubious.

The proposed xTx trail comes from Charlie Gandy, a former Texas House representative who currently resides in Washington State. Gandy came up with the idea just this last summer while on a hike of the Tahoe Rim Trail. I must say it is pretty impressive to have an idea in June and a Texas Monthly article written about the proposed trail by September 24th. A proposed trail that is only cursory scouted on a computer and not marked in any way on the ground. I also think it is very important to note that Gandy is a bicycling enthusiast and from what I have read this is not coming from a hiking perspective, in my opinion. More on that in a moment.

The trail will be a mix of singletrack and about 40% gravel roads. It will showcase the diverse environments, scenic landscapes, and cultural variety that span the largest state in the contiguous U.S. And, Gandy hopes, the xTx will also draw visitors who will bring business to the communities it passes through. - Texas Thru-Hike: 1,500-Mile ‘xTx’ Trail to Open Spring 2025 via Gear Junkie

Through the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), a sugar cane field burning in the distance and the Florida Trail following the levee (or road below), with no shade, for miles and miles and miles.

First, let’s have a Come to Jesus moment right now about road walking. 40% gravel roads is leaving out the other 40% of dirt or limestone roads that will likely make up this trail, too. So, that’s 80% of hiking, biking, or horseback riding on some form of a road. Not single-track. And I’m seriously just estimating here because there is no formal path or even a desired path because it hasn’t even been scouted for feasibility yet. Road walking kills your feet. It is hot, and even if it isn’t hot, the sun beats down and you will want to be covered, even in January. With no trees or safe place to camp or sit alongside the road, road walking is not an easy journey if done for more than a few miles. Even on two-lane “country” roads you encounter dangerous drivers, aggressive dogs, and hostile humans. Even the most scenic Farm to Market or county road that no one ever travels on gets very tedious for hikers if it continues for miles. No hiker wants this. And few hikers do adventures that involve road walking intentionally, though I will highlight a few of those further down this essay.

The trail would run through east Texas pine forests, trample through small towns and cities like La Grange and San Marcos, cross the Devil's River, pass through the Chihuahuan Desert, work across Big Bend National Park and then make one final climb to its western trailhead. Ultimately, that xTx trailhead would be at Guadalupe Peak in far west Texas. - Outdoors enthusiast working to establish hiking, biking trail across Texas via Houston Chronicle

Looking at the draft route, it is pretty clear, as proposed, this a bike path, not a hiking path. And definitely not a horse path in many areas. Just reviewing it from the eastern portion, it completely skips current marked footpaths in the Big Thicket and the entirety of the Lone Star Hiking Trail in favor or roads of some sort. The current breakdown on his route is 914 miles of paved roads (63%) and 542 miles of unpaved roads (37%). The Lake Somerville Trailway is bypassed completely. Somehow it manages to actually be on real trail for a few sections in Big Bend. Oh, and there are two portions that go into New Mexico but completely bypass the Guadalupe Mountains.

It’s aiming incredibly high to think you can have average hikers and bikers out on this “trail” by spring of 2025. Now, would you have “professional” bicyclists and hikers potentially attempting this next year? Maybe. There are only a few people who have completed the American Discovery Trail across the entire United States. There aren’t big numbers because of the distance, road walking, lack of camping access issues, etc. The 86-year old Nimblewill Nomad is well-known for his Trekking Odysseys that weave real trails with road walking, creating massive adventures that the majority of us can’t even fathom. People like Andrew Skurka and other die-hard adventure seeking trekkers create vast cross-country and off-trail routes in the west, with only a handful of people following these routes in subsequent years. FastestKnownTime.com is littered with adventure seeking people competing and completing record attempts on well-known and little-known footpaths around the world. But the majority of hikers I know would look at this proposed xTx “trail” and balk at even contemplating hiking it next year.

The first blaze on the Florida Trail was marked in 1966 in Ocala National Forest, on actual public land. It wasn’t officially recognized as a National Scenic Trail until 1983 and still has around 250 miles of road walking to this day because it doesn’t have a completed, protected trail corridor. Jim Kern, the FT’s founder is still alive at 91 and still hiking and advocating for the Florida Trail and all of our National Scenic Trails because, even now, only the Appalachian Trail has a full protected corridor for hikers. The Appalachian Trail was the only trail given eminent domain powers by Congress. Meanwhile, the rest of our NST’s are floundering with completion because of private land issues and you cannot rely on private land easements being there in perpetuity.

I think the xTx has to decide what it wants to be. Is it a bike corridor? Is it a hiking trail? Is it truly multi-use? I think Charlie Gandy gets ahead of himself when he starts talking about trail towns and “people may want to stop in, say, Terlingua for barbecue, beer, and dancing.” That reeks of casual day-use and short weekenders. Which, fine, it is definitely an option if people want to do short stints on the trail. It doesn’t bode well for creating a comprehensive trail with the intention to turn it into Texas’ version of the AT or PCT.

What is needed to flesh out this trail?

• Water sources. Even areas in east Texas dry out when we have droughts. I cannot fathom central and west Texas sources without access to reliable water sources, whether from a running stream, spring, or a stock tank. Water is probably one of the biggest issues to tackle outside of getting the trail off of roads.

• Camping. Stealth camping is a known technique for long distance hikers on road walks or in areas without a designated campsite. Are people going to be willing to pitch a tent on private property in Texas without the worry of getting shot?

• A trail coalition. Who is going to maintain the trail? Negotiate easements? Buy protected corridors. It’s one thing if a rancher says “yes, use my land” and another when they have a series of rude hikers or bikers and then kick the trail off their land. And yes, it does happen. Who “owns” the trail? Is this going to transfer to a state or federal agency?

• Resupply. Where are you going to get food? You cannot carry multi-weeks worth of food on your back. Even a short trip to a Dollar General is usually pretty good, but…West Texas, y’all. What’s the option here? Trail Angel lists only work so well until people are doing their own hiking and are off living their lives and can’t help you with a resupply (ask me how I know). Are we hitching rides? What’s the plan?

• Is this a route where people can choose their own adventure? Or is the goal to be a federally protected NST or NRT at some point? Who are you going to be, xTx??

Do I think the xTx trail has potential to be a real, viable trail? Yes, someday. It won’t be in 2025. It will take a concerted effort on the part of Gandy and his connections to secure corridors that are safe and accessible for all users, whomever those users are determined to be. If Gandy wants to make this a bike route only, it can be open a lot sooner than a hiking or multi-use trail. No (very few) hiker(s) wants to tackle this number of road miles. But for a hike/bike/horse trail? This is a multi-decade effort and Gandy must secure enough of a coalition to see this thing through, well beyond his own lifespan. Gandy should really, ideally, meet with current trail coalitions throughout the US, including agency managers for these trails.

If the trail ends up creating better access to public lands, through the creation of more state or national lands, then all the more reason to keep working on getting this trail routed appropriately and advocated for in state and national legislatures.

Until then, journalists needs to be asking tougher questions of Gandy and Gandy needs to stop perpetuating that a trail could be open by 2025 in the sense most recreationists think of a trail. It’s damaging to open up Facebook groups to see hikers excited to try this “new trail” when the reality is vastly different than what they think it is. The xTx has just been conceived, it’s not even in its infancy yet. I can only hope in the future it might join the slew of other National Scenic Trails. But until we take seriously the neglect most of our current NSTs are in and find a way to permanently protect those corridors, I can’t see the xTx joining it any time soon.

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If you are interested in completing our current NSTs, I interviewed Jim Kern on the Orange Blaze podcast last year just before his 90th birthday: Completing our National Scenic Trails. I’d love to talk to Charlie Gandy and may reach out at some point soon. Texas and Texans deserve more recreational access to our lands but I think we all know the realities of that in our current private-land dominated state. It’s a long haul and one we have to keep pushing along if we want to make any change.

PS: Don’t forget to vote!

Also, I’m running an autumn sale on paid subscriptions now if you are looking for a reason to do a paid subscription!

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Misti writes regularly at Oceanic Wilderness and In the Weeds. She hosts one podcast, Orange Blaze: A Florida Trail Podcast, and recently retired The Garden Path Podcast.