A philanthropic Texan is currently charting a 1,500-mile trail that covers all of his home state tip to tail.
From the bayou to El Paso, he envisions it as a trail worthy to be counted among America’s current collection of long-distance routes like the Appalachian Trail and Continental Divide Trail.
Describing it as “rugged, rural, remote, and romantic,” Charlie Gandy, a retired community designer and state representative, announced plans for the trail next month, calling it the XTX, or Cross Texas Trail.
Gandy has partnered with the non-profit advocacy and fundraising group Bike Texas to plan a route across the state that crosses parks, follows rural gravel roads, skirts the cities, and passes through all the terrain shades that Texas has to offer.
“As a native Texan, I’m a 66-year-old guy who likes to challenge myself to big, hairy goals and adventures—and it seemed to me like it was time for Texas to have its own Pacific Crest-type adventure route,” Mr. Gandy told Fox News Digital.
The current working route starts on the eastern border of the state near Beaumont before launching through bayous in a more-or-less flat decline from the hills north of Houston through a gap between San Antonio and Austin coupled with a loop above New Braunfels.
Completing the detour, the trail starts to climb slightly north through the desert before plunging down into Big Bend National Park in a large horseshoe curve that eventually leads directly north to the highest peak in the state, and westward to El Paso and the finish line.
Gandy is attempting to gather sponsors for the creation of an organization that will provide all the needed digital and hard-copy literature and publicity for the launch of the trail, as well as find people willing to set up water stations in desert areas.
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On the way, Gandy and Bike Texas have been inundated with enthusiastic Texans offering their own opinions of where the route should take—often directly through their own land. 96% of Texas is privately owned, and some landowners want to link their properties to the legacy of the next great American trail.
While Gandy is in it for the adventure, Robin Stallings, executive director of Bike Texas, is working to ensure the trail can be easily accessed by cyclists.
“It’s convenient to Houston. It’s convenient to San Antonio and Austin. And of course, it ends up in El Paso. So I think that’s a real opportunity for all these urban Texans to get out there,” Stallings told Fox News Digital.
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The route is currently still being formulated but, Gandy is ensuring it passes through historic towns like La Grange and Chicken Ranch, and that the whole route is passable on horseback.
He points out that both the Pacific Crest Trail, running from Mexico to Vancouver, and the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine, started as one man’s passion project. He hopes that he will be remembered as one of these crazy hiking enthusiasts who had a dream and forced it to become a reality.
The estimated completion date of the route will be spring 2025.
WATCH a short video of the first 300 miles…
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