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It鈥檚 a trail so big, so long that it鈥檚 far wider than Texas. It doesn鈥檛 yet exist, but it will be a trail that will take people from nearly sea level 鈥� to the top of Texas, and everything in between.
created a nonprofit that鈥檚 designed a across Texas that they鈥檙e calling the It鈥檚 not so crazy an idea; many parts of the country have long walking trails. Gandy notes that the Lone Star State though, doesn鈥檛.
鈥淭his trail is a TXDOT engineer鈥檚 worst nightmare, because there's no straight lines in it. It maneuvers about with the contour of the land,鈥� he said.
Gandy鈥檚 designed a curlicue route, which nearly doubles the 850 miles of I-10鈥檚 east-to-west traverse. That鈥檚 not by accident.
鈥淭his is the dirty route across Texas. It's the toughest, hardest, dirtiest route,鈥� he said.
Texas has a peculiarity: Gandy said that there鈥檚 a lot of Texas nearly no one鈥檚 ever seen. And here鈥檚 why: , and that gives the X-Tx an additional value.
鈥淵ou know what? There's some secrets out there. This is hidden Texas,鈥� Gandy said.
There is a method to his so-called madness: he鈥檚 taking existing infrastructure 鈥� quiet backroads through counties, state and national parks-- and linking them together. Here鈥檚 the planned route:
鈥淔rom the Quicksand Creek on the Louisiana border, through the pine forests, through San Marcos out into the hill country,鈥� he said.
The trail then cuts west through the craggy, oak-covered limestone hills.
鈥淎nd then down into Big Bend, and then up to Pene Ferguson's Ranch, which is just south of Marfa, and then into , the Soho of Western Texas, and then up to the highest peak in the state, , and then on over to El Paso,鈥� Gandy said.
Out west, county and state parks are fewer and further between, so much of the route goes through private ranches, including Pene Ferguson鈥檚 in Presidio County.
鈥淭he overall acreage of the ranch is around 20,000 acres,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or cattle ranching purposes, you need about 10 acres per cow.鈥�
Like most out here, having a ranch doesn鈥檛 actually make her wealthy.
鈥淲e are what everyone has always called, land rich and money poor. So it's been handed down through, interestingly enough, through the women for the last three generations,鈥� Ferguson said.
In this family it鈥檚 the women who have run the ranch. Most Texas ranchers lease to deer hunters to augment the little they make on cattle. Leasing can add 30 to 50 grand of income per season.
And so Ferguson looks to find new revenue streams as raising cattle becomes less profitable. She鈥檚 turned her old ranch headquarters into an AIRBNB and looks forward to the people she鈥檒l meet on the xTx.
鈥淚 think a lot of them are people who are interested in history and interested in learning and very curious and open minded, and those are all welcome things,鈥� she said.
Gandy only unveiled the xTx 6 months ago, but he鈥檚 finding more and more ranchers like Ferguson. On Monday he鈥檚 holding an event where he鈥檚 walking the first 100 miles of it.
鈥淢arch the 10th鈥檚 a Monday morning, at 7 a.m. at Quicksand Creek on the Louisiana border we鈥檒l be taking off on horses, on mountain bikes and hiking,鈥� he said.
Gandy looks at this process not so much as building a trail, but as creating some magic.
鈥淲e like to think that we're rebooting Texas here,鈥� he said.
He wants to see the adventurous get outdoors on the trail and challenge themselves.
鈥淏ecause in that is learning. In that is slowing down, getting out of reach of the cell phones and listening to the voices in your mind. There is some magic in that, and that's what we're creating,鈥� Gandy said.
If the xTx gets built, it鈥檒l join the and the as one of the top 10 longest in the nation.
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