from fville to ladonia it's basically a gravel road, with lots of encroaching vegetation.  it apparently gets a little wilder beyond ladonia.  be ready for thorns, poison ivy, and dogs.

i guess camping isn't technically allowed.  if that means that avoiding detection is a priority, sleeping on the ground might be a bit stealthier.  on the other hand, a hammock is so great that it's probably worth the effort to find the right spot for a hammock, especially in the summer.  really, if you are remote, and don't have a fire, it's going to be difficult to detect you no matter what.  it does appear that vehicles drive on the trail in some sections, so just make sure not to get in their path.

mmeiser, good stuff.

Kip, I'm keeping this one in mind.  We have a lot going on around that time with HS graduation and college stuffs, but if they really do clear the trail, I'd like to ride a long stretch of it.  I still haven't done anything past Ladonia.

If I wanted to ruggedize a fabric, I'd put shoe goo on it.  If I wanted to waterproof it, I'd thin silicone caulk with mineral spirits and paint the fabric.  I've done both and both work.

1. New Trailer broke my bike axle before I left
2. Repaired bike and drove to Lavonia Park Camping.
3. Rode 25 Miles on Chaparral Trail on ruff as hell gravel roads and sketchy bridges.
4. Attacked by dog at mile 2 on the way to Farmersville
5. Attacked by dog at mile 12 on the trail
6. Frame and rack broke at mile 25 Merit Texas
7. Had to call wife to pick me up.
8. Great weather to ride was able to get in 55 miles total
9. Rode a spooky trail and would do again
10. Learn from my mistakes and try it again

If you want to do a new section, and like to camp, you can camp at Ladonia Lodge, or at the Ladonia Hunt Camp in the Caddo National Grasslands. 

I was chased by dogs on my trip from Fville to Celeste, but not on my trip from Ladonia to Celeste.

I might be a good thing that your trailer wasn't able to go along with you.  It would be a pain on some of the railroad bridges.  Or did you actually bring it?

Does your bike have a front suspension?  People often ask if a mountain bike is required, and the answer is usually "yes" based on wanting fat tires and a front sus.

Glad you got out there and had a good adventure!

Did I not post a trip report?  Maybe it was a different thread.  Last Friday I rode 39.4 miles from Ladonia to Celeste and back. Here is my story.

I pulled into the Ladonia Lodge and unloaded my bike. The drive up had been good, and I felt ready to have a great ride. I rode around town for a few minutes to make sure everything was mechanically good to go, and then hit the trail at 12:57pm. My previous ride on the Chaparral trail had been on the Farmersville to Celeste segment, and I was pleased to see that the trail near Ladonia was similarly clear and smooth as I headed toward Wolfe City. So far, my hopes of covering the 17 miles to Celeste in 2-2.5 hours seemed easily within reach.

However, the trail quickly became rougher and more overgrown. For the sake of posterity, I was recording my time and distance and taking a photo at every bridge and road crossing. I was able to duck under or bull through most of the overgrowth, but a couple of times I had to stop and duck paddle through a section. There were a lot of places where I ended up going very slowly and standing on the pedals to keep balance, and I dismounted for every bridge with exposed ties. In spite of the overgrowth, my bike and gear were working well, and I was feeling good about life.

However, that was about to change. I was expecting flats, so I had my big pump strapped on my rear rack. Unfortunately, this made it a pain to get to my water and food. So I was gradually running behind on water, calories, and electrolytes. My fault completely, and a rookie mistake.

By the time I covered the ~9 miles to Wolfe City I felt pretty beat, and was starting to get a cramp-twinge in my right quad when I would put my right foot on the ground. In Wolfe City I drank a lot of water. I should have hit the electrolytes hard too, but didn't. I had a little food, too. I saw El Arbol, and wished I had time to eat there, but time was ticking, and it was becoming apparent that my progress was much slower than I would have hoped.

I set out from Wolfe City for Celeste, doing math over and over in my head to see if I could make it work out such that I was not riding in the dark on the way back. But, no matter how much I tried, it was obvious that I was going to have to ride part of the way home in the dark unless I cut my trip short. I considered it, but decided that shortening the distance was unacceptable. So I kept pedaling my way toward Celeste. Random thought: It must be a lot harder to throw away a TV than I thought, because that is the most popular item found discarded along the trail.

I finally made it to Celeste around 4:20. Anyone wondering what kind of trail surface to use should definitely park at the Exxon in Celeste, and head northwest. I had no idea that cracks in a path surface could even look like that. If you do decide to walk out that way, let us know, and if you aren’t back by dark, we will come looking for you. I got a 7up at the store, sat down to drink it, and pondered how in the world to get back home to the Ladonia Lodge. My GPS has all the little back roads loaded on it, so I used it to put together a path toward Wolfe City that was off the main roads, but still relatively direct. At 4:30, I headed back to the northwest, hoping to make good time. I met a few groups of dogs on the way back, but they were all friendly or understood the boundaries of their yards very well, so nobody got pepper-sprayed. I eventually made it to Wolfe City. A couple of kids were excited to see a person riding a mountain bike, and one of them directed me to the Quick Chek. On the way to the Quick Chek I went by the middle school, timeless and imposing in its classic dark red brick. It appears that Wolfe City must have been quite a bit bigger at some point. Anyway, at Quick Chek I bought some water, mixed myself a stiff electrolyte drink, and finished it off right on the steps of the store. No time to rest, though, because at this point the question was not whether I would be riding in the dark, but how far I would be riding in the dark.

The wind really picked up out of the north. For a while I wasn’t sure if I was getting chills because I had been pedaling for so long, or if it was actually getting colder. Eventually I put on a jacket and felt a lot better. The sugar and electrolytes I pounded at the Quick Chek seemed to be improving my function and attitude. Just north of Wolfe City, I looked for a road that was supposed to cut fairly directly from Hwy 34 over to Ladonia, but couldn’t find it. I decided to stay on 34, figuring that if I totally bonked, I was more likely to get help on 34 than out in the sticks somewhere anyway. I don’t like riding on roads, but I knew that 34 doesn’t really see that much traffic anyway.

I soldiered on, with the combination of headwinds, hills, and general exhaustion requiring me to use my lowest gears pretty often. I pedaled and pedaled and pedaled and pedaled some more. Eventually around 7:45pm (although it seemed much later) I rolled into Ladonia, where I made myself some dinner and fell into my hammock, where I dreamt of, well, where I dreamt of absolutely nothing as my body and mind recovered from 8 long hours on the bike.

I was supposed to ride even farther the next day, Saturday, but a combination of factors compelled me to take it easy.
-My body was thrashed
-With the trail being as overgrown as it was even in unfenced areas where vehicles had obviously been driving through, I can’t imagine what it’s like in places that are fenced off.
-The idea of riding 60 miles AND lifting my bike over several fences was not appealing.
-As you ride, you are constantly in contact with some kind of vegetation. Even just 5 minutes of rain would wet the vegetation, and you would get soaked to the bone as you rode through.
-I figured out that I really like to have someone else along on a sufferfest like this.

That’s all I have! I’ll do my best to answer any questions you may have.

If you and some friends would like to try out this ride, go for it. I’d recommend doing it just one way. Starting in Celeste, having lunch in Wolfe City, and finishing up in Ladonia would be a strong day for most people. Once you get to Ladonia, have some friends come meet you at Ladonia Lodge(972-979-7482), and camp in the yard or rent a room. Have some dinner at Gloria’s Kitchen, and toast marshmallows out in the yard at the lodge. Disclaimer: There are lots of ways to get seriously hurt or killed out there. Do not undertake a trip unless you know what you would do if some serious stuff went down. Don’t ride by yourself. Be aware of the edges of the trail and bridges at all times. Don’t zone out and get run over at a road crossing. I think you need to have a mountain bike so that your tires are wide enough to absorb impacts with some of the stuff you will roll over, and to get a little flotation on the gravel. Have a friend on standby who can come extract you if something goes wrong, which also requires having a good enough map/GPS to direct them where to go.

i built a hard-sided frame bag (box, really) that is about 5 1/2 inches wide, and my calves brush it maybe once per hour.  but i think different people might have different biomechanics.

Wow, congrats to the new arrivals, both the ~16-week old and 16 year old.  Wisaunders, fun that yours has already had ride time.  I'm sad y'all won't be there, but I know you both have something much much better to do. 

No prob, kip.  I'll post a report, and you will feel like you were there.   Best wishes for Coconino.

Wow, that went well. 

Planning to do this on the 5th-6th-7th of Oct.  Let me know if you are interested.

Resurrecting this thread now that the weather is cooler.

I'm thinking about coming up to ride the Chaparral Trail sometime in October.  Prolly drive up to Ladonia on Friday morning, and ride from Ladonia toward Celeste and then back on Friday, spending the night in Ladonia.  On Saturday, I'll ride toward Paris, and see what happens.  Hoping to make it all the way to Paris and back.

Anyway, if that sounds like anything you guys would be up for, let me know.  I have not asked the wife which weekends are okay yet.  Just wanted to see if you'd have any interest.

found my ride report.
I had a good time with the whole adventure. I left here around noon Thursday and headed up toward Greenville. I got some last-minute supplies there, had a delicious meal at Whataburger, and then headed on up toward Ladonia.

I spent the night at the hunter camp in the Caddo Grasslands just west of Ladonia. Being all alone in a quiet place is always an adventure. The camp is nothing fancy, but it has a few things going for it. It's close to Ladonia, which could be a good place to pick up supplies, although I didn't actually go into town. It's easy to find. It's free. It's so dark at night that you can see the milky way. The coyotes sounded great. And, it is very close to the trail. As such, I might use it as my home base for my next ride. On the downside, there's no bathroom or water, and cows moo randomly all night.

My alarm woke me up at 4:30, since I had to meet Lynn down in Farmersville at 6. Wayyy too early. I ate, drank some nasty instant coffee, struck camp, and headed down to Farmersville.

The trailhead in Farmersville was easy to find. There was a restroom and water fountain nearby. The mayor and a fan of the trail, Mark Vincent, were there to greet us and send us on our way. We took off and headed up the paved part of the trail. Jlynnbob is a bad, bad, man, and he rides realllllly fast. On the way out, we met the daily trail crew on their way back in. These guys are retired and they ride the trail every day. I guess during the summer they leave at 5 am? Anyway, there were about 4 of them out there bright and early.

The trail surface was decent. For a while it was paved, and then it turned to fairly hard packed gravel doubletrack. The bridges are a little spooky because you can see down through the ties, but jlynnbob didn't leave me any time for thought. Along the trail, the weeds/grasses were really tall, and lean in toward the trail tread. On a dewy morning we would have gotten thoroughly soaked, but it's been so dry that there was no dew that I noticed. We hammered along (well, I hammered, jlynnbob pedaled easy) and were making good time. We got chased by a couple of sets of dogs. One was pretty persistent. We went fast enough to keep them from getting close, but I would have preferred to hit them with bear spray if I had had some.

We met bergerandfries and bob murdoch in Celeste. The asphalt leading into Celeste really is as dangerous as everyone says, and serves as a good reminder to developers NOT to use asphalt. In Celeste, I realized I had lost the bag I had on my rear rack that had my food and water and spare batteries in it. Giant bummer. On the way back to look for it, a rock kicked up, hit my rear derailer and pushed it into the rear wheel spokes, and the spokes happily wound it up, snapped it off, and locked up my rear tire. Day-ending mechanical. I got a SAG from jtgryk (or whatever Michael's handle is) back to my car. He went out and found my stuff, which had fallen off my rack embarrassingly close to the start of the trip. I ended up with 22 miles ridden.

I loaded my bike into my car and then drove up to Roxton for the meeting. The meeting was really good. Lots of people from different cities along the trail were there. It was encouraging to see how many people were working on their own section of the trail. The lady from the Katy Trail spoke, and it was very cool to see photos and hear stories of their trail. After the meeting I drove home.

I am looking forward to trying again someday soon. Well, not too soon. I'd like for it to be cooler, and for the weeds to die back some. My idea for my next ride is to head back up to the camp in Ladonia, and ride from there to Celeste and back on the first day so I can cover the section I haven't ridden yet. On the second day, I'd like to go from Ladonia all the way to Paris, and then head back to Ladonia either on the trail or on the back roads.

bergerandfries and jlynnbob were more successful than I was, but I will leave it to them to tell their stories if they choose to.

oh, and the deep gravel between f-ville and celeste is gone.

Resurrecting this thread now that the weather is cooler.

I'm thinking about coming up to ride the Chaparral Trail sometime in October.  Prolly drive up to Ladonia on Friday morning, and ride from Ladonia toward Celeste and then back on Friday, spending the night in Ladonia.  On Saturday, I'll ride toward Paris, and see what happens.  Hoping to make it all the way to Paris and back.

Anyway, if that sounds like anything you guys would be up for, let me know.  I have not asked the wife which weekends are okay yet.  Just wanted to see if you'd have any interest.

I rode with the guy from the bikeforums post.  I made from Farmersville to Celeste, realized I had lost my bag with all my water, went back to get it, and exploded my rear derailer in a freak encounter with a rock smaller than your fist.  22 miles was my total.  Got a SAG up to the meeting, with was pretty cool.  I spent the night in the hunter camp near Ladonia.  Lots of coyotes and cows.

Resurrecting this thread now that the weather is cooler.

I'm thinking about coming up to ride the Chaparral Trail sometime in October.  Prolly drive up to Ladonia on Friday morning, and ride from Ladonia toward Celeste and then back on Friday, spending the night in Ladonia.  On Saturday, I'll ride toward Paris, and see what happens.  Hoping to make it all the way to Paris and back.

Anyway, if that sounds like anything you guys would be up for, let me know.  I have not asked the wife which weekends are okay yet.  Just wanted to see if you'd have any interest.

with panniers you could get back and lower more easily than with a seatbag.  plus they generally carry the weight lower.

Ya, looks like it would get damp inside from breath and body moisture.  But, good for them for putting on their thinking caps.  I hope they sell a million of them.

I think I am going to put some clear tape on mine, maybe a few layers. 

thin plastic cutting boards
coroplast - thin plastic that signs are made of