The 67 year old Trailblazer Who’s Almost Done Hiking Across Texas & Mapping the Cross-Texas Trail for Others to Do it Too
For Immediate Release March 18, 2025
From: Melissa Balmer Melissa@xtexas.org Cell (360)265-2883 (please text first)
Excellent images, maps and video availablehere!
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Fifth generation Texan Charlie Gandy, founder of thexTexas Trail Project (nicknamed the xTx), is on schedule to finish his 3-month, 1,500-mile hike across Texas around March 31st in El Paso. The route he travelled is mapped out on the Ride for GPS here: xtexas.org/xtexas-trail-sections
Like the Appalachian Trail, the xTx will take years to bring to its fullest potential. In its current iteration the xTx travels through the heart of rural Texas, weaving together public paved, gravel, and dirt roads, and travels near or through sections of 17 state parks and 3 national parks.
Launched as a project in August of 2024, this legacy trail is being created for hikers, cyclists, and equestrians. It’s meant to be travelled in late fall, winter, and early spring because of heat and water conditions.
Gandy, a former Texas Legislator, is accompanied by his thru-hiking champion companions Pam and Richard Hershberger of Pennsylvania. The trio of intrepid late 60-somethings left Toyah, TX (mile 1,200) on March 17th and are heading west for the Guadalupe Mountains and the final leg of their journey.
The three hikers braved rain and ice, wind, and heat on their inaugural hike of the xTx which starts on the Louisiana border at the southern end of the Toledo Bend Reservoir, travels through the piney woods, the Hill Country, the Chihuahuan desert, and up into the Tran-Pecos Mountains, before finishing on the New Mexico border at El Paso.
Charlie, Pam and Richard are hiking 20-28 mile days, and currently begin at 4 am to beat the heat. Only the ice storm in January, a couple of special events earlier this month, and a handful of days for R&R have taken them off the trail.
Along the way Texans have shown their famous hospitality, curiosity, and pride. Most nights the trio camp, but they’ve been offered places to stay and meals by trail angels (kind and generous humans who offer voluntary support to trail users) along the way.
Mission & Vision
We’re establishing a 1,500-mile seasonal late fall through early spring hiking, cycling, and horseback trail through the heart of true Texas. It’s the first of its kind for the state.
The xTexas Trail Project is working to connect the magnificent people, cultures, and landscapes of rural Texas. From the Piney Woods in the East, through the Hill Country, the Chihuahuan desert, and up into the Tran-Pecos Mountains, the xTx is a rugged, remote, romantic work in progress. Learn more at xTexas.org.
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