Lake Mineral Wells State Trailway

The Duck crew threw some bikes in the RV and headed out for a quick Sunday night – Monday morning road trip.  We didn’t have any idea where we were headed, so we just grabbed the map and decided we didn’t really want to go far.  It’s been a few years since we road this rails to trails route, but it seemed like a good idea. 

We camped at Mineral Wells State Park.  The camping area was clean and nice, with plenty of wildlife.  We were able to get in the lake just 25 ft away from our RV.  Now to the ride.

This is a great ride for CycloCross bike.  This rails-to-trails is too sandy to ride a road bike, and very fast and wide open, so a Cross bike is perfect, but a mountain bike will do.  One word of caution, it gets really hot out on the trail, start early, bring a couple of bottles of water and make sure you have tubes and inflators, you may need them.  The ride is quite nice, very gentle rolling terrain, and suitable for any age.  (the one exception is the entrance from the state park to the trail.  This section is  5% + grade with switchbacks and very deep sand, just walk this section if you want,  it’s only about 100 yards and is the only tuff section anywhere on the trail).

  We had a great time on the trail, and rode the 14 mile to Weatherford with great ease.  The path is wide, with lots of tree canopy, and allows for side by side riding the entire way.  Upon arrival n Weatherford, we rode 2 miles into old downtown and had a great lunch at the Weatherford Café.  This is a charming old place with fun décor and great lunch, and save room for the Coconut Cream Pie….wow!

Also check out the Chicken Scratch Bistro and Coffee Shoppe, a neat little place.  Now for the word of caution, take the DFW temperature for the day and add 10 degrees, because that’s how hot it will fell on our return trip.  The good new is it’s a short ride, but get the ride in early in the day and dodge the heat.  A great payoff is ridding straight to the beach, just 1 mile from the trailhead and walking out into the water….ahhhhhhh.

This is a fun escape.  The rest of the crew had Cross bikes, while I rode the Gunnar 96er single speed.  I would really recommend a Cross bike for this trail, it’s a perfect setup, so stop by and check out our cross bike selection, with a couple of models costing less than a good road wheel set!  For details on the trail, click here!