Balloon Trail #820

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Allowed

This trail is shared with dirt bikes and horses.
$5 user fee (2020) paid at the trailhead or use your America the Beautiful Recreation Pass

This is a mutliuse trail open to dirtbikes, and they might be the primary trail user (you've been warned) but it is also open to bicycles.

Much of the trailbed is sandy, so traction might be dubious when it is wet or when it is dry. There are numerous sections of natural small whoops which you can use as a kind of extended pump track (unless the bottoms are soupy from recent rain) as well as some open, flat speedier sections (unless the tread is too sandy).

Most of the route is well shaded beneath the east Texas Piney Woods, but there is a lot of undergrowth of the state plant. I'm not sure what it is, but it involves lots of thorns and briars which seem at just the right height to grab you in the elbows. In many years the region gets enough rain to be considered a tropical rain forest, and even in the off years the temperature and humidity will make it feel like it.

The trail is protected by the state insect (man eating spiders which prefer to build their webs directly across the trail, usually at face level) and the state bird (mosquitoes) also features prominently.

There are however a number of spur forest roads and old logging roads that will take you directly to County Line Road (FS 208) if you want to pull the eject cord.

Goldilocks would be perfectly happy with this trail on the right day, but if you happen to find the day watch for unicorns (the trail is also open to equines).