Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway

Hiked from Mineral Wells to Weatherford.
By TX_Marine1371 on 9/30/2014
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 20.00 Miles Duration: 7 hours, 30 minutes

This is a great trail for conditioning and building stamina. I started at the Mineral Wells trailhead at 7 a.m. and made it to the Garner trailhead in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Make sure you bring plenty of water as there aren't many places to refill along the way. In Garner there is a store and restroom facilities. I stopped for a quick breakfast and sock change and proceeded on towards Weatherford. Up until this point I hadn't encountered many people, only 4 bikers and a runner. During the 10 mile stretch from Garner to Weatherford traffic increased and the trail became more exposed to the sun. There are benches placed throughout the trail every 2 miles, sometimes closer. Approximately 6 miles from the Weatherford trailhead there is a latrine as well as water for horses. The last mile and a half run alongside a lake before curving around into the parking lot. It's a very flat and quick 20 mile hike, but I cannot stress the importance of bringing enough water. Take more than you think you'll need. I consumed just shy of 5 liters. 

Other items that I found to be useful for the trail are extra socks, sunscreen, high calorie snacks, band aids and a basic first aid kit, cell phone, sunglasses and a few ziplock bags to waterproof any moisture sensitive items.  

The scenery was pleasant along the way.  Lots of pastureland, farms and ranches. You will see lots of bearclaw cactus, oak trees, mustang grape vines and  many other  kinds of plant life. I encountered two copperhead snakes along the way east of the Garner trailhead. Stay vigilant, especially when walking through the dead leaves that accumulate on the trail.  There were many different species of birds; the white wing and morning dove were my favorites.  Keep your eyes open and you can spot deer, coyotes, foxes and  bobcats. 

Overall it was a very enjoyable trail. I will be doing it again this weekend  but I will explore the loop that goes into the state park. 

Hiked most of the horse and bike trails
By Marshall on 7/13/2008
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 8.00 Miles Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes

Great morning started at 6am finished about 930am walked the horse trails still have a couple left before I have hiked all of them. only two other people there on sunday morning, saw 6 deer, could here turkey gobble, cool morning for this time of year with nice breeze. East trails are a lot prettier than west trails. well worth the drive easy family trails.

By junkyvan on 3/8/2008
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 5.50 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

The trail was easy to follow and made it easy to share with mountain bikes. I would recommend this these trails to families that want to walk together without having to walk in a line. Tree coverage was at a minimum because of the time of the year, but we got lucky when the weather was fair- not too cold and not too hot. We plan to go back and try to hike the whole trailway... wow!

By CedrHillr on 1/1/2007
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 1.30 Miles Duration: 1 hour

Good trail for distance
By kcameron on 3/30/2006
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 8.00 Miles Duration: N/A
Having previously hiked a portion of the Trailway, this time my wife and I decided to hike the trails in the northern part of the state park. In order to get some distance, we combined sections of the multi-use trail with the footpath and made a big loop. We started by following the western perimeter trail and returned on the eastern trails. The most scenic part of this hike is the first half mile along the foot path. The hike overall is relatively easy except for a steep hill in the very northernmost section of the park. Although we encountered no other hikers, I gave the solitude rating an average score because we could hear loud speakers from the facility to the west of the park throughout 75% of our hike.