A lot of hard work has really taken place in the forest around Bringle Lake in Texarkana, Texas. The City maintains the Wilderness Trail at Bringle Park, but inside the trail, there are dozens of Mountain Bike trails for riders of all skill levels.
The trails are maintained by a group of volunteers and have many features that can turn any bike ride into a real adventure. More and more people are beginning to discover these great trails, and we ran into a few families enjoying themselves while we stumbled around in the woods looking for Krista Anderson, one of the lead volunteers that maintain these trails for public use.
Krista Anderson added:
The wide wilderness trail starts to the extreme right of Bringle East. That goes to the dam where all the artwork is. You can continue over the levee and pick up the trail again to the left or the parking lot. This continues on around the golf course and comes out on University and you can take the road back down to the parking lot. The actual mountain bike trail starts behind the bathrooms. The green loop is easier and loops around for about 2 miles. Halfway around the green, you can pick up the long bridge to the red loop ( a little harder with more climbing and narrower trails )that goes to the dam area and either splits off to the beginning ( just 1 mile so far ) of the blue loop ( hard climbs and steeper downhills )or veers off to the right to continue on a loop back to the long bridge that reconnects with the green loop to go back to the parking lot. If you ride the trail from beginning to end, we have right at 8 miles completed. Plan on adding more to the blue this summer. It’s a multiuser trail but we ask that bikes go clockwise ( you should face either green red or blue direction arrows ) and walkers go counterclockwise, facing yellow direction signs. The trail often doubles back over itself so don’t cut the trail or you might be stuck in an endless loop. Stay on the trail and continue on. There are spots along the way where it runs parallel to the wide wilderness trail so you can hop off into it if you don’t feel like doing the entire trail. If you DO get lost ( it’s happened ..don’t be ashamed ) the trail is contained within a very small area. Put the lake to your back and walk directly away from it. You will come out on the wilderness trail. The place is nature, so expect snakes, occasionally a small gator, the nutria rats will run across and scare the mess out of you, but mainly WEAR INSECT REPELLANT …the ticks will rob you and take your wallet! Have fun, be safe ….have a great summer!
You can keep up with the Mountain Bike Trail project on their Facebook Page.
We came into Bringle Park East and from there started out walking. Along the way we ran across a number of people riding bikes, walking dogs, and enjoying nature. We snapped a few pics while we enjoyed some of the wildlife.
