Northeast Texas Trail LbNA #66109

This series of four boxes are located at the beginning of the Northeast Texas Trail which starts in Farmersville and continues for 130 miles to New Boston just west of Texarkana, Texas, traveling through seven counties and 19 rural towns. The trail is open for hiking and biking the entire distance but is rough in some areas as the local municipalities develop it through their communities. However, in Farmersville, the trail is beautifully maintained and the path is concrete or asphalt for the first 3 ½ miles. The trail is called the Chaparral Trail in Farmersville and is known the Trail de Paris as it passes through Paris, Texas. This is the longest footpath in Texas, and one of the longest in the United States.

To get to the trailhead, find your way to the Onion Shed at the corner of Main St. and Onion Alley in downtown Farmersville. You can pull past the Shed and park in the back where you will see the Audie Murphy Trailhead for the Chaparral Trail.

Box 1: ONE HUNDRED THIRTY MILES: Start down the trail! You will notice there are pretty light posts on either side of the trail as it passes through a somewhat residential area. After a few minutes, you will come to a street crossing and the light posts come to an end. At this point, the trail surface turns to asphalt and the lights are mounted high upon telephone poles as the trail passes through a "canyon". After the canyon area, the path will cross another street. After crossing the street and passing through the yellow poles, you need to start counting the telephone light poles on the right. After you pass the first pole, you will see a marker on the ground to the right of the trail marking ½ mile. Continue two additional poles and stop. At that pole, you will go an additional 23 steps and look to your right for a clump of trees (small cedar mixed with deciduous trees). You should notice the multi-trunk tree about eight feet off the trail. The letterbox is nestled inside the tree under a SPOR.

The theme of the next three boxes has to do with another of my favorite pastimes: doing art.

Box 2: PAINT! Continue down the trail crossing another street, and you will see ¾ mile spray painted on the sidewalk just before passing the Athletic Facility sign on your right. The trail turns from asphalt back to concrete. If you want to, at this point you can start to count the man-made lines in the concrete. After about 110 lines, you will see a small gravely clearing off to the right of the trail (about 6 feet wide). There is a large cedar to the right of this clearing. Look under the SPOR behind this tree for the box.

Box 3: BOX OF PENCILS: Continue down the path until you pass the 1 mile marker on your right. Soon you will notice the sidewalk has a section that is a little lighter color concrete, and then about ten sections later, there is another section of lighter concrete. At that section, on the right you will see an old railroad track curving in front of a twisty tree. Go to that tree and look inside the tree about 2 feet above the ground for the box.

Box 4: ZENTANGLE (The art of meditative drawing): Continue on the trail and you will see three markers on the trail in fairly short succession. On is orange paint on the cement that says 1 ½ mile, then you'll see the official 1.5 mile marker to the right of the trail on the ground, and then you see "5K Turnaround" painted on the concrete. Soon, you'll pass under power lines, and just after, you will see a large cedar on the right. Keep going about 20 more steps and look to the left where you will notice a multi, multi-trunk tree just up a small embankment. Look inside the tangle of trunks of this tree for the box.