Big Bend

What a trip! One I’d been looking forward to for a long time…

Big Bend National Park is a land of borders. Situated on the boundary with Mexico along the Rio Grande, it is a place where countries and cultures meet. It is also a place that merges natural environments, from desert to mountains. Big Bend is one of the largest and least visited of America’s national parks. Over 800,000 acres, from an elevation of less than 2,000 feet along the Rio Grande to nearly 8,000 feet in the mountains, Big Bend includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, and the entire Chisos Mountain range.

There were eleven of us, the “Texas Posse”. We ride ’em hard, and put ’em away wet!
We were on all types of bikes: two ACE’s, two Goldwings, VTX 1800, R6, CBR 1000, BMW, FJR 1300, CB750 and a rented Harley.

The scenery of this part of Texas is beyond description, so beautiful, so rugged, and so vast. We had a blast. Other than one flat, which was quickly plugged, we had no problems. Lots and lots of riding and taking in the wonderful scenery. I think this will have to become an annual event for me. A few of guys had been here before, but most like myself, were here for the first time.

Wednesday March 24th – 540 Miles
I left home at around 10am and headed for Ft. Stockton, approximately 540 miles away, a freeway blast just to get there. After San Antonio the scenery began to change and mountains became visible, and it was beginning to look like west texas, what many folks envision when they think of texas and the old west… I got a room, grabbed some grub and crashed, and would meet up with the rest of the guys for breakfast in the morning…

Thursday March 25th – 200 Miles
Around 9am the Dallas Posse rolled into Ft. Stockton after spending the night in Odessa.
After a hearty truck-stop breakfast, we headed south to Marathon where we would check in to the old Marathon Motel, a very neat motel built in 1940. In 1984 part of the movie Paris, Texas was filmed at the motel. The motel features an adobe courtyard with a covered area and fireplace – perfect for hanging out after a day of riding to have a few cold ones, smoke cigars, and tell lies…

After dropping off our gear we headed NW to the scenic Davis Mountains and the McDonald Observatory. Route 118 and surrounding roads on the way and back were beautiful. After a stop in Alpine at the Railroad Blues for a cold one we headed back to Marathon for dinner and hang out around the fire… Awesome day!

Friday March 26th – 300 Miles
Big Bend Bound!
We packed up our gear and headed out early for Alpine, since we were unable to stay both nights at the Marathon Motel. We dropped our gear at the Best Western, grabbed some breakfast and headed south (after a quick tire repair on Sam’s bike). We took 67 south to Presidio, near the Mexican border, and went east on Ranch Road 170 towards the park. 170 has been chosen as one of the best roads to ride in Texas, it hugs the Rio Grande river, and the scenery is unbelievable, beyond description, and the photos don’t do it justice. Along the way I happened to look up at the right time and got an awesome shot of a mountain goat (or whatever it was!)

Before entering the park, we stopped in Lajitas and Terlingua ghost town and had lunch at the Starlight Theater it really was a ghost town that day, not many folks around, we lucked out and arrived at 2:50, they close from 3-5 but the great waitress allowed us to order lunch, which was great. Then we gassed up and headed into the park. More awesome scenery and roads were to be found. After a trip down into the Chisos Basin, we headed back to Alpine, hoping to arrive before dark. We cleaned up a bit, watched the end of the UT-Xavier game (UT lost) and took the short ride back to Railroad Blues for a cool refreshment and a bite to eat, a great way to end a great day…

Saturday March 27th – 325 Miles
I say good-bye to the rest of the posse as they head back thru the Hill Country to Austin for a Saturday evening party, I decline and stay behind for one more day of great riding. Bill also stayed, his girlfriend brought a trailer for the bike, and their bicycles to do some riding and exploring.

I start fairly early, and head straight back to Big Bend Park to check out some of the areas we missed the day before. I take the park roads to the Santa Elana Canyon. Some beautiful mountain scenery, very inspiring. I then took 170 again (once is NOT enough!) the other direction back to Presidio. At one point at a stop, an old guy camping told me about a short dirt road down to the river, with some nice shade to take a break, it was a very cool stop.

At Presidio I decided to continue west to Ruidosa. The scenery here was beautiful as well, although the road did not hang the river like between Presidio and the park. At Ruidosa I made a decision, probably a wacky and maybe even risky one, but what the heck! My choices – turn around and go back to Presidio or take Pinto Canyon Rd to 2810 into Marfa, problem is Pinto Canyon is unpaved. About 25 miles of unpaved road – I took it. The ride was challenging – to say the least, at times I wondered if I’d make it, staying upright was a challenge in parts. Some parts were totally fine, others were like riding in a dry creek bed. Four low water crossings just added to the fun, that and some mighty steep grades, but the scenery was awesome, breath-taking and desolate. Would have been fun to tear it up on an enduro type bike, but don’t think it was meant for a cruiser, but the mighty ACE was up for the challenge! Then onward to Marfa, Ft. Davis, and 17 (awesome!) to I-10 to Ft. Stockton to end the day, and what a day it was!

Sunday March 28th – 540 Miles
Homebound. Superslab all the way, 540 miles. A truly great weekend and experience. The weather was great the entire time, the friends, the roads, the scenery, all a memory that won’t soon be forgotten…

LINK to all the photos from this trip