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Longest DS Ride in Texas?

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my6

my6

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David
Just wondering what is the longest end to end, mostly dirt, DS ride that anyone has done in Texas? Discuss...
 
Guess you gotta define "mostly" ? It's really hard to stay totally on dirt any more..
Pandale might be the longest continuous dirt road in Tx? Or Casa Piedra?

Maxwell, River Road, Old Ore: that's a decently long dirty stretch of road (with a couple miles of pavement at the junctions). Add in Old Marathon, North County, South County and other Terlingua Ranch roads and you can fill a few days with 90% dirt...
 
I think yall are on the right track with those. I could imagine that Chispa ranks up there. I just did a quick calc of Chispa, 56 miles of dirt. Feels like more cause you also have the ~60 miles of pavement from Presidio to Candelaria that is awfully lonely. River Rd from Hot Springs side to Ross Maxwell, ~53 miles. Old Ore is ~28 miles. Pandale area if you do the Fiedler Draw side, that is about 38 miles, if you do the Langtry side it is about 30 miles....stitch those together and that is pretty long, just not conducive for my brain for "through" travel....I usually do one or the other. Casa Piedra is about ~35 miles, the dirt part. So I would guess Chispa takes the win for the state for a "through" route? What most of us like to do is to stitch these kinds of sections together, that's the ticket. I think those that have gone before me have the right idea, make a loop out of all of those that were mentioned, along with stuff on the Mexico side...."The Tejas Loop". Chispa "road" pictured below.....it is certainly the most isolated feeling of my Texas travels. River Rd you are remote as well, but you know you have "friendlies" in the area. @my6 what are you cooking up in your melon?

1681932503926.png
 
Oooooh just noodlin on the idea of it. I just always wanted to do something like trailer to some far off place and then have to ride back as far as possible to get back to where my wife will park and stay, say the Austin area with family until I get there. I've never done something like this and would like to before I get too flerken old.
 
my6 said:
Oooooh just noodlin on the idea of it. I just always wanted to do something like trailer to some far off place and then have to ride back as far as possible to get back to where my wife will park and stay, say the Austin area with family until I get there. I've never done something like this and would like to before I get too flerken old.
Click to expand...
The flerken old guy talking around the campsite after a great day of DS dirt road riding......:lol2:
 
my6 said:
Mork Mork, Mork Mork...
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David, Heres a thread worth peeping. Easy to do 200 miles in Milam county....
www.twtex.com

MIlam County Gravel Loop ride, 5/28/11

I want to thank the excellent group of riders that showed up and shared some Milam County gravel goodness with me! According to Sam's GPS, we rode 188 miles, and everyone finished safe and sound. I was honored to ride with you fine folks. What say we do this again, in November? Bless ya, Mark
www.twtex.com www.twtex.com
 
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my6 said:
Oooooh just noodlin on the idea of it. I just always wanted to do something like trailer to some far off place and then have to ride back as far as possible to get back to where my wife will park and stay, say the Austin area with family until I get there. I've never done something like this and would like to before I get too flerken old.
Click to expand...
Sounds good. Have your wife drop you off in Oregon and then make your way back to Austin :trust:
 
Re: Chispa Rd. - first, ride Pinto Canyon Rd. to get there (from Marfa), you'll have a few pavement miles to connect them. Rode Chispa 4/2 and apparently it has been "improved" so the border patrol has easier access - not nearly as much deep sand as when we rode it last year.
 
That "Epic" route about completely misses so much of East Texas. There are hundreds and hundreds of miles of fun dirt roads East of I-45. I can do a 200-250 mile ride of mostly dirt without getting more than about 45-50 miles from my house. If I venture further away, there are even more fun roads out towards Crockett.

The problem is that the fun roads are being "improved" and it is getting harder and harder to find those little rarely traveled roads that are so much fun. One of my long time favorites between Lovelady and Crockett has been almost totally ruined. It used to see little to no traffic. It was sandy, wooded, and challenging in places. Now it has been widened. Gravel has been laid down. The trees are being cut down. The little wooden bridges have all been replaced with big wide concrete bridges... People from Houston are coming North and buying up property like crazy. I am seeing new home construction in places I would never have thought would be able to provide an income for some extravagant homes. I guess maybe with more work from home stuff being available post Covid people are looking to get out of the big city? :shrug:
 
My first big day ride on my 950 was east Texas , no idea where I went . I’d come to an intersection or a fork in the road and make a random choice . I did have maps that I would occasionally stop and look at and I did find my way home . One road a got on had just been repaved with pea gravel 6 inches deep , that was fun , another fun ride was coming back from a ET 400 ride , my brother and I rode our bikes up from Houston and did the ride then cut cross country coming back . That’s probably the time we came through that lovelady triangle , seems like I remember a really good lunch someplace along highway 7 too .
 
One thing I very seldom do is follow a route , I just go ride with no agenda . A gps has always disappointed me when I let it choose my route or make me turn around when it dead ends even when it’s says otherwise .
 
Cagiva 549 said:
One thing I very seldom do is follow a route , I just go ride with no agenda . A gps has always disappointed me when I let it choose my route or make me turn around when it dead ends even when it’s says otherwise .
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Pretty much my style, dirt road looks interesting, take it!
 
Cagiva 549 said:
One thing I very seldom do is follow a route , I just go ride with no agenda . A gps has always disappointed me when I let it choose my route or make me turn around when it dead ends even when it’s says otherwise .
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I like to sit down with a Gazetteer and often compare with Google sat maps to see actual terrain features. That gives me a "sorta" plan, but I'm not bound by it if I see something interesting on the ground when I'm out there. I've used this method both here in TX and elsewhere. It's worked out pretty well for the most part. I've done a good bit of the non-plan technique, and it too has often worked well, but I've had better success in doing a little bit of research before I pull out. But like you suggest, there aren't many motorcycle rides on pavement or dirt that should be ironclad marching orders unless it's a "gotta make time and destination or bust"...LOL! And some think I'm odd in that I have never recorded tracks on my GPS, and neither have I used other's tracks. The maps are my general guide, and the GPS is usually just used for confirmation so I don't chase my tail out there.
 
Gravel Guy said:
David, Heres a thread worth peeping. Easy to do 200 miles in Milam county....
www.twtex.com

MIlam County Gravel Loop ride, 5/28/11

I want to thank the excellent group of riders that showed up and shared some Milam County gravel goodness with me! According to Sam's GPS, we rode 188 miles, and everyone finished safe and sound. I was honored to ride with you fine folks. What say we do this again, in November? Bless ya, Mark
www.twtex.com www.twtex.com
Click to expand...
Yes sir! I did that ride last year.
 
I do record , and I have had to look at it to figure out how to get back out of the Outback a time or two
 
Cagiva 549 said:
I do record , and I have had to look at it to figure out how to get back out of the Outback a time or two
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I agree. I think one should ALWAYS record a track on their ride. I have used this many many times to track back out of areas. Also once following a paper map, used it to verify I was on the correct road by the shape of my recorded track. One more reason is to go back and mark waypoints after the fact, like gas stations, washed out bridges, etc. You can always throw it away when you get home.
(Sorry @my6 for the thread jack :oops:)
 
Flipit said:
I agree. I think one should ALWAYS record a track on their ride. I have used this many many times to track back out of areas. Also once following a paper map, used it to verify I was on the correct road by the shape of my recorded track. One more reason is to go back and mark waypoints after the fact, like gas stations, washed out bridges, etc. You can always throw it away when you get home.
(Sorry @my6 for the thread jack :oops:)
Click to expand...

I do this when riding in unfamiliar areas. Around here on my local roads I almost never record a track. I probably should record some though because I am constantly getting people asking me if I have a "route" for the area. It's not like it is hard to look at the map, pick out the dirt roads, and string them together to create a route :shrug: It is also amazing how many people in the Houston area act like coming up here to ride the roads is a huge ordeal. They are constantly acting like they need to worry about gas range, how hard it will be, will their tires be okay, can they do it all in one day, etc,... I guess the must be REALLY new to adventure riding. I see people ask these kinds of questions all the time about the Cheeseburger Loop, which you could do in pretty much any car/truck.
 
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