Seven east Texans, eight days off, a trip planned for over a year, barrels full of fuel and beer - what could possibly go wrong? Yes, the Big Bend Ranch was our destination and we planned to leave no stone unturned.
For those of you who have not been yet, the Big Bend Ranch State Park should be a definite must on your list of Texas dual sport riding destinations.
After a smooth 13 hour ride across our great state, we hit the 27 mile long rock road to the Sauceda ranger station, only high centering the trailer once during this two hour leg of the trip. The 30 foot RV while comfortable for the first 13, seemed like a bad idea on the ranch road. However, much to the astonishment of many of the park staff and the remainder of our group we finally made Sauceda.
For a base of operations during our stay we chose the ranch bunkhouse and let me tell you, for $35 per day per man, it sure beats camping! We considered it but we wanted to focus on riding. Next up we decided wisely, to pre-purchase breakfast and dinner for another $20 a day, leaving lunch time for trail-side snack munching from our bags off the bike.
The bunkhouse, food and park staff were all first class and everyone made us feel welcome with special thanks going out to the camp chef Sandra. Barrett, if you happen to read this, you have an excellent operation running there and we thank all of you.
Anyway, enough of the colorful introduction. For rolling stock (bikes) we had a KTM 450, Husky 630, two XR650Ls, two DRZ400s, and a KDX200, all street legal which is required by the ranch. Rider experience ranged from less than two years (me) to more than twenty for a few.
I have been told by some of the participants that I would get some help posting up on this thread, so feel free to chime in and throw out some pics and commentary fellas, this is your thread.
The scenery here is gorgeous
if you have not been, we will attempt to show you a few of the finer places in photos, but they just do not do it justice. The park requires that you stay only on marked vehicle roads classified from 2 wheel drive access, to 4 wheel high clearance un-maintained. The riding was awesome, and we did not miss any of the 4 wheel drive roads and very few of the other, easier maintained roads.
Looking back, it sure was a blast. We will try to give you a feel for our experience, and I hope it makes you want to go and see for yourself.
All I've got for now, but stay tuned.
For those of you who have not been yet, the Big Bend Ranch State Park should be a definite must on your list of Texas dual sport riding destinations.
After a smooth 13 hour ride across our great state, we hit the 27 mile long rock road to the Sauceda ranger station, only high centering the trailer once during this two hour leg of the trip. The 30 foot RV while comfortable for the first 13, seemed like a bad idea on the ranch road. However, much to the astonishment of many of the park staff and the remainder of our group we finally made Sauceda.
For a base of operations during our stay we chose the ranch bunkhouse and let me tell you, for $35 per day per man, it sure beats camping! We considered it but we wanted to focus on riding. Next up we decided wisely, to pre-purchase breakfast and dinner for another $20 a day, leaving lunch time for trail-side snack munching from our bags off the bike.
The bunkhouse, food and park staff were all first class and everyone made us feel welcome with special thanks going out to the camp chef Sandra. Barrett, if you happen to read this, you have an excellent operation running there and we thank all of you.
Anyway, enough of the colorful introduction. For rolling stock (bikes) we had a KTM 450, Husky 630, two XR650Ls, two DRZ400s, and a KDX200, all street legal which is required by the ranch. Rider experience ranged from less than two years (me) to more than twenty for a few.
I have been told by some of the participants that I would get some help posting up on this thread, so feel free to chime in and throw out some pics and commentary fellas, this is your thread.
The scenery here is gorgeous
if you have not been, we will attempt to show you a few of the finer places in photos, but they just do not do it justice. The park requires that you stay only on marked vehicle roads classified from 2 wheel drive access, to 4 wheel high clearance un-maintained. The riding was awesome, and we did not miss any of the 4 wheel drive roads and very few of the other, easier maintained roads.
Looking back, it sure was a blast. We will try to give you a feel for our experience, and I hope it makes you want to go and see for yourself.
All I've got for now, but stay tuned.
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