Like a weevil, worm, or any other TARA newbie term you’d like to use, I goofed. A thousand pardons, memsahib, for egregiously posting this on the trip planning thread.
While we’ve explored BBNP and BBRSP on past spring trips, a few of us on ride-it-yourself/no truck/no trailer/no pick-up/big-*** touroventure bikes attended the little dirt bike extravaganza in Big Bend for the first time. Great job in all aspects of planning and holding an excellent rally, with good folks to ride and visit with, good food, and even gps tracks for some great rides that we hadn't yet taken. Thank you for all everyone put into it.
Our long ride was Friday, when four Austinites on GS’s and one Abileneo on an Africa Twin took FM 170 to Presidio and beyond. Very pleasant morning ride, and we decided to give Pinto Canyon a miss this time, instead continuing to “Pavement Ends” at Candelaria. From there, it was Chispa Rd and off the grid for several (many?) hours. The tracks we had downloaded wove a route generally more or less parallel to, but not always in sight of, the Rio Grande for much of the day, then finally turned north and connected to FM 2017 and US 90. The less-than-perfect (aren’t they all?) tracks resulted in several do-overs: A couple of closed and posted gates (that we ultimately went on through); a road that dead-ended at the Rio Grande; finally, a locked gate which caused another re-route. Then there was an abundance of deep sand and a few corresponding “tump-overs”, all of which turned it into a longgggg day. We also spent a little time “borrowing” a gallon of gas from a Game Warden, and finally siphoning a quart or two as we hit US 90. Obviously, despite the big gas tanks on the bikes, we had not all started out with equal amounts...and big bikes like gas. All in all, we left Study Butte at 9:00AM and finally got back to the resort around 10:00-10:30PM.
Not really knowing how far the road’s going to take you, or for how long, as well as riding in the dark, should be discouraged.
Saturday we took a few dirt roads, ending up at Santa Elena Canyon. After parking at Santa Elena and walking toward the river, here comes Anthony Bourdain and a small entourage. I wasn’t aware of an “off-the-wall” eating establishment in the depths of the canyon, but you never know.
Here are a few less-ordinary snapshots of the action:
House rules:
Consulting with a few hungry bovines after the first creek bed crossing resulted in a do-over when we ran into a gate (wrong track across the creek bed, up the sand bank, down the road, gate closed and posted, reverse, repeat in the opposite direction):
Second do-over when the track ended at the Rio Grande (crossing here not recommended):
John and Cody descending Godzorilla...or whatever the cognoscenti want to call it. I could be wrong, but it looks like they’re both sorta maybe trying to use their feet for brakes:
The drone that was shadowing us as we neared the Rio Grande:
Chisos sunrise while getting coffeed-up at a great little spot in Terlingua - La Posada Milagro: