Big Bend Ride this month

[MITCH]

Hey any of ya’ll ridden the Big Bend area? I taking a ride at the end of the month and was wondering if there were any have to see, or roads I should not miss?

[Serk]

Howdy!

This message is being posted from Marathon, Tx... We just rode outta Big Bend...

Few things -

-The Marathon Motel in Marathon has nice rooms (2 room cabins really) is reasonably priced, and VERY bike friendly (In fact, I think there are more bikes here than cages right now)

-Highway 170 west out of the park to Presidio is a BLAST on a bike... The road follows the Rio Grande river, and has a LOT of twisties...

Hopefully it's warmed up some when ya'll come, it's unseasonably FREAKING COLD here today!

...and on to Kerrville tomorrow...

[SideCar]

Ditto on 170 and watch for loose gravel/sand in the curves.

[Wanderer]

You could study/plan for weeks just Googling "Big Bend".

[Patron]

There are a number of must do's in Big Bend and the surrounding area.  First, RR 170 from Lajitas to Precidio, as other have pointed out is a always a must do.  I was there about a month ago and part of the road was closed due to a major wash out.  If you see signs that it is closed don't pay attention to them.  They have a detour around the closed part that the signs don't tell you about.  However, it may have been reopened in the last month.

The road down to Santa Elena canyon is great and the geography varies a number of times.  At the end of the road you need to park and do some walking across the sand flats to the river and then a improved path into the canyon.  In total the walk (hike) is about a mile but absolutely worth it to get a real since of the canyon right beside the River.  Also, along the road near the end is Castillon.  A very short gravel road up to the store, a great place to get a cold drink after the hike into the canyon.

The road up to the Lodge is another must.  Leaving the desert and climbing into the tree covered mountains will surprise you.  At the parking lot at the lodge, again park and take the concrete path to the "Window view trail".   Its less than half a mile and the view of the window is worth a little walk.

At the far East end of the park is Rio Grand City and Boquillas Canyon.  Rio Grand city is a great little lunch stop.  Buy a loaf of bread, some lunch meat and make your own sandwiches on the tables outside.

There are a lot of unpaved roads in the park that are great for dirt riders but not as favorable to true road bikes.  You can do all the paved roads in Big Bend National Park in a day. 

Be sure to ride off the main road up into Terlingua Ghost town.  There is a nice gift store right beside the Starlight Theatre that is worth a visit to get a T-shirt and have dinner at the Starlight.

Have fun, it is an amazing area.

Stan