I've lived in Texas all my life and just made my first trip to Big Bend. Wow-it's an awesome ride. 1,400 miles round trip from Austin, probably 300 miles in the park alone. Then up along the River Road up Marfa(where 'No country for old men', "there will be blood", "Giant" and a thousand bad westerns were made.
I'm used to the green hills of central Texas but that area of Texas is a real contradiction. Mountains, desert, waterfalls, unexpected oases, irrigated fields, camels in the wild, etc. I didn't post any pictures because there is so much stuff on the net about it.
I rode with my buddy that I rode Cushman motor scooters with 50 years ago. He has a Goldwing and has been to Big Bend many times so he was a great guide. First two days were great although the second day his dash thermometer showed 118 degrees which was not as bad as 90 in high humidity.
Anyway, third day we started out for the Santa Elena canyon along the Ross Maxwell scenic drive. Good two lane road with no guard rails and some 15 mph turns. The roads drops about 5000 feet over 30 miles until you get to the Rio Grande.
When we started back, the clouds were building and it started to rain-not my favorite weather to ride back over these roads in. Then the wind came up and it blew hard from every direction (gusts up to 40 mph were reported). On one fairly steep incline, I was riding into the teeth of the wind and rain so I dropped into 4th gear and could go no faster than 40 MPH. Climbing back up those 'S" curves in that weather was hairy and when we got back to the main road I was really relieved. I was dripping wet from perspiration even though it was very cold.
Then my buddy turned onto another side road and I saw a sign that said to beware of cougars and bears and, BTW, No Stopping at any time. Great, just what I needed.
Just after I passed that sign, the world turned completely gray. The rain stopped but I couldn't see my buddy 50 feet ahead of me and I couldn't see either side of the road. A wind gust came along and I realized we had ridden into a cloud. The road was twisting like a snake with the cramps and I saw just enough when the wind gusted to know the road went sharp left and up. Eventually I dropped into 1st and ground my way up the mountain until I reached a plateau and the wind was blowing hard enough I could see a restaurant (Chisos Mountain Lodge). We went in to have coffee and there were a couple of Harley guys who were evidently right ahead of us and they were giddy they had made it.
Eventually, the wind blew the cloud away and we went back to our motel and found out it was predicted to be 20 degrees the next morning in Marfa, 50 miles away. That's Texas weather- over 100 then down to 20 degrees in 24 hours.
We parked the bikes under a drive through at the motel and it thundered and rained all night. The next morning it was cold but clear and we rode the river road through Terlingua and Lajita, two ghost towns that are now resorts. That is a great ride with the 200,000 acre state Big Bend Ranch on one side and the 800,000 acre Big Bend National park on the left. The whole day was great riding country with NO traffic and by noon it was in the 50's in Marfa.
It's a great trip with some really cool old frontier forts along the way. Big Bend is just awesome and I will definitely go back.
One caution: Interstate 10 has a speed limit of 80 and it is HEAVILY patrolled. 85 will get you pulled over if they see you. Fort Stockton was full of Texas DPS, Texas Rangers, Border Patrol, DEA-you name it. They had two big busses with bars on the windows ready to take illegal aliens, drug traffickers and people wanted for various things stopped on I10 to holding facilities.
But it is a cool journey.
Thanks for the write up. I've been recently considering a trip there.
