Seeking Big Bend Advice

[elliott_p]

A friend invited me to go with him to Big Bend next month. Neither of us have ever been and I thought I'd see if anyone has any advice on places to go once we get there as well as the best route to take from Dallas while avoiding the slab as much as possible.

We're planning to leave April 13th and return on the 16th. Right now our plan is to ride to Fort Stockton the first day, passing through San Angelo. Then continue on the following day into the park and surrounding area. We were thinking we might return to Dallas with a stop over in Fredericksburg.

Neither one of us are Iron Butters so we're hoping that Fort Stockton isn't going to be too much of a haul that first day.

Any thoughts?

[brd]

First, any route from Dallas (or anywhere) to BigBend is going to be flat, straight, long, and boring. But it's well worth it. I've done FtW to BB in a day. It's a long ride but doable. Ft. Stockton would certainly be easier. Odessa/Midland or San Angelo would be about half-way.

I was there last February and this february. Here's a cut&paste from an email I recently sent someone on this subject:

You must ride FM 170 from Lajitas/Study Butte (west end of the park) to Presidio (about 60 miles). This is one of the 10 most scenic roads in the country and some good corners in it.

Inside the park, the Ross Maxwell Scenic drive is great. It goes from near the west entrance down to Santa Elena Canyon. Speed limits inside the entire park are 45mph, though. I've never seen any enforcement, but it's some federal ticket if you get one, so beware.

Another good one is to go up to Ft. Davis (about 120 miles from the park) and ride FM 118 and the loop that goes through the Davis Mts. The McDonald observatory is also out there and is a really cool place to visit. If you can, check out their website and find out when their "star parties" (nighttime tours) are. It's amazing how much you can see out there and they give you a peek through a few of the "smaller" telescopes.

If you've got a dual-sport or any gravel capabilities, ride the River Road (gravel, 50miles, inside the park). IMHO the West RR was better than the East RR.

As far as hiking, the Lost Mine Peak trail is awesome. I've heard the south rim trail is spectacular, but it's 14miles and I haven't had time on my trips there to do it.

You could spend a month out there and not see everything. Enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Brian!

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

Well if you are really pressed for time and want to maximize your time at the park, I'd haul down I-20 to either Monahans or Pecos and then head South to the park. You will be able to maintain a higher average speed for more of the trip by slabbing it. Any other route will have a significantly lower average speed because of all the little towns with speed traps and stop lights.

But if you want to enjoy the ride there... Take US 377 Southwest out of DFW and head for Granbury. Pick up FM 51 and continue Southwest to FM 205 and head West toward Stephenville. There take US 377 South to FM 914 and run this to Carlton on FM 219. I'd head East on FM 219 to US 281 and run it South to Hamilton. This is a good place to stop for gas and a snack.

When you leave Hamilton, head West on Hwy 36, look for FM 218 on your left a mile or so out of town. Take that and then start looking for FM 2005 on your left. Run this about 16 miles and start looking for FM 1047 on the left. Take 1047 South all the way to FM 581. Head West or Southwest on FM 581 until it dead ends into FM 580. Run FM 580 West and look for FM 501 which may also be called RR 501. Head West on this until you get to Pontoc on Hwy 71. Head West on Hwy 71 and look for RR 386. Head South on RR 386 to Mason. This might be another good place to stop for a break.

When you leave Mason, follow El Paso St. West right out of town and this becomes RR 1871. Run this Southwest until you hit RR 385 and then head Northwest up to US 377 and then head South to Junction. Once in Junction, you can run I-10 West if you are pressed for time. Otherwise, I would stay on US 377 and keep heading South a little farther to Del Rio.

However, there are several interesting ways to get from Junction to Del Rio. You could run US 377 until just West f Rocksprings a few miles and pick up RR 674, run it South to Brackettville and then head West on US 90 to Del Rio. Or, right before you get to Rocksprings, you could head East on Hwy 41 and head for the North end of FM 335. FM 335 is possibly one of the most fun roads in the state. It is like riding a fast roller coaster. Just watch for livestock, cattle guards and fresh cow pies :eek: FM 355 will end at a small town called Barksdale. This is basically a gas station and an intersection.

At the intersection in Barksdale, if you have time for some fun, head North on Hwy 55. Here you will find some really fun and fast sweepers. run it for about 15 miles or so and turn around and head back to Barksdale. Then keep heading South on Hwy 55 to the tiny town of Laguna and head West on RR 334. Run RR 334 West to Brackettville and pick up US 90 into Del Rio.

The last and probably quicker of the three options is to head farther Southwest on US 377 and look for RR 2523 and run that South all the way to Del Rio. Of course, you could also just run US 377 all the way from DFW to Del Rio, that'd be about 335 miles.

Once you are in Del Rio. You can stop for the night if you want. I don't know how far it is from where you live to Granbury, but from Granbury to Hwy 41 just North of Rocksprings, it is 280 miles by the route I have laid out. Most of the roads are fun backroads with little if any traffic so you should still be able to make pretty good time.

If you take the detour over to FM 355 and Hwy 55, it is 145 miles from the Hwy 41 turn off of US 377 to Del Rio. That would make for 425 miles total to Del Rio from Granbury. You could shave off 30 miles by not doing the run up North on Hwy 55 through the sweepers. But it would be a shame to be so close and not do them :wink:

If you do the run down RR 674 to get to Del Rio, it is 100 miles from the Hwy 41 intersection to Del Rio. And if you do the RR 2523 route, it is 88 miles. And finally, just running right down US 377, it is 85 miles.

From Del Rio, US 90 is pretty much the only route all the way out to Big Bend. That is a popular ride and is supposed to be quite nice. Once you reach US 385, you can pretty much start hitting all the areas that Brian mentioned. From Del Rio to US 385 is about 175 miles.

For a three day trip, this would be a ripper. You'd be knocking out some serious mileage each day. And like I said, it all depends on where you want to spend your time. The long route I laid out is pretty good riding the whole way there. But for max time in the area of Big Bend, I'd probably opt for more of the slab or maybe run US 377 a lot. There are a lot of places where you can cut out some of backroads to make the route a little more direct to Del Rio.

The real bummer here is that I wish I was going with you ;-) But there are these annoying things called work and money :headbang:

Adios,

[Anonymous]

Dang Scott, Thanks for the exhaustive route plan!

[Tourmeister]

Don't mention it. I had nothing better to do a work that day. We were really really slow... Not a good thing for me, but I guess a good thing for you ;-) I hope you guys have a great time. Take pics for us! I expect some kind of report when you get back hehe.

Adios,

[elliott_p]

Ptbfff... I guess I could log in before I post so I don't show up a "guest". :pound2

Should have plenty of pictures to share and will definitely do a writeup...assuming I survive the long boring ride out there. I fear for my back! I ordered a new rear tire and chain for the trip and went ahead and bought a Throttlemeister as well. At least I won't have "claw hand" when I get there!

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

We're planning to leave April 13th and return on the 16th.

Just out of curiousity, why are you leaving the 13th and not the 11th?

Adios,

[elliott_p]

Well actually we are leaving on the 12th, Saturday morning. I had my day's screwed up. No particular reason other than the fact that if we left on a weekday morning we'd have to fight traffic out of Dallas through Fort Worth and all that so we decided to leave on a saturday and return the following wednesday. Gonna be whirlwind trip but I couldn't convince my travel partner that we should take an extra day.

[Tourmeister]

Any chance you might leave on that Friday morning? ;-) *insert sound of mental gears whirring at high rpms...*

Adios,

[elliott_p]

Hehe...no I don't think so. I tried to talk my buddy into it but work matters keep him here on Friday. You can't swing a saturday morning departure? A fried of his may ride out to Fort Stockton from Houston to meet us, but he's on an R1 and will have had a Vasectomy the weekend before so we're not certain about his commitment! :-)

We decided to just slab it from Dallas to Fort Stockton the first day and then strike out from there on Sunday morning morning staying sunday night in Alpine Monday night in Fredricksburg (somewhere) and returning to dallas on tuesday.

Not much time in the park unfortunately. But we're planning to try and hit the good stuff before hauling *** out of there.

[Tourmeister]

but he's on an R1 and will have had a Vasectomy the weekend before so we're not certain about his commitment!

Hehe, LMAO!!! If he even tries he must have wuevos of steel!

Well, I am just fishing around for something to waste that weekend on. I have a tour planned for the Hill Country, but no one has signed up and the deadline has passed. So I may either spend the weekend in Kerrville, or I was toying with the idea of taking off Friday and shooting out towards Big Bend to try to meet you guys. It is easier for me to get a Friday and Monday off than the weekend and then a few days into the same week.

I think I'll see how many people I can convince to go to Kerrville with me ;-)

Adios,

[elliott_p]

I'm planning a solo ride down to the Kerrville area the week of June 14th. A friend of mine whom I rarely see, is going to be there visiting her parents that week so I thought I would take the opportunity to come down, see her and check out the the riding down there. I've never ridden that area so I'm looking forward to it.

If you don't have a tour planned that week, maybe we can hook up and do some riding. If you've got any advice on where to stay while I'm there I'd be glad to hear it.

[figment]

We went to the Big Bend last month. Trailer'd 4 bikes down there.

Agusta, Ducati and 2 RC51s.

The area is awsome. Roads are good, but not as technical as the Hill Country. A very worthwhile trip. Especially if you have the time it really takes to truely appreciate the country out there. I'm told May-June is the best time to go because of the wet season makes everything bloom. We went mainly for the ride though.

Got lots of spectacular pictures too!

Elliott, did you get back OK?

[buck000]

good gosh, figment, that is so cool: "Hmmm, which awesome bike should I hop on for this next ride...?" http://members.aol.com/ranlynh/images/hail.gif

[elliott_p]

Figment,

Yep we had a blast! No rain (well not until we got back to Dallas), no crashing and no heat. I think I posted a trip report somewhere around here. I must admit, we met up with some folks with their bikes in a nice enclosed trailer towed behind a VERY nice Excursion (or Expedition) and could definitely see the advantage to such a configuration. Still, although the ride out was boring, the time seems to go faster on the motorcycle than it does in the car. I dunno why that is.

I agree on the roads not being as technical as 337,336 etc...although I think 170 along the Rio might give them a run for their money. That road was incredible. I couldn't decide whether to ride fast or enjoy the scenery. It was very hard not to get distracted by the view.

Which roads did you guys ride?

[Anonymous]

elliot,

We rode all of them :)

The best IMO was on the way to the observatory, in the Davis mountains. The river road was just too sweeping and not enough twist to it for my preferences. Also, those dips they use for flash flood control make you wish for ailerons! LOL

[figment]

elliot,

We rode all of them :)

The best IMO was on the way to the observatory, in the Davis mountains. The river road was just too sweeping and not enough twist to it for my preferences. Also, those dips they use for flash flood control make you wish for ailerons! LOL

Weird, I thought I was logged in.... :)

[scratch]

Hey, figment - how were the roads around the Davis Mountains? I was out there last year and highway 166 had a massive re-paving and road-widening project underway a few miles west of Fort Davis. Hopefully that's finished?

While there, I took the opportunity to drive around the town of Fort Davis trying to spot the locations where they filmed the movie "Dancer, Texas Population 81". If you've never seen it, it's a nice little movie about small town life and a group of local high-schoolers wanting to get out and see the world. The outdoor scenes are some of the best location shooting ever done in Texas - our state never looked so good! Unfortunately, they were having a drought at the time I was there, so everything was brown and crispy, even up in the mountains.

[elliott_p]

I thought that the part of 118 (I think that's it) from the observatory down into fort Davis was fantastic...just too dang short!! The rest would have been great if not for all the cows standing around both beside and IN the road! :-)

[figment]

Hey, figment - how were the roads around the Davis Mountains? I was out there last year and highway 166 had a massive re-paving and road-widening project underway a few miles west of Fort Davis. Hopefully that's finished?
... Now I remember that the road up to Alpine from BB National park was not paved for about 3 miles :eek: but it was ok if you ran around 20mph. That is all I saw for construction. I WILL check out that move too, thanks!