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BBRSP Cienega Mountain Area?

TNC

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Location
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Hey guys...I've been to BBRSP a few times and have covered about 75% of the roads/tracks in the main area of the ranch. I'm about to head out for my annual Big Bend area camp and ride trip at the end of the month. I'm going to stay in the BBRSP for 3-5 days. This trip I'm going to ride over to the Cienega section to ride out those tracks to the north. I don't think I've seen much mentioned about this area. Anyone have any pics and/or insight about this section of the park and the riding there? I'll be camping in my van and toting my well modded KLX250/300S on the trailer as I always do, so I have a very capable off road bike and have ridden off road for decades.
 
Do you need license plate to ride there?

Yes, all of BBRSP are "roads" and a plated bike is required.

I have ventured through the Cinega Mt area and it is well worth the ride out there. We used the park map and a GPS with topo maps loaded and managed to navigate it with a only a few issues. The park staff is very helpful so ask them if your in the HQ's. There are a few places we had to hunt for the trail. Dependent on your starting point fuel can be an issue. If you set off form the park HQ's your looking at over 100 miles. Let me see if I can dig up any maps I have.
 
Like medicjeff said the trails are less traveled and not marked as well. Also the terrain is less demanding and the scenery far less interesting than the rest of the park. It is also a fairly long ride on the main dirt road to get there from park cental (Saucedo Ranger Station).

If you are riding only 3 days I would skip it. If you're riding 4-5 days then probably worth a visit.

_
 
Thanks guys. That gives me a better idea. I can count on at least 160 miles from my fuel tank on a worst case scenario, so it appears I'll have plenty of fuel back and forth from my camp for this ride. And I have extra fuel at camp to cover the other days of riding there. I plan to spend 3 or 4 full days. I've poked around the main park a fair amount, but it was always rushed. I'm gonna soak it in this time. Thanks for the info.
 
If you have seen the rest of the park, its not bad riding, but is the least spectacular area as far as scenery goes. We missed about maybe 1/4 of that area due to either not wanting to take the time to follow short dead ends, being unable to find them or simply making the largest loop instead of covering some of the same ground twice. The northeastern side of the Casa Piedra loop seemed the most fun from memory. There are camp sites in this area from what I remember and that would lessen your ride time and distance considerably from the interior of the park. All said it was about a 90 plus mile round trip from Sauceda for what we rode.

Here is a short clip from a little vantage point we ran across in the area:
watch


If you check in at the Presidio station on 170, you could probably forgo even making the drive into the Sauceda station if you don't want to. Check that though cause I am not 100% sure on that.
 
If you have seen the rest of the park, its not bad riding, but is the least spectacular area as far as scenery goes. We missed about maybe 1/4 of that area due to either not wanting to take the time to follow short dead ends, being unable to find them or simply making the largest loop instead of covering some of the same ground twice. The northeastern side of the Casa Piedra loop seemed the most fun from memory. There are camp sites in this area from what I remember and that would lessen your ride time and distance considerably from the interior of the park. All said it was about a 90 plus mile round trip from Sauceda for what we rode.

Here is a short clip from a little vantage point we ran across in the area:
watch


If you check in at the Presidio station on 170, you could probably forgo even making the drive into the Sauceda station if you don't want to. Check that though cause I am not 100% sure on that.
Yep, I've obtained my entrance and camping permit in the past at either the Barton Warnock center at Lajitas or the Ft. Leaton center near Presidio. Yeah, my search of this area on the Google satellite maps doesn't look as interesting as the main park. The Alamito creek area looks interesting as well as a couple of tracks that get to the lower part of the Cienega mountains. But overall there doesn't appear to be as much diversity. I'll take a day to check it out if everything else goes well.

Edit: Hey Hellwig...about where is that windmill in that northern section of the park?
 
Here is a short clip from a little vantage point we ran across in the area:

Your swimming pool looked empty. Sure hope you didn't take a dive off the high board. Actually I know you didn't or otherwise I would have been washing blood off my purty white bike. haha

TNC if you want the best (roughest) riding, using the park maps ride all the 4wd unmaintained roads first. Then time permitting do the others.



_
 
There were more than a few windmills out in the park, but I believe we were near Papalotos de la Sierra area (off of the Casa Piedra trailheads where you were asking about) if you look at the crappy pdf map available online, I can dig out the full size topo map and see if its marked better if you like. That particular windmill was emblazoned with "Chicago Aeromotor Corp" on the generator tail section. If you enhance the vid to 720p on youtube the detail is alot clearer as well.

I wish I was going back!

This one?

I am not sure if its the same one as it appears yours actually has the blade assembly on it and ours appeared to have lost its blade awhile back.
 
That one was at the Papalote Encino campsite. There were also a couple of these water troughs around.

IMG_7778800.jpg


HERE is a half decent topo map of the park.
 
Sounds about right, that is a much better map, Thanks! You reckon those rocks are in the end of that trough to allow critters a way out if they fall in? Or to keep the cows from climbing in- maybe both I guess.
 
They put the drill pipe railing up to keep the cows out.
Topes.gif


I think the rocks are there for ballast when empty. We all have experienced the light desert breezes they get our there. :eek2:
 
Yeah, I see on my map that those two windmills are way far apart. I've been to the one at Encino. Thanks Hellwig for the clarification. I see on the map where your windmill is. As I understand it and from what I've seen, these are the only two windmills on the whole ranch...correct?:rofl:
 
It seems like I saw more than just 2 windmills but I was usually pretty busy keeping my eyes on those devious tire biting rocks and trying to avoid the concertina cactus when I wasnt daydreaming off looking at the scenery.
 
It seems like I saw more than just 2 windmills but I was usually pretty busy keeping my eyes on those devious tire biting rocks and trying to avoid the concertina cactus when I wasnt daydreaming off looking at the scenery.

LOL!...Yeah, one night I was camped by one out there that's still operational and had to turn it off because of the racket...not that the wind ever blows out there.:mrgreen:
 
:tab The scenery is not spectacular, but neither is it bad. I enjoyed the NW section of the park. I also really enjoyed the riding, especially the river bed section! It is not super technical, but its not super easy either. There were some spots that were quite rocky, as in cantaloupe sized and better scattered densely along the path. There was also some really fun silt beds. We only rode three days and I was glad we included the NW section for one of the days. I think my favorite part of the whole park has to be Fresno Canyon though! I love the deep river bed gravel.
 
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