Ride or drive to Big Bend

About to take a trip there. It's 450 miles from me. Will be there for 5 days.
Option A is I ride there, have my buddy bring all my camping gear in his car, and leave the bike parked at the main office while we are camping.

Option b is save any of the above possible hassle and just drive there.

My bike is a Harley road glide so no off road capabilities. I'd simply be riding to ride.


Whatcha say?

Depending on what you have scheduled to do, you might want to ride. There is paved road through the park and the ride down to Presidio (sp?) is pretty cool through the hills. Also, you could swing through the Davis Mountains on the way there or back. It's a fun ride on a quality road. It would involve a lot of seat time.

Yeah, it'd be a nice ride. Between leaving the bike parked for 5 days and lack of cargo room, it's a hard decision.

Jyn said:

Yeah, it'd be a nice ride. Between leaving the bike parked for 5 days and lack of cargo room, it's a hard decision.

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You know...a lot of the backcountry backpacking camping hiking are closed until further notice...due to issue with yogi bears.

Don't know the detail...but something must have happened.

I just got back from there. Rode the bike there from Houston. Camped for 5 nights in the park and Davis Mtns. Carried all my gear on my Goldwing. Just think small and take just what you need and not everything you think you want. Had a great time. Chisos is the prettiest place to camp but you have to go to Rio Grande Village to take a shower but it was worth stinking a bit. I think if you drive you will wish you had the bike.

TwoSmokeDS said:

You know...a lot of the backcountry backpacking camping hiking are closed until further notice...due to issue with yogi bears.

Don't know the detail...but something must have happened.

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Two trails are closed in the Chisos, Lost Mine and Laguna Meadows. There are fifty or so other trails to choose from. Two mama bears with five cubs between them have decided the area around those trails is a good home.

Camping in the Basin requires no dirt riding at all. For a quieter place to camp Cottonwood Campground is only gravel and dirt from the road to your camp spot, a few hundred yards.

How adamant are you about no dirt at all? If it is zero then you cross off the porch and the Starlight Theater as their dirt lot is far rougher than the gravel at Cottonwood Camp.

The beauty of riding to Big Bend is to ride IN Big Bend. I've ridden the DFW to Big Bend route quite a few times, the Austin to Big Bend route once, and a Houston to Big Bend route once; and truth be told they were all pretty lousy. The best route was by far the Austin to Big Bend ride just because I went through hill country, but West TX is still West TX.

If you were going to be riding in Big Bend once you were down there, then by all means take the bike. If you are going to be parking your bike somewhere for 5 days while you are down there, then why even worry about the hassle of riding the thing while your buddy is in a different vehicle?

DFW_Warrior said:

The beauty of riding to Big Bend is to ride IN Big Bend. I've ridden the DFW to Big Bend route quite a few times, the Austin to Big Bend route once, and a Houston to Big Bend route once; and truth be told they were all pretty lousy. The best route was by far the Austin to Big Bend ride just because I went through hill country, but West TX is still West TX.

If you were going to be riding in Big Bend once you were down there, then by all means take the bike. If you are going to be parking your bike somewhere for 5 days while you are down there, then why even worry about the hassle of riding the thing while your buddy is in a different vehicle?

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I think this confirms my thoughts. I remember the drive into BB being nice, but it's just a long straight road. I rode the 3 sisters a few months ago and will go again next month.

If I had an adventure bike, for sure.

I've done both, car and bike. There's just no comparison to being on the bike.

Jyn said:

About to take a trip there. It's 450 miles from me. Will be there for 5 days.
Option A is I ride there, have my buddy bring all my camping gear in his car, and leave the bike parked at the main office while we are camping.

Option b is save any of the above possible hassle and just drive there.

My bike is a Harley road glide so no off road capabilities. I'd simply be riding to ride.


Whatcha say?

Click to expand...

Jyn said:

If I had an adventure bike, for sure.

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Since you asked.......

1). Trade in the Harley on an Adventure Bike.
2). Ride it Big Bend.
3). Ride it all over Big Bend.
4). ??????????
5). Profit

Ride. take old 90 west of san Antonio all the way to either marathon or alpine.
From the west side of Del rio just before lake Amistad get gas and the next gas stop is sanderson at right about 100 miles. Judge Roy beans place in Langtree is in between there.
you will love old 90

its worth the stretch, ride!

I'm sure there are other routes, but when we leave from the San Antonio area we meet in Junction and take what we call Juno road to make it fun. Going thru F'burg and taking all the really twisty roads down to Del Rio just makes it too long a day for me. So I usually skip that part since I can do it anytime I want and go I-10.

Rock Springs has a gas station that makes some of the best breakfast tacos you can find. We basically take the twisty roads south of I-10 starting at Sonora, Ozona or a milepost I don't remember if I want to stop at Fort Lancaster park for a cigar. Whatever cutoff we take, we go thru the dead town of Juno that's still on some maps, on the roads that follow the river.

End up at Comstock and then over to Pecos River Bridge for a stop if we're taking a really long relaxed day. We skip JRBean's, I remember when it was a little store that sold dead AA batteries and wormy candy bars.

From there on 90 its kind of boring til you get to BBNP or til you get past Alpine. I believe Sanderson is the last place to get 92octane gas. After Alpine on the way to Fort Davis the road gets twisty and is some of the prettiest in the area.

To someone who's never been there before it must seem like there's nothing to do. But the fact is I can think of dozens of great options, things to see and unique experiences. Its just all spread out and you've got to know what to look for I guess. There are dozens of threads on here but no consolidated list that I know of.

Regardless of how you go, when I took the car it was just a slog of a drive to get there. When I take the bike its always fun no matter how many times I've done it. I've even been to FDavis on the bike and never started the bike the entire weekend. It was still more fun that being in a car. Just my opinion.

train460 said:

Ride. take old 90 west of san Antonio all the way to either marathon or alpine.
From the west side of Del rio just before lake Amistad get gas and the next gas stop is sanderson at right about 100 miles. Judge Roy beans place in Langtree is in between there.
you will love old 90

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I would vote for trailer to BB, then ride. But then I have an aversion to high speeds and long days on vintage bikes. So I compromise and love bringing all the extra tent and camping stuff. But I am planning an overnight camping trip on the SL350.

Edit: Reread the top post, given just the two options in your scenario, I would take the Harley.

It comes down to whether this is a riding trip, or a hiking/camping trip. Since your buddy is in a car it looks to be leaning more towards the later. I agree wholeheartedly with what DFW_Warrior said. Getting here on a bike is fun in its own right, but riding the bike here is the real treat. If the focus of the trip is on the camping and hiking together leaving the bike at home makes more sense.

Im in Austin. I am thinking about do best of the two options.... Towing my motorcycle to Big Bend. Then drop off the truck and trailer at the campsite and use the bike to ride around. I am afraid that a 6 hour ride will kill my love for my motorcycle.... lol.

ed29 said:

Two trails are closed in the Chisos, Lost Mine and Laguna Meadows. There are fifty or so other trails to choose from. Two mama bears with five cubs between them have decided the area around those trails is a good home.

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My source (bigbendchat.com) says Juniper Canyon and Blue Creek also closed.
Backpack-style camping in the Chiso mountain is also not allowed.
Sounds like the only place in the Chisos to camp is with the RV people in the basin.

Somehow, I got the impression the Oriignal Poster wanted to do backpacking (not car/bike camping).

Pretty much all camping in the Chisos is closed except the Basin campground.
Most hiking trails in the chisos closed, except the South Rim and Emory.

From the horses' mouth...

Official Big Bend NP Facebook Statement:

TRAIL AND CAMPSITE CLOSURES: All Chisos Mountains backpacking sites are now closed, along with Juniper Canyon and Blue Creek camping zones. Lost Mine Trail remains closed. The Chisos Basin Campground remains open. Day-hiking the South Rim and Emory Peak Trails is still allowed at this time.
These closures are to reduce wildlife/human interaction. For ideas of where to camp and hike during these closures, ask at our visitor centers.
The Chisos Mountains is home to a healthy Mexican Black Bear population, and good rains have resulted in localities with abundant pine and oak nut production. Bears feed heavily during the fall in order to prepare for their winter denning period and these closures will help keep our bears healthy and wild. The closures will continue until further notice.

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If you enjoy hours in the saddle regardless of where you are riding (except in congested traffic), take the bike.
If you take the car, you will be thinking how great it would have been to be on the bike on those open stretches of roads with little other traffic.
If your buddy doesn't mind hauling your camping gear and you can get comfortable with parking your bike for 5 days at the HQ (should be perfectly safe, cover it if you can), take the bike. You won't regret it.
Also keep in mind you will want to stick to daylight hours for riding. Deer and stuff.

Have a great trip.

FYI - when we camped in the Rio Grande inside the park, they flooded the park and my tent during the night. They decided to irrigate the trees and told everyone at 4pm (while we were riding). I woke to a cold wet tent, wet sleeping bag.

Just a warning.

Might want to check out the trail closures. I heard bear sightings have caused them to close one or more. Window Cave usually goes first.

The closure affects one area of a very large park. I see that Laguna Meadows trail is no longer closed. There are hundreds of other back country campsites elsewhere in the park and dozens of other trails to hike. Choices abound in spite of the bear closure.

From the park service directly... "The Lost Mine Trail and all backcountry campsites in the Chisos Mountains are closed until further notice due to increased bear activity. Blue Creek and Juniper Canyon camping zones are also closed. All other trails remain open to public use."

I have to wonder if they closed the trails for our safety or the bears. The bears there are so small and emaciated.

But yeah, we'll do what backpacking we can and the rest we'll be car camping at sites inaccessible by my bike. Also probably hitting up the state park.

I rode, and camped 7 days out and back on my ST1300. Will do it again soon on the v-Strom. I used to backpack, so I had "small" everything.

A few days in Ft. Davis SP (cold beer at the bottom of the hill) riding the non-BBNP sights, a few days in the park, a day in Junction at Llano river SP, another at Inks lake on the way home.

We bought all food locally, save for some emergency food and snacks, which added an element of surprise to all of our meals. (which is how I discovered SPAM and Ramen is not too bad on a cool evening) We would find a cafe for lunch while out riding, and "provision" nightly for dinner and the next b-fast.

It was a challenge, but I never regretted the effort.