A 5 Day Weave

[DFW Tom]

Have been wanting to make this trip for a year now. The desert in bloom before it gets hot combined with alpine like conditions in SE New Mexico after it had warmed up enough to be touring through the thinner air on two
wheels. The hope was to find 5-6 days I could be away, camp or hotel it as I wanted and take my time to enjoy what I could. The last item tends to be a challenge as the history of cramming as much as possible into each day of a trip is well established in my family by now. Places I wanted to see/spend time on this trip included Big Bend N.P., the River Road to Presidio, Ft. Stockton, scenic roads around the Davis Mountains, Guadalupe N.P., Cloudcroft area, and the Ruidoso area. No GPS, no smart phone. Would need to pickup a map of New Mexico after (and if) I got there.

Setting a schedule has never worked for me so there was no point in trying now. I am easily distracted by anything new, weird, or just out of place. Just set a destination, pack a camera and go is what was needed.

My steed is a '99 BMW R1100RT which I had been tweaking the fuel/throttle system on for the last few weeks trying to achive the best performance and fuel efficiency it's 5-speed gear box is able to deliver. Went so far as to twiddle with the, "OWNER IS NEVER TO ADJUST" throttle stop screws and Throttle Position Sensor following the "Zero=Zero" method detailed on-line. Bike seemed to be well situated on the pre-trip ride the weekend before I left.

Thought my camera would be up to the task too, but discovered about halfway through the second day that the pictures were not coming out - and that some of the pics I took on the first day were no good either. Therefore, the plan in finishing this trip report is to shamelessly rip pictures off the web for anything I found interesting after the morning of the second day.

Left DFW on the morning of Tuesday the 21st of April. Storms that morning (some with small hail) delayed my departure and had me watching the radar until 7:30 when a break showed along N.Loop 820 and going west on I-20.
Not a big fan of the freeways when on the bike, but it was the fastest way to get around the storms and on to my destination. It wasn't long before the nasty weather was past and I was wasting time to snap a picture of the odometer:

Not much later I pulled off again in, I think, Eastland. Being a sucker for any type of roadside art, (or just too easily distracted - you pick) I had to pose the bike next to this local tribute to Andy Warhol:

Guilt over indiscriminate stops earlier in the morning, and the likelihood of spending the rest of my first day there, had me by-passing the WW II museum and aircraft display in Midland that tshelfer had posted about on another thread. But not so much guilt that I wasn't compelled to pull off when I saw signs for Odessa's Meteor Crater a few miles later.

Glad I did as it was very interesting. Nice Visitor's Center and much easier to walk along the rim and down into it's shallow depression than the big one in Arizona is. Its like a scale model of the big one except more vegetation and the crater is now only a slight depression after millenia of filling in from blown dust and silt.

A picture from rim to rim - about 600' across. The platform on the right is on the current floor of the mostly filled in crater.

On the gravel pathway of the rim:

I almost ruined this happy couple's day before seeing them.

Horned Frogs, Texas Horned Lizards or horny toads? I thought their name came from the horns on their heads, but that looks like smiles to me.

More of the report to follow.......

 

[Bajaexplorer]

subscribed...

 

[Xdriver]

That's great you got out for a few days. Looking forward to the rest of this report.

 

[duchess]

me too! be safe, have fun!

 

[tshelfer]

In. And thank you for introducing us to Eastland's pop art statement. I've been through there a hundred times over the years and didn't realize they had anything but wind and a Dairy Queen.

 

[DFW Tom]

Baja, glad you are here. You are after all the inspiration for my writing this, first for me, trip report.

Sean and Duchess, thank you.

Tim, doubt there was much I saw on this trip that you and most others haven't seen, but I'll try to document all.

 

[kickstand~prophet]

Tom enjoying it so far keep up the good work. Most of us are stuck at work wishing we can be out there on the open road. We appreciate all the ride reports members do. Always nice to see the places and pictures.

 

[Bajaexplorer]

Baja, glad you are here. You are after all the inspiration for my writing this, first for me, trip report.

Well, I find that a little hard to believe, because i was going to follow the path your posting now, making it a point to go to the WWII museum.
Leaving this weekend or Monday.

I have a choice of two rides, either following your route as you post and then going on into N.M. and Az, or another ride of 10,500+ miles. (no comments allowed as off-topic)

 

[tshelfer]

Tim, doubt there was much I saw on this trip that you and most others haven't seen, but I'll try to document all.

Assume we've seen nothing. Worst case, you present a different perspective. That's a good thing.

 

[Bajaexplorer]

Assume we've seen nothing. Worst case, you present a different perspective. That's a good thing.

I need to follow that advice myself.

 

[DFW Tom]

Day 1 continued.....

The part of S.W. Texas here has some long, straight, tedious roads to get by before the good stuff.

Stopped at a roadside picnic area to eat a late lunch. Brought some left over quesadillas from home and took them out of the cooler in Odessa so they would thaw a bit, now wrapped in aluminum foil they fit nicely between the fairing and cylinder heads. Had always wanted to heat up some food on the boxer's cylinder heads, I mean they're just sticking out there begging to be used. The pictures of this were the first ones that didn't come out - but this passive heating method worked just fine.

While waiting for the food to heat up, snapped a picture of this cactus - a sign of the desert coming to life from the rains this time of year.

The long, straight road is starting to show promise of a change in topography as the del Norte Mountains lay ahead:

Ahh, hills, curves... it feels good and the RT is happy again:

South of Alpine on 118... don't know what it is about these mesa bluffs but they remind me of the Sphinx X3:

Was held up for 15 minutes by a train in Alpine so I stopped several times on the way to the park to take pictures and let the traffic space out ahead of me. The terrain grew taller as the road headed to Study Butte:

After turning a 8 hour ride into 11, there wasn't much hope that the entry to the parked would be manned. The sign there said to go to the main Visitor's Center at Panther Junction to pay the entry fee and find out what campsites were available. Rounding a curve on the main road the traveler is hit with this eye candy:

I really like this kind of thing when riding - the sudden appearance around a curve or a hill of landscape like this. A closer look shows the winding road across the desert flats leading to the Chiso Mountains and the, "Window" with parts of the Basin visible inside:

Panther Junction is located a few miles past the road to the Chiso Basin. Now after 7PM they were all closed up, but a sign out front said only the tent sights at Cottonwood and Grande Village were available. Having never visited the far west end of the park my choice was Cottonwood:

This is not one of my pictures, but it is the campground I stayed at.

As it is in many campgrounds, late arrivals are suppose fill out the info on envelopes that were available at the main bulletin board of each campground. The trees are great, but I decided not to set my tent up under any of the large horizontal branches of the trees on either side of my campsite. Good thing too because the next afternoon when I got back, a limb 10" in diameter had sheared off the trunk 8 feet off the other side of the gravel pad my tent was pitched at.

Had just enough time to get set up before darkness fell - and with no electrical service, and generators not allowed, it was dark! Good thing because the Lyrid meteor shower was going on that night. The peak of the shower was to happen the next night, but even with that, and a crescent
moon in the Western sky, I still saw a great shooting star streak right across the moon and a third of the night sky. A great way to end the first day.

Day 1 miles traveled - 650 miles.

 

[kickstand~prophet]

No food pictures?

 

[DFW Tom]

No food pictures?

K-P, I took them, but it just didn't come out.
Take my word though, lunch was good and warm.

 

[Bajaexplorer]

Future reference; take 163 south following Devils River to 90w, then stop at Seminole Canyon and take tour.

K-P and his food pictures.....

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Fantastic that you saw Horny Toads. And a pair mating at that.
A sure sign of their recovery.


.

 

[DFW Tom]

Fantastic that you saw Horny Toads. And a pair mating at that.
A sure sign of their recovery.

They blend in so well with their surroundings. It was only because the pair were out in the open on the path that I was able to notice them.

 

[Zephyr]

Tom, you're writing a great ride report to follow. I know it takes effort and time to do on the road. Thanks.

 

[DFW Tom]

Day 2 ....


Wednesday started out just as fine of a day as could be hoped for - clear, bright, even a little cool. Wish I had a better quality picture, but this is the view I had as soon as the tent flap was opened:

Hopefully you can make out the shear cliffs of the Mexican side of the formation making up the Santa Elena Canyon. This is the last picture from my camera that will be in this ride report. Any others will have a credit
given at the bottom of each picture. I figured not a big deal and just one less thing I'll have to mess with on this trip.

Lots I wanted to see today and the Visitor's Center at Castolon didn't open until 10:AM, so I had a couple of hours to explore nearby. First stop was the Santa Elena Canyon at the extreme western end of the Maxwell Scenic Drive:

One of those canyons that leave me scratching my head as to how (or why) a small river like the Rio Grande could have carved such a deep channel through solid rock. Mexico is on the left, the U.S. is on the right. At points inside the canyon they are spitting distance apart. In this shot of the river emerging from the canyon, notice the person at the lower right for a sense of scale:

After leaving the canyon I took the nearby Old Maverick Rd and Terlinqua Abajo two track several miles up towards the West Entrance Station. A well maintained gravel road that was easy for the RT to handle, it still loosened some fillings with its jarring surface. Not that much to see on it so didn't take long to turn back and decide to stick with the faster to get around on paved surfaces for the rest of my time in Big Bend.

At Castolon Visitor Center there are some abandoned machinery on display from the time when the land here was farmed and mined. It could not have been easy getting this steam engine down here even if there had been any roads to do it on:

The Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive has the best scenery of the whole park. There are too many things to pull off and look at to mention here, but a couple that are right on the road are Tuff Canyon with an easy rim trail and good access to the floor of the canyon:

- And the area of compressed volcanic ash layers in the cliffs the road goes through. I would think that even with what little rain Big Bend gets, these large deposit of ash would soon be washed away, but here they are:

Riding down from Panther Junction to the east end of the park, Mexico's impressive Sierra del Carmen range comes into view:

The pavement on the east side of the park ends at the Boquillas Canyon Trail that takes the hiker through an area of shear cliffs cleaved by the Rio Grande. Boquillas is a small village on the Mexican side of the river and an area of cross river commerce. The crossing here has an interesting history. Steel cables used for a 6 mile overhead ore conveyor system before the park was established are still visible littering the hillside on the other side of the road from the crossing's overlook.

It was near this crossing in the 1980's that the park service confiscated a large burro train loaded with poached candelilla plants on their way south of the river for the candelilla to be rendered down for it's wax. When my wife and I were here eight years ago there were places along the canyon's trail and at the overlook that had tourist items for sale with a sign saying how much and where to leave the money - but no one around that we could see.

Today the border crossing is open, immigration processing is done via a video linked kiosk, and the same tourist trinkets are still for sale, but with a guy standing there waiting to collect your money. The folks from Boquillas cross the river in the open:

(by Spencer Selvidge)

While the person in this picture is on horseback, tourist can either wade across, or for $5.US be taken across by boat. I watched a guy wade across then come up to the overlook and talk with the trinket seller. His jeans were only wet up to the knees and he hadn't bothered going through the Port of Entry. They must be some kind of understanding with U.S. Border Patrol to cross over like this. If you are thinking about crossing over to Boquillas, I would suggest bringing your passport and filling out the paperwork at the regulated Port of Entry.

Finished the second day by riding up to Chisos Basin for the evening Ranger's Program at the amphitheater. The higher elevation here gives a big contrast to the rest of the park. This is a picture looking down into the basin's area:

(by Sonora Dick)

It was a slow 40+ mile trip in the dark back to the campground as I didn't have any wish to get up close and personal with any wildlife wandering out on the road.

Day 2 miles - 317

 

[DFW Tom]

Tom, you're writing a great ride report to follow. I know it takes effort and time to do on the road. Thanks.

Thanks Zephyr, but I wish I could use being out on the road as a viable excuse for how slow this report is coming out.
Hopefully, the rest will follow faster than the first two days have.

 

[Bajaexplorer]

Thanks Zephyr, but I wish I could use being out on the road as a viable excuse for how slow this report is coming out.
Hopefully, the rest will follow faster than the first two days have.

A whole lot better than I will ever be able to write.

 

[DFW Tom]

Day 3 ....

Awoke Thursday morning to what sounded like rain hitting the tent. Stuck my hand out and sure enough it got wet. That's the closest thing I had to a weather app on this trip. Later on that day I was wishing I had more, but for now the light sprinkle didn't last long and everything was dry by the time I got around to packing it up.

As much as I liked it here in Big Bend National Park, today was to be a travel day. Loading the bike I was looking forward to riding the River Road up to Presidio, visiting Ft. Davis and taking a scenic ride around the Davis Mountains. Having spent a lot of time at the McDonald Observatory during a previous trip I would ride past that and if I didn't get too side tracked should make it up to the Guadalupe Mountains N.P. I'd either camp there or ride through the park and find a spot to camp in the Lincoln National Forest. The only real plan though was to enjoy whatever the day had to offer.

What can I say about FM 170 - Texas' River Road other than it is miles and miles of smiles. From Ghost Town ruins outside of Terlinqua, old movie sets, Big Bend State Park Visitor Center, to Ft. Leaton's well preserved adobe buildings there is much to waylay the traveler. It's prime features though are the sweeping curves and views of the rugged landscape:

Approaching Presidio rain clouds coming from the S.W. were evident. Pulled over just north of town and switched over from the half helmet I had been wearing to a full helmet and put on the rain gear. The hills U.S. 67 go over on the way to Marfa aren't very high, but with the light rain it was cool enough for me to switch on the grip warmers. Lucky it wasn't raining hard enough to hide Lincoln's face taking a nap off to the west of 67:

By Marfa it was steady rain in all directions and the Davis Mountains were not visible. After asking around, decided to skip Ft.Davis and the Davis Mountains on this trip and head west to get out of the weather. Thirty minutes west on U.S. 90 got me out of the rain, though looking to the right, the Davis Mountains were still rain shrouded.

By Van Horn and for the rest of the day it was severe sunshine. Texas' highest point and the Guadalupe Mountains are an impressive sight as they are approached from the desert floor:

Much to my chagrin, soon after arriving at the N.P.'s Visitor Center I found out there were no roads, only foot trails, in Guadalupe N.P. At only $8/night camping would be good here but it was a little early in the day yet to be pulling off the road. While I love the sight of mountains I lack the desire to take the time (or more likely - to make the effort) to hike up and around them.

After a couple of stops at Carlsbad, I checked into a hotel in Artesia.

Day 3 - 425 miles.

Friday it was a lot easier to get on the road. No tearing down camp and very little packing up. Just click in the panniers and tie down the dry bag. Weather report was for chance of snow in the mountains that night - not really something I wanted to camp in, but the weather forecast for that afternoon sounded like good riding weather.

Got fairly chilly as I rode up to Cloudcroft with a few spits of rain. A little past Hope the hillsides above US82 were starting to turn white. At Apache Canyon I stopped to layer up some more at a Forest Service Picnic area, and the ground was covered with an inch or so of the white stuff - but starting to melt. A couple of more miles up the road to Cloudcroft itself and snowplows were out on the road. Wow, I hadn't expected this and was glad I'd decided to come into town on the main road before trying out some of the other local roads that have been mentioned here in the forums.

Too much like Winter for my thin blood so after a short ride around the town, headed straight west towards the valley floor and saved the wider Cloudcroft area for a warmer time. Didn't have to go far before the sides of the road were clear and it was noticeably warmer. Just past the tunnel on the western slope a turnoff had a plaque saying the layered rock cliffs on the south side of this ravine (right side of photo) were frequented by Indians in late summer and early fall - which told me those Indians were smarted than I was about when to visit the area.

Spoke with a couple from Germany during breakfast at the hotel that morning who told me how much they enjoyed visiting White Sands National Monument. Having visited other sand dune areas during past travels hadn't really considered stopping there on this trip, but now figured why not. Found the whole thing very interesting. The 17 minute movie in the Visitor's Center is almost a must see to find out about these dunes (which are not made of sand) and their dynamics. Maybe not as interesting, but still worth the time (and the $3 they charge) is to drive out on the dunes. The road is kept free of any loose debris down to the hard pack and posses no problems for any motorcyclist to drive on. Now, if you were to try to drive on the dunes themselves, that would be a whole different thing.

While White Sands Nat. Monument was cool, what I really wanted to visit (and to let my geekiness run free at) was the White Sands Missile Proving Grounds down the road. No charge to visit, but they do run a background check and restrict vehicle entrance as well as visitor's movement inside of the base. Great displays are housed in two buildings (no photography allowed) and an outdoor missile park (take all the pictures you want):

If you have an ounce of interest in military ordnance, space development, or nuclear history the drive out here is well worth it. On the first Saturday of April and the first Saturday in October, the Trinity Ground Zero sight is open to the public. I'm already looking forward to an early October when I can come back to the area.

Having pretty much burned the whole day by this time, a visit to the Space History Museum in Alamogordo will have to wait for my next trip to the area. The extended forecast had called for possible storms on Sunday so in case I started heading home Saturday I wanted to get up to Riudoso to spend the night. It wasn't easy, but I just managed to keep going past this pistachio nut along the way:

Day 4 - 286 miles.

 

[DFW Tom]

A whole lot better than I will ever be able to write.

Thanks, but I doubt that.
Look forward to reading your trip report(s) in the near future.

 

[rpcraft]

Awesome pics. I love the desert plains. I did a short trip out to Cali last year to pick up a Hawk and although it was kind of rainy on the way back I could not resist the urge to take the Northern most route back to Texas and make a trip to Meteor Crater out in Arizona. I have been fascinated by big holes in the ground ever since I was a tyke!!

 

[tshelfer]

How have I missed that pistachio nut all these years????

 

[Xdriver]

Great report. I've beat the Hill Country and Arkansas to death, and now have an idea which direction I'll head next. Thanks.