This was my 2nd Round the Bend, and JQ1.0's 3rd.
We got in Wednesday afternoon, and put 40 miles of just wandering around the Terlingua area. Made some tentative plans for Thursday with COPB8 and retired to the Chisos Mining Company Motel.
Thursday morning we met about 45 minutes early for breakfast (Chile Pepper Cafe doesn't open until 8!)
Decided we would head out on the adventure challenge loop which we had on GPS from prior years. COPB8 and two other riders joined for a group of 5 riders (sorry I'm terrible with names, JQ1.0 will probably remember them). KLR650, 2 DR650s, KTM 690, and KTM 450.
We took old Maverick to Santa Elena Canyon and COPB8 and I hiked up to the viewpoint. I have better pics but not on my phone.. Will try to post them later.
Continued on to ride River Road and Black Gap, and then went on into Rio Grande Village. River road was looser in places than I recalled from my previous trips, and I can see where it would cause some frustration for a less experienced rider. We lost one of our riders at the start of Black Gap (Joe??- I think he just decided to run some other roads- he let COPB8 know he was splitting off). We made good time without pushing too hard, and it was a great ride.
One other rider (Mike?) decided he'd rather head back than mess with Old Ore and the ranch roads in 100 degree heat. JQ1.0, COPB8, and I decided to go to the Chisos Basin and hike the Window Trail (COPB8 in motorcycle boots JQ1.0 and I in regular boots).
Window Trail is a 5 mile (I'll let COPB8 validate the actual mileage) hike with about 1000ft elevation change. Unfortunately it is all downhill on the way down, so the return hike is a killer. There were lots of rest stops on the climb out.....
The paved road to/from the Basin is a really nice ride by itself- lots of elevation and turns. Not a racing road, just fun. On the way out, we killed our engines and coasted for a few miles - have never done that for any period of time before, and I thought it was really neat. There is a rumor that one of us may have ridden a lot of it with no hands as well...
Friday is a bit more story, will make separate post (hint: need to figure out how to link gory pics so they dont show automatically.)