• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

B.U.T.T. Adventure - Nov 2009

Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
383
Reaction score
3
Location
Austin, TX
Here it is in all its glory, the Full Monty B.U.T.T. Report! Welcome to the first organized dual sport ride and report based in Texas' Big Bend Ranch STATE Park (BBRSP) since opening miles of dual track to motorcycles!

The Big Ultimate Terlingua Tour (B.U.T.T.) was a smashing good time thanks to riders from far away as Alaska, Canada, and Nebraska who ventured to explore Texas' state park dual track recently opened to motorcycles. We had a huge range of riders, from well seasoned Colorado pass endurance aces to brand new NOOBs who just got their first motorcycle. Everyone got along famously and pitched in to help get over some humps, pull rail spikes from tires, and patch up the carnage!

A big thanks due to Texas parks department for opening up its miles of dual track for exploration by dual sport. We appreciate the chance to explore some of Texas' finest scenery while enjoying our passion for motorcycles!

Special thanks to Teeds for all of the area info he gave us, and for working with BBRSP to lay the ground work. Teeds, we need to ride BBRSP sometime!

So clinch up those BUTT cheeks and get ready for one great ride!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsJ3G9lgQ6s

BUTT_V2.jpg

BBRSPFriSat020.jpg


About Big Bend Ranch State Park http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/big_bend_ranch/

PB250044.jpg


Park headquarters, about 45 mins in on gravel road.

PB250050.jpg


PB250051.jpg


Established in 1988, BBRSP has about 700 miles of old "ranch and mining" roads, with about 50 miles open to public use. However, a recent public use plan calls for eventual opening of about 153 miles of road, much of it unmaintained. Currently many miles are open, and more will come available in the future. Not all roads shown on maps are developed right now so ask at the park about access.

Here is a link to the latest newsletter pdf that has a large map on it:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_p4507_1437_11_09.pdf

4x4.jpg


The main road into the park is well graded gravel. Travel time into the park headquarters and bunk house is about an hour from 170.
Other roads include 2 WD, 4 WD, and 4WD unmaintained. A 600cc dual sport or smaller is best for 4WD unmaintained, a big 1200 GS or twin cannot get in and out of some of these roads and a big DS would be very hard to handle.

Here is an example of a map with some loops and a legend with the road types.


map.jpg


legend.jpg


http://www.ridedualsport.com/forum/

Tips for riding in BBRSP:
- Street legal dual sports with DOT approved tires. Ride only on designated roads.
- 600cc or smaller singles are best, twin cyl bikes will limit what you can ride safely.
- Quite pipes, other users include hikers and horses.
- Haul in gas, no fuel is available. A large tank is recommended but not needed.
- Expect to ride about 70 miles a day, maybe 20 on gravel road and the rest on more demanding roads. It will wear you out!
- Help is far away, and roads very remote. Ride with at least one buddy, and bring all needed spares/food/water.
- Full gear is needed, cactus, spines, snakes, rocks are ready to bust you up if your not careful and protected.
- Primitive camp or reserve a bunk in the bunk house, great breakfast, sack lunch, and dinners available.
- When you are done, thank the park rangers for the great time you had!


The bunk house! We had great meals for reasonable price, and the staff are very helpful. Morning coffee is excellent, and helps get you off to a great start.

PB250056.jpg


PB250057.jpg


The bunk house beds are comfy and warm, but bring some ear plugs cause the snorin is roarin! Dudes on one side, and ladies on other side of the bunk house.

PB250052.jpg


PB250053.jpg


PB250091.jpg


The bunk house offers western outfitted leather couches to kick back on and read a good book or just snooze after a hard day's ride. Recently they remodeled the bunk house, opening it up and putting in nice furniture and dining tables.

Bunk House Before:

100_0521.jpg


Bunk House After:

PB250054.jpg


PB260188.jpg


PB260191.jpg


Run up for a fine dinner cooked with lots of love! When they ring the dinner bell be ready for a stampede!

PB250055.jpg


Ahhhhh, the money shot.....er food shot, ya know.

PB250086.jpg


Superman digs in! The "Crazy Canadian" the life of the party! Hey where's that lampshade....oh he's got it on!

PB250099.jpg


PB250101.jpg


PB260170.jpg


It dont get better than this! Helps fight off the chill of a cold winter night.
PB260172.jpg


They even have wifi for those of you that cant bear to "unplug" for a while!


PB270324.jpg


A big crew of bikes and riders showed up from as far away as Alaska and Canada, as well as Kansas and Texas.

PB260215.jpg


http://www.ridedualsport.com/forum/

The attack of the red beanies begins! The spirt of 3 Muchachos TAT Ride lives on, as we get our flair goin!

PB260220.jpg


PB260221.jpg


PB260210.jpg


PB260211.jpg


PB260212.jpg


BBRSPFriSat014.jpg


BBRSPFriSat018.jpg


BBRSPFriSat022.jpg


So enough teasers are you ready to ride?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhULoJv66pY&feature=player_embedded

Riding Impressions of BBRSP


- Riding difficulty is about a 7 of 10, making it ideal for lots of riders. Much of the dual track is loose broken rock, but not huge baby-head size. This was a great mix of being challenging but not so hard and technical that its unridable. Lots of the dual track was flowing up and down hills, and down into river beds, or river crossings. The river beds and crossings added some sandy sections but they were not long. Here and there you encounter a small gully in the dual track that might require some help up, but overall the magical "mix" of difficulty was just right to keep it interesting and fun. HOWEVER: A big 1200 GS BMW or dual sport larger than a 600/650 single will have a lot of difficulty on the 4WD and unmaintained dual track. Overall, a small DS bike is the best bet, allowing you to sample all the terrain.

- The graded gravel roads let you pick up a bit of speed as you go from one end of the park to another, to hook up with the dual track. Most of the 2WD and 4WD dual track is well marked, but the unmaintained is a bit harder to spot. Not all the dual track is easy to find, at one point the unmaintained dual track dumped into a river bed. Our maps and GPS showed the dual track picking up at some point close by, but we could not find the entrance from the river bed. So, since you must only ride on designated dual track, we new that backtracking was the only way out.....adding a couple hours to our adventure!

- BBRSP throws in some loose rocky climbs, with the down hill right after it, making you pay attention and ride the bike with your weight back and a loose, but controlled grip on the bars. These climbs would vary in how long they are, but flowed with the scenery. You can see your buddies up a head cresting these little hills, really making you feel like your sharing this with everyone.


- The park can wear you out each day! We could ride for 4 hours in the morning, come back to the Bunk House and take a short break, then go out and ride a second round. Because the terrain has lots of variation, and cactus and nasty looking spiked plants, it keeps you on your toes. You will take a fair amount of breaks, so you dont cover a lot of miles, but they are all fun miles! We did not run out of trails in three days of riding, tho some of the loops are a bit small. With plans to open even more dual track, BBRSP should offer plenty of fresh riding.

- The most enjoyable part of BBRSP was how the most difficult unmaintained sections almost fade away from the terrain. Your riding on barely distinguishable dual track with plants growing up right in the middle. You get the true sense of exploration because your isolated, remote, and know that no one has traversed this trail in many, many, years. Its like someone sealed it away in a time machine just for you to ride and enjoy. One of these remote dual tracks fooled us.......we rode up a hill, expecting it to go down the other side....but no! You had to slam on the brakes because the dual track ends and a huge canyon jumps out at you! Only a small pad about 30X30 existed for the bikes. We really felt like we discovered a grand canyon in the back yard.

- The bunk house provides a great meeting place to shower, relax, work on bikes, enjoy a hot meal, and then a bon fire at night. You can even just chill alone in a rocking chair on the porch, and ponder the days adventure you had. Several times I needed to just sit down and really soak in what an incredible time we were having. The staff at the bunk house are very helpful and do a great job. You really feel like its your home. No one ever called me "Sir" before, and hey it feels good! Even primitive camping would be lots of fun if you dont mind roughing it a bit more. Some of the camp spots are very remote so you will really have a lot of peace and quite if you want it.


http://www.ridedualsport.com/forum/

So, on to more riding! Frostbit from Alaska rocks it on the big Tiger!

PB260224.jpg


PB260232.jpg


PB260238.jpg


PB260233.jpg


PB260227.jpg


PB260223.jpg


PB260228.jpg


PB260229.jpg


PB260225.jpg


Always keep your eyes out for these and watch where you put a foot down when takin a pee!

PB260237.jpg


Gid3.jpg

(Thx CGWT!)

PB260239.jpg


PB260240.jpg


PB260241.jpg


Of course you come for the incredible views and BBRSP has plenty to offer!

Gid1.jpg

(Thx CGWT!)

PB270242.jpg


PB280387.jpg


PB280389.jpg


PB280392.jpg


PB280394.jpg


And dont run into these! A whole pack of these mule deer were right in front of me and bounded up the hillside.

PB280395.jpg


Just up the road from BBRSP is Pinto Canyon Rd, with about 20 miles of dirt, and another 35 miles up to Marfa. A great little ride tho our first night meeting up in Marfa was down in the 30's! Electric vest was in order on the ride to Marfa. Its a great little side trip to check out Marfa.

PB240008.jpg


Landman650r rockin it on Pinto Canyon Road!

PB240014.jpg


PB240012.jpg


Marfa has some great old buildings and a funky feel to it, cause of all the artists that live there. On the way up to Marfa, Landman swore he saw some flying object going along side us.....fact or fiction, sounds like aliens!

PB240019.jpg


PB240023.jpg


PB240022.jpg


PB240028.jpg


Back at BBRSP its time to hit the dirt again! And by the way, have a nice day!

Gid2.jpg

(Thx CGWT!)

PB270277-1.jpg


PB250060.jpg


PB250062.jpg


PB250063.jpg


PB250072.jpg


PB250069.jpg


PB250075.jpg


PB250077.jpg


http://www.ridedualsport.com/forum/

At the top of Casa Piedra Rd. we try to find the entrance to Cienega Mountains dual tracks, which are on the map.....but guess what, later we find out the map is brand new and access is not yet developed, however these tracks should open shortly. In the mean time we wander into a dead end, and thinking a gate lies accross some rail road tracks....we head up them but the "Crazy Canadian" picks up a rail spike in the tire...ouch!

GidRRTrack.jpg


PB260140.jpg


Hey, who you lookin at? Why did the Canadian get the spike and not us "Texans"???

PB260142.jpg


Some of the B.U.T.T. crew ventured farther out to catch some local flavor of the area.
(Thanks for these pics CGWT!)


Gid4.jpg


Gid5.jpg


gid6.jpg


gid10.jpg



Time to ride again, more miles!

PB250114.jpg


PB250117.jpg


PB250119.jpg


PB250122.jpg


PB250131.jpg


PB250124.jpg


PB250128.jpg


PB250133.jpg


PB250134.jpg


PB260135.jpg


gid7.jpg

(Thx CGWT!)

gid8.jpg

(Thx CGWT!)

The three Musketeers!

gid9.jpg


Here is some dual track that you can hardly see, yes this is a road! It was easier once you started up but from the bottom you cant tell whats there!

TrlRdrHill.jpg


Back at the bunk house we settle in for some evening fun, and a big bon fire each night! A little Knob Creek helps too!

PB250087.jpg


PB250088.jpg


Every morning the embers of the night before simmered on, to be revived again at night!

PB270347.jpg


http://www.ridedualsport.com/forum/

More great pics from MetalBender!

Yeah, MetalBender!

BBRSPFriSat066.jpg


DSCN2135.jpg


DSCN2140.jpg


BBRSPFriSat073.jpg


Landman650r in his Nacho Libre getting ready to rumble!

Thanksgivingride002.jpg


Thanksgivingride005.jpg



What a sweet rig the "Crazy Canadian" has: stick shift, 50 mpg, and air conditioning! Can you tell he's not from Texas? He was on his way to ride in South America, but last minute his deal went south...so he hooked up with us on the B.U.T.T. ride and we all had a blast!


PB260166.jpg


Fookin Eh!

PB260236.jpg


PB270314.jpg


Everyday a little work on the bikes kept us going, and everyone helped out our noob IKraig who got his KLR the night before the ride in Marfa! We all admired his spirit, jumping in with both feet! Some carnage ensued, but everyone pitched in to keep him rolling!

BEFORE

DSCN1048JPG.jpg



AFTER!

PB260194.jpg


PB260196.jpg


PB260202.jpg


Ah, the great KLR special tool.....the lug wrench!

PB260203.jpg


PB270326.jpg


Back to the dirt for some more great riding!

PB260157.jpg


PB260165.jpg


PB260154.jpg


PB260163.jpg


PB260153.jpg


PB260152.jpg


PB260144.jpg


PB260162.jpg


PB260161.jpg


PB270311.jpg


Later in the day we do a long, rocky, uphill climb that goes over a hill....well it looks like a hill but really just a 30X30 foot top, with thousands of feet drop on the other side! With just a little space for the bikes we enjoy the spectacular canyon in front of us. A red tail hawk swoops by us, checkin out who is in his territory!

PB270269.jpg


PB270270.jpg


PB270264.jpg


PB270265.jpg


PB270273.jpg


Thanksgivingride028-1.jpg


Thanksgivingride033-1.jpg


A beautiful cool morning greets us, and a chance to catch the great light on the bikes!

PB270334.jpg


PB270327.jpg


PB270329.jpg


PB270332.jpg


PB270333.jpg


PB270358.jpg


An awesome little overlook easy to pass up!

PB250080.jpg


PB250083.jpg


http://www.ridedualsport.com/forum/

Time to but the last "T" in B.U.T.T. as we head out to ride the incredible 170 and grab a bite at Cosmic Cowgirl!

PB270359.jpg


PB270360.jpg


PB270362.jpg


PB270363.jpg


PB270365.jpg


PB270369.jpg


PB270370.jpg


PB270372.jpg


PB270374.jpg


PB270377.jpg


BBRSPFriSat097.jpg


BBRSPFriSat162.jpg


BBRSPFriSat112.jpg


BBRSPFriSat115.jpg


PB280378.jpg


PB280379.jpg


Mission Accomplished, the B.U.T.T. adventure on the pink wall of fame!

BBRSPFriSat139.jpg


PB280380.jpg


PB280384.jpg


Till next time!

PB260179.jpg
 
Last edited:
Very cool. That's my old Tiger! Hope it did Tracy well. Great pics.


Staton
 
Very cool. That's my old Tiger! Hope it did Tracy well. Great pics.


Staton

Hi, Tracy did great on that bike! He handled down some steep loose rocky downhills with a lot of skill! He also knew when to turn around when gullies and ditches got introduced to the Tiger. The Tiger really rails on the fire roads. They are heading up to New Mexico right now to continue their trip.
 
So the new area west of Casa Piedra is inaccessible at this time?
Glad you guys had fun:thumb:
How did you like Pinto Canyon Rd.? Any water in the arroyos?

(BTW, can't seem to load the entirety of your post on RDS)
 
So the new area west of Casa Piedra is inaccessible at this time?
Hi, no that area is not yet accessible. They have a new map which shows two parking entrances, and dual track, but its not opened up yet. We looked for the entrances but could not find them, got into a dead end at rail tracks. Later the rangers told us its on the map, but not yet developed and open.
Glad you guys had fun:thumb:
How did you like Pinto Canyon Rd.? Any water in the arroyos?
Yes, Pinto Canyon was great, very beautiful. The arroyos looked dry, but suprised to see foliage turning color. On the way back to Marfa (our 1st night destination) the ride was surreal as it darkened and got colder and colder. Landman650r swears he saw some flying object (large bird or owl) he could not identify!

(BTW, can't seem to load the entirety of your post on RDS)
Sorry, I hope the file sizes are not too big! Its picture heavy! Thanks for checking it out, let us know if you have continuing problem....

Thanks!
 
Welcome to the first organized dual sport ride and report based in Texas' Big Bend Ranch STATE Park (BBRSP)!

Close but no cigar! Sorry, but just had to call you on that. Link to our 8/18/2006 ride from Easy's in Pandale to Terlingua Ranch to BBRSP bunkhouse ( 2 nights) via BBNP & back to Easy's 1100 miles in 4 days.

Since then the LTR group has stayed there twice & passed by several times.

Great ride report docDR, they have made several upgrades to the bunkhouse.

.
 
Welcome to the first organized dual sport ride and report based in Texas' Big Bend Ranch STATE Park (BBRSP) since newly opening miles of dual track to motorcycles.

Like that better? ;-)
 
Mike's B.U.T.T. in Mexico!

Our intrepid traveler, Mike carries the B.U.T.T. banner to Mexico on his way to South America! Dude, was and honor and pleasure to meet you .....and btw thanks for the cold beers too! Sounds like your havin a rockin time hangin out with some hardcore baja racers down there. We are all thinking of you, ride save and have an adventure of a life time! Just think you could be up to your neck in snow in Canada, instead your riding and drinking beers on the beach!
Thanks for the most excellent pics.


download-1.jpg


download-3.jpg
 
Full Monty B.U.T.T. Report - Pic Heavy!

Here is the "full Monty" Big Ultimate Terlingua Tour (B.U.T.T.) report, enjoy! Hope some of you can make the trek to Big Bend Ranch State Park, and please thank the staff for the Tx Parks Dept making the decision to grant access to dual sports!
 
Back
Top