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Big Bend Shakedown / Breakdowns

texaspatrick

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I've spent a good amount of time in the Big Bend region over the last 10 years I've been in Texas. That said, I had never explored the back roads of Big Bend National Park, except a few jaunts a couple miles down Old Maverick and a couple other easy spots.

A couple buddies agreed to meet me in the park on Sunday the 14th and threw their bikes on a trailer and headed down from Arkansas while I spent Saturday doing some light riding down Maverick and Old Ore Roads.

The only established campsite they had available in the ENTIRE park was a ways down Old Ore, so I snatched it up and started the solo ride to my first sleeping spot of the trip. :rider:

Still working on editing photos from my DSLR, so my Iphone photos will have to do for the time being :shrug:

photo%203_2.jpg

Packed up for a weeks stay in Big Bend.

It was hot. SO **** hot. The kind of heat you expect in late May/early June out there. I waited as long as I could before getting on the road, but it was still in the low 80s when I took off.

photo%204_2.jpg

Beginning of Old Ore Road

It was hot, but pretty easy going. I stopped to take a couple photos when I heard the familiar hissing sound coming from the gas cap from a hot pressurized gas tank. I let the bike cool off and continued down the road, not worrying about it.

I had just about made it to my camping spot when I heard the hissing noise again, this time a little louder. I pulled the tank bag aside to let it breath and rode the last mile or two to camp.

That's when things got kind of interesting...

I stopped the bike, got off and the hissing wasn't going away. I had the bright idea to just crack the gas cap to let it vent before I started unpacking the bike.

You know those moments where you wish you had a gopro? Or, you know, those moments where you wish you could go back and do something different?

I cracked the gas cap and........ :eek2:WOOOOOOSH, out came just over a gallon of gas, bursting like old faithful almost 8 feet in the air.

photo%202_2.jpg

Ecoterrorism in Big Bend - The aftermath of the gas ...accident :doh:

After running for my life, expecting the bike to explode, I took that photo and figured I was stuck in the desert with a gallon of water and 11 Mountain Houses. I could survive for at least the night.

I rolled the bike away from all the plant life and started taking her apart, assuming I had a clogged vent line, a fouled up gas cap or something clogging the fuel tank, not letting vapor escape.

photo%203_1.jpg

Worse places to be taking your bike apart - Notice the vent line coming from the tank, where the seat goes

photo%204_1.jpg

More stripping down

Found that the Wolfman Rainer tank bag that I had bought/installed had rubbed the tank vent line in half with one of the tie down straps under the seat. Ditched the bag, cut a new vent line and started to button her back up.

photo%202_1.jpg

Juggling a beer and tools at the same time. This was a common result. So much so that I took a photo of it

photo%201_1.jpg

Find the dropped bolt

Got the bike buttoned back together and she fired right back up, a little low on fuel, but no more vapor issues (yet anyway :giveup: ).

Set up the tent and got ready to hit the sack. Watched the last bit of sun drop over the mountains, drinking a then warm Coors.

photo%201_3.jpg

Old Ore Road heading South

photo%202_3.jpg

:sun:

photo%201_2.jpg

Last look before hitting the road in the morning to join some friends in Terlingua to start the week.
 
Day 2:

After freezing my *** off in near 40degree weather overnight, I woke up before the sunrise and went to make sure the bike was working still. She fired right up while I took care of more pressing things, like making coffee.

Then she quit. Mother &*#@%#*!

IMG_0370.jpg

Out come the tools again

Vapor locked again. I had managed to get a rock stuck in the vent line somehow. Took 10 seconds to fix. ON THE ROAD LET'S GET THE F OUT OF HERE!

Loaded up the bike and started down the road and I had to stop after 50 or so yards.

One of the better sunrises I've seen. Had to turn off the bike and watch.

photo%201.jpg

One of those photos do no justice type of things....


I'll continue Day 2 when I get some more time tonight or tomorrow, if anyone is interested
 
But its a "dry heat" isn't it ? :mrgreen: Nice pics and yes we are interested in more . :clap:
 
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Nice report. Hope more is coming. And we live 5 miles north of the "Y" in Study Butte. That's where the gas station is. We have 47 acres for camping or at the moment we have 2 campers available for use. So if anybody is in a bind for space I'm sure we can accommodate you.
Robert
 
we live 5 miles north of the "Y" in Study Butte. That's where the gas station is. We have 47 acres for camping or at the moment we have 2 campers available
Very cool! I've been wanting some land out there for some time. Finally be in a spot to grab some up after this TWT trip to Mexico in April. Keep yall in mind for the next time I'm in the area!
 
Day 2 cont-

After watching the sunrise, I jumped back on the bike and sped back south towards the visitor center to see what I could find out about the bike. I was having some more problems with the vapor lock and had to double time it to meet my friends near Terlingua at noon on the other side of the park.

photo%205.jpg

Got to try out the new little GPS. Works like a charm, but I'm not completely sold on the idea. The software on this thing works just fine, but it is kind of a pain to transfer .gpx files on it. It can run on two AA batteries, which is pretty cool though.

photo%204_4.jpg

Sunrise from Old Ore Road

After reaching the west side of the park, I set up another work station to take apart the gas cap. No photos, as I was focused on not losing one of the thousands of little springs that exist inside of the stock cap. Managed to clean out a lot of built up gunk inside all the little crevices and mounted everything back up again after getting some new vent hoses delivered from my friends in Marathon. Success! Not a single vapor lock issue after installing everything again :zen:

We were staying down in Terlingua Abajo off of Old Maverick Road, nearly all the way to Santa Elena Canyon. It was a great little spot, complete with our own abandoned town, cold spring and little creek.

camp.jpg

Sunset from the top of the hill, overlooking camp and Terlingua Creek

After setting up camp, I headed back into Terlingua to meet the girlfriend for dinner at the Starlight and a few beers at the Boathouse for Valentines Day. :clap::rider::eat:

photo%205_1.jpg

:rider:

Day 3 would be our pavement/light gravel day to explore the rest of the park and do some easy sight seeing...
 
Bring it on! Have not been that way in over 10 years. My first trip out there was in June. Sheesh! I though South Louisiana was hot, till then. ;-)
 
Great ongoing ride report and pictures. Big Bend has some incredible scenery and temperature ranges during a 24 hour period. Thanks for bringing us along.
 
Boring 'ol Day 3

I woke up in a crummy little hotel room in Study Butte, half freezing to death with the AC running, in a comfy bed.

It was pretty hard to get up that morning after a semi stressful day of working on the bike and sleeping in the dirt the night before. But coffee was calling

3.jpg

Flattrack Coffee from Austin

Made the coffee on the porch and watched the sunrise come up over the hills

sr3.jpg



Hit the road shortly after to meet up with my friends for a bit of pavement touring in the park. They wanted a relaxing day of pavement after 14 hours in the car the previous day. :miffed: But whatever. A day on the bike is better than a day in the car.

We started off on the west side of the park at Maverick Junction and rode first to the Basin.

photo%203_5.jpg

Headed north from the basin

photo%201_6.jpg

DRZ400 on the left, DR650 on the right

The hunger for a little dirt got the best of us so we took a little trip to Grapevine Hills Road to check out Balancing Rock.

Really easy going, but we didnt end up doing the mile hike to see the rock. Someone forgot to bring hiking shoes. It's on the short list of hikes that I need to do in the park.

photo%201_5.jpg

At the start of Balanced Rock Trail

The three of us also rock climb, so we spent a few minutes looking over the boulders and found tons of climbing chalk on some of the better rocks spread through the valley.

Jumped back on the bikes and headed off to get lunch. I was pretty tired of taking photos of people riding on pavement, so I put the camera away after this last photo.

photo%202_6.jpg

On the way to lunch

We made camp really really really really early around 4pm to 90 degree heat. :giveup:

So we made some shade, grabbed a bunch of beer and waited for the sunset.

There is a lot of wildlife around Terlingua Abajo, including hundreds of these rabbits running around. Had to dodge javelina a couple times riding down to our camp too

photo%201_7.jpg

You could walk almost all the way up to them until they scurried around

Sunset was pretty epic tonight. We listened to coyotes howl in the distance as we searched for arrowheads in some flint piles nearby. Fine day in the park.

photo%202_7.jpg
 
Day 4 -

Finally, a day to get on some dirt!

photo%201_8.jpg

But first I had to wake everyone in camp up, banging my coffee pots together so I could get going to watch the sunrise on Santa Elena Canyon

photo%202_9.jpg

Can't imagine sitting on this porch every morning. What a view. Santa Elena Canyon in the background

photo%203_7.jpg

Cool little fossil someone placed just outside the ruins

After watching the sunrise, we got our stuff together and ran the length of the park to the north end of Old Ore Road.

photo%202.jpg

Beginning of Old Ore Road

Started off easy enough and didn't get much worse. Couldn't imagine putting a car through the torture of driving through some of the washes, but it was nothing on a dual sport bike with some knobbies.

The guys I was riding with like to ride fast and not stop on the more technical stuff, but I forced them to take some photos throughout the day. Pretty silly to carry all this gear and not use any of it!

4webmitch_old_ore_01.jpg

DRZ400 on Old Ore Road

We made quick work of Old Ore Road North to South, the first part being the most difficult. The second half of the road was pretty easy.

4webmitch_jamie_old_ore_02.jpg


We got about halfway through and had to stop for lunch and to get in some shade. If you're thinking about going, take water. Take more than you think you need. It was early February and it was in the 90s.

We ended up stopping at the rock of life. AKA the only place with shade on the road.

Turns out it was a popular spot. Found lots of trash, including beanie weenie cans, old maps and other crap. Preaching to the choir, but pack it out people!

photo%201_11.jpg

Rock of Life

My buddy found an arrowhead near this area during our hour or so break. Lots of neat minerals and some signs of ancient life in the area. Very cool

photo%202_11.jpg

Ugliest KLR in the park

We packed up and set out on the road again once it started to cool off a little bit. A decision was made to check out the hot springs and take a dip in the Rio to cool off.

4webmitch_road_02.jpg

Headed out of Old Ore

4webmitch_road_01.jpg

Headed out of Old Ore #2

No photos from the hot springs yet, it was too hot to move out there. The water was nice to me though. A decision was made to come out at night after the last day of riding :trust:

We went into Study Butte to the Cottonwood Grocery store. That place is awesome. It was like a mini Central Market. Organic, local, blah blah blah. It was awesome to get some veggies and a pint of ice cream :zen:

We headed back to camp to cook some dinner via Old Maverick Road. I let the guys go ahead as I snapped photos. They were too hungry to hang. Gotta eat more ice cream

photo%204_6.jpg

Old Maverick Road

photo%202_10.jpg

More bike photos. Only this time loaded up with a Yeti Cooler I borrowed. These things are .a.w.e.s.o.m.e. The portable cooler kept ice for 3 days.

Almost to camp and something caught my eye in the rear view.

photo%203_6.jpg

:eek2::rider::eek2:

Got back to camp just as the last light was about to creep over the edge of the mountains.

photo%202_8.jpg


Good day out in Big Bend :sun::sun::sun:

photo%201_10.jpg


Probably leaving a bunch of photos out, but I'll get to that later.
 
Day 4 -

Finally, a day to get on some dirt!

photo%201_8.jpg

But first I had to wake everyone in camp up, banging my coffee pots together so I could get going to watch the sunrise on Santa Elena Canyon

photo%202_9.jpg

Can't imagine sitting on this porch every morning. What a view. Santa Elena Canyon in the background

photo%203_7.jpg

Cool little fossil someone placed just outside the ruins

After watching the sunrise, we got our stuff together and ran the length of the park to the north end of Old Ore Road.

photo%202.jpg

Beginning of Old Ore Road

Started off easy enough and didn't get much worse. Couldn't imagine putting a car through the torture of driving through some of the washes, but it was nothing on a dual sport bike with some knobbies.

The guys I was riding with like to ride fast and not stop on the more technical stuff, but I forced them to take some photos throughout the day. Pretty silly to carry all this gear and not use any of it!

4webmitch_old_ore_01.jpg

DRZ400 on Old Ore Road

We made quick work of Old Ore Road North to South, the first part being the most difficult. The second half of the road was pretty easy.

4webmitch_jamie_old_ore_02.jpg


We got about halfway through and had to stop for lunch and to get in some shade. If you're thinking about going, take water. Take more than you think you need. It was early February and it was in the 90s.

We ended up stopping at the rock of life. AKA the only place with shade on the road.

Turns out it was a popular spot. Found lots of trash, including beanie weenie cans, old maps and other crap. Preaching to the choir, but pack it out people!

photo%201_11.jpg

Rock of Life

My buddy found an arrowhead near this area during our hour or so break. Lots of neat minerals and some signs of ancient life in the area. Very cool

photo%202_11.jpg

Ugliest KLR in the park

We packed up and set out on the road again once it started to cool off a little bit. A decision was made to check out the hot springs and take a dip in the Rio to cool off.

4webmitch_road_02.jpg

Headed out of Old Ore

4webmitch_road_01.jpg

Headed out of Old Ore #2

No photos from the hot springs yet, it was too hot to move out there. The water was nice to me though. A decision was made to come out at night after the last day of riding :trust:

We went into Study Butte to the Cottonwood Grocery store. That place is awesome. It was like a mini Central Market. Organic, local, blah blah blah. It was awesome to get some veggies and a pint of ice cream :zen:

We headed back to camp to cook some dinner via Old Maverick Road. I let the guys go ahead as I snapped photos. They were too hungry to hang. Gotta eat more ice cream

photo%204_6.jpg

Old Maverick Road

photo%202_10.jpg

More bike photos. Only this time loaded up with a Yeti Cooler I borrowed. These things are .a.w.e.s.o.m.e. The portable cooler kept ice for 3 days.

Almost to camp and something caught my eye in the rear view.

photo%203_6.jpg

:eek2::rider::eek2:

Got back to camp just as the last light was about to creep over the edge of the mountains.

photo%202_8.jpg


Good day out in Big Bend :sun::sun::sun:

photo%201_10.jpg


Probably leaving a bunch of photos out, but I'll get to that later.
:popcorn:
I've spent a good amount of time in the Big Bend region over the last 10 years I've been in Texas. That said, I had never explored the back roads of Big Bend National Park, except a few jaunts a couple miles down Old Maverick and a couple other easy spots.

A couple buddies agreed to meet me in the park on Sunday the 14th and threw their bikes on a trailer and headed down from Arkansas while I spent Saturday doing some light riding down Maverick and Old Ore Roads.

The only established campsite they had available in the ENTIRE park was a ways down Old Ore, so I snatched it up and started the solo ride to my first sleeping spot of the trip. :rider:

Still working on editing photos from my DSLR, so my Iphone photos will have to do for the time being :shrug:

photo%203_2.jpg

Packed up for a weeks stay in Big Bend.

It was hot. SO **** hot. The kind of heat you expect in late May/early June out there. I waited as long as I could before getting on the road, but it was still in the low 80s when I took off.

photo%204_2.jpg

Beginning of Old Ore Road

It was hot, but pretty easy going. I stopped to take a couple photos when I heard the familiar hissing sound coming from the gas cap from a hot pressurized gas tank. I let the bike cool off and continued down the road, not worrying about it.

I had just about made it to my camping spot when I heard the hissing noise again, this time a little louder. I pulled the tank bag aside to let it breath and rode the last mile or two to camp.

That's when things got kind of interesting...

I stopped the bike, got off and the hissing wasn't going away. I had the bright idea to just crack the gas cap to let it vent before I started unpacking the bike.

You know those moments where you wish you had a gopro? Or, you know, those moments where you wish you could go back and do something different?

I cracked the gas cap and........ :eek2:WOOOOOOSH, out came just over a gallon of gas, bursting like old faithful almost 8 feet in the air.

photo%202_2.jpg

Ecoterrorism in Big Bend - The aftermath of the gas ...accident :doh:

After running for my life, expecting the bike to explode, I took that photo and figured I was stuck in the desert with a gallon of water and 11 Mountain Houses. I could survive for at least the night.

I rolled the bike away from all the plant life and started taking her apart, assuming I had a clogged vent line, a fouled up gas cap or something clogging the fuel tank, not letting vapor escape.

photo%203_1.jpg

Worse places to be taking your bike apart - Notice the vent line coming from the tank, where the seat goes

photo%204_1.jpg

More stripping down

Found that the Wolfman Rainer tank bag that I had bought/installed had rubbed the tank vent line in half with one of the tie down straps under the seat. Ditched the bag, cut a new vent line and started to button her back up.

photo%202_1.jpg

Juggling a beer and tools at the same time. This was a common result. So much so that I took a photo of it

photo%201_1.jpg

Find the dropped bolt

Got the bike buttoned back together and she fired right back up, a little low on fuel, but no more vapor issues (yet anyway :giveup: ).

Set up the tent and got ready to hit the sack. Watched the last bit of sun drop over the mountains, drinking a then warm Coors.

photo%201_3.jpg

Old Ore Road heading South

photo%202_3.jpg

:sun:

photo%201_2.jpg

Last look before hitting the road in the morning to join some friends in Terlingua to start the week.

So's an oven... :lol2:


Sent from my QMV7B using Tapatalk
 
Day 5 -

Day 5 started off rather innocently....The plan was to go see Santa Elena Canyon again and hit River Road and possibly Black Gap, depending on how the conditions were.....

I got up before the sun and woke up everyone on on accident ;-), making coffee and being a general ******* trying to get my bike around for the sunrise. No one else was up, so I jumped on my bike and started to go when I heard a friend yell he would catch up.

5web2.jpg

Old Maverick Road

5webjamie_santa_elena_canyon.jpg


5webjamie_santa_elena_canyon_02.jpg


Since we were already at the canyon, we thought it would be nice to take the short hike inside.

Gotta love the Forma Adventure boots. I walked for several miles each day in those puppies. A little heavy for hiking, but perfectly comfortable enough to get the job done.

5web.jpg

Santa Elena Canyon, looking into the park. Mexico on the right side of the Rio Grande

5websecanyon.jpg

Well worth it to take the short hike to the very end. Would love to take a kayak trip through there one day

5websanta_elena_canyon_jamie.jpg

On the way out again. I took a photo of my friend on the left side for some scale

After making the hike out, we headed back to camp around 9:45am. It was getting pretty late to get a ride started, but we decided to take the brutal heat and hit River Road and maybe Black Gap. We had been hearing from several people that the road wasn't passable and that many areas were washed out.

We figured we would make the decision when it came time to.

With the road being pretty rough, I left my cameras at camp and brought along a disposable 35mm point and shoot camera to document what would happen throughout the day.

Little did I know, we wouldn't be stopping but once or twice. :rider::rider::rider:

Sand makes me nervous. After dumping the Vstrom trying to skate through some deep *** mother ******* **** sand that Richard led us through I was skeptical of the entire ride. We talked to people who said it was mostly sand and some who said it was all sand. None of which are true.

But the difference between being on a KLR with 606s compared to the Stroms semi slick tires was night and day.

We ended up cruising down River Road and made it to the Black Gap turnoff. A decision had to be made. It was pushing 90 degrees at this point.

photo%202_12.jpg


My buddy on the DRZ wanted to go, the other was indifferent. So that left me to be the one to make up our minds. Yep!

Black Gap was pretty fun. We ran it so hot that I didn't get any photos of the fun spots. With people piling up rocks on the 'gap' it was super easy to cruise down. I accidentally killed my bike going over it and rolled down the rocks with the clutch in. :lol2: KLR for the win again!

The hardest part of the road were all the creek crossings and one steep hill that tried to eat my entire back wheel.

Everything was going just fine. No wrecks, no dumped bikes, no flats....

We happened across a little puddle close to the north end of Black Gap Road and that's when things got interesting. DR650 cruised across :zen: DRZ400 cruised across :zen: but then...wham, his back tire spins and my buddy takes a spill. No harm, he is fine. But there is something leaking from his bike!

Busted radiator. It's leaking bad bad bad. We stop to take a look to see if he can get out to pavement or if we're going to have to tow his *** back. We've got some sealant and some other epoxy so we could make something happen, but he is interested in getting out of there ASAP.

He decided he would ride out as it was, just hauling *** to get back to the blacktop.

That's when my buddies DR650 died. As he was stopped in front of me, I noticed a large amount of gas pouring from somewhere on his bike. :rofl: Ain't life grand?

After looking the bike over, it's doing the exact same thing mine was on the first day. Vapor locking. His aftermarket tank vent was clogged and the bike was having a hard time staying alive when given gas.

A quick clip to the tank vent hose got us on the road again and got him sprayed with gas from his tank for the next 45 minutes. :rider:

Really wish I had more photos, but the camera is being developed right now.

With the help of a few pieces of bubblegum, we got the DRZ to the pavement and on down the road back to camp.

photo%201_12.jpg

More ecoterrorism in Big Bend

It had been a long, fun day in a pretty remote part of the park.

Back at camp we set up for an easy dinner and made some plans for Pinto Canyon in the morning.

5web_01.jpg
 
Awesome write up! Ive got a crew of 9 (yea I know waay to many) going out there on the 26th of March. You are kind of scaring me saying the temps were already in the 90s in Feb!! We are all also going to be on big *** adv bikes. Would you hesitate to take a KTM1190 or Tiger 800 down any of those roads? We are all on knobbies with a lot of trail riding exp.......
 
Would you hesitate to take a KTM1190 or Tiger 800 down any of those roads? We are all on knobbies with a lot of trail riding exp.......

I would give the answer to the 1st questions as a yes, however your 2nd sentence leads me to a no. Some sections may require additional care & attention but almost nothing in BBNP exceeds a Class 2 and the Class 3 sections are very short, small climbs etc.
 
Awesome write up! Ive got a crew of 9 (yea I know waay to many) going out there on the 26th of March. You are kind of scaring me saying the temps were already in the 90s in Feb!! We are all also going to be on big *** adv bikes. Would you hesitate to take a KTM1190 or Tiger 800 down any of those roads? We are all on knobbies with a lot of trail riding exp.......

It could be hot, but I've been there in early April and it was cold as ****! You know texas weather.... It'll probably be hot though :)

I wouldn't worry about the big bikes. Met a couple of guys saying they did river road on their Vstroms. Y'all might have to slow down a bit in the thick of some of the harder stuff. I imagine it would be more fun on smaller bikes, but the heavy *** KLR trudged through without any troubles.

That said, check with the park rangers to see about the road conditions. If it's rained at all, the roads supposedly get really bad.
 
Awesome write up! Ive got a crew of 9 (yea I know waay to many) going out there on the 26th of March. You are kind of scaring me saying the temps were already in the 90s in Feb!! We are all also going to be on big *** adv bikes. Would you hesitate to take a KTM1190 or Tiger 800 down any of those roads? We are all on knobbies with a lot of trail riding exp.......


The riders will be the limitation. If everyone is honest in your group and can ride the big bikes like dirt bikes, then no problems. I have many hundreds of miles in the NP on my 950. Nothing out there even slows us down really, but remember that help is far off.

At one of the Uncle rides a few years ago, a rider on a Husky dirt bike, worked pretty hard to make a pass on us while we were wicking it down River Road in the park. We crossed the pavement onto Old Ore and came up on him laid out with I believe a broken pelvis among other injuries. They airlifted him out finally.

Take your time and have fun. I personally love the big adventure bikes in the NP.
 
I would not mention on a social site that your friend found a arrowhead,you are in a National Park and regulations say NO gathering of any form of historic relics. Just saying...
 
I would not mention on a social site that your friend found a arrowhead,you are in a National Park and regulations say NO gathering of any form of historic relics. Just saying...

Nowhere did I say I took them out of the park, let alone moved them. We didn't dig, move rocks or any plant life. Take only pictures, leave only footprints...

I know the laws and respect them when it comes to artifacts, plants, etc etc.
 
I guess I should go put back the Mosasaurus bones I found when digging for relics with my camp shovel
 
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