Pecos River Pilgrimage

[michaellmcc]

Despite the nomenclature sometime used by certain ambitious riders, I have a hard time calling a ride in Central and West Texas, including the towns that I grew up in, an “adventure”, which is defined as "an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, activity". That description might apply to the remote parts of Mexico...or Central America...or Central Asia...but not Texas. So this one's obviously going to be simply "dual sport", which is in keeping with the two-lane blacktop and gravel and rocky county and ranch roads it’ll include. However, if “off-road” riding in West Texas and return via the Hill Country is an adventure to some, by all means call it that.

We hate to pass on the Trail Boss-organized ride to the NMBDR, which we’ve already done about half of, but my friends and I are opting for this little four-day dual sport ride. And in this instance, "West Texas" does not mean Big Bend, rather the western edge of the Edwards Plateau, an area bounded on the northwest by Ozona, on the south by the Rio Grande, and on the east by Rocksprings. We plan to ride the uncharted Pecos and Devil's River areas south of Ozona and Sonora, with their rugged mesas, canyons, dry washes, rocky roads, storied “resorts” (meaning swimming holes), the Law West of the Pecos, high bridges, little-known (and short) Devil’s River, raucous border town of Del Rio, etc., before returning via the ever-fantastic Hill Country to Bandera.

We’re all on “ginormous GS’s”, which have taken some of us as far north as Alaska and the Arctic Ocean, as far south as the Panama Canal, as high as Colorado’s 13,000+ ft passes, and as low as Death Valley. These big bikes are meant to “go wherever you dare”, regardless of distance, obstacles, or weather. Granted, they can go down hard when you have a “get off”, and are not easy to pick up, but it happens. To everyone. Thankfully, no serious damage or injuries through many obstacles and a bunch of miles in a boatload of countries.

The ride looks something like this:

• Day 1: Austin to Ozona (no, not including I-10), stop for lunch, then south on Pandale Rd's pavement (in Crockett County) and dirt (in Val Verde County), to Langtry, followed by US 90 to Del Rio for two nights.
• Day 2: Devil's River dirt to the similarly-named State Natural Area, exploring north of Del Rio, across to Juno and Pandale.
• Day 3: Back into the Hill Country from Del Rio to Rocksprings to Bandera, via many of the best dual sport roads, bump gates, and water crossings in Texas (thanks to RR's and tracks by Trail Boss and other TARA riders).
• Day 4: Return to Austin.

Our rides share several common traits:

• No camping - this time
• No sharing motel rooms - except when there's no other choice, as in the Arctic
• SAG wagons, trucks, and trailers not welcome - practically always
• There’s “no crying in baseball”, and no whining in dual sport riding - most of the time
• There’s help close by if (when) you fall - if they feel like it

The perps for this trip, snapped on previous “adventures”:

Michelle crossing the creek approaching Mike's Sky Rancho in Baja California:

Minutes Meryl and yours truly in Tuktoyaktuk with the Arctic Ocean in the background (the two on the left):

So we're off Memorial Day, expecting rain in Central Texas, but not West Texas (it's freakin' WEST TEXAS, after all).

 

[humanrace]

 

[michaellmcc]

On Day One, two of us met at Bee Cave Rd and US 71, then headed to Llano where we rendezvoused with Michelle at Fuel, the little coffee shop just off the square. A quick shot of espresso, then the westward trek. The weather was overcast and cool, so fine for riding. We stopped in Mason for a couple of photo ops, then on to Menard for the same. No surprise, we didn't bother with any photos in Eldorado...

Mason's movie theater, or what we used to call "the show" growing up:

Mason's take on a mural:

Sitting atop the old bridge over the San Saba River in Menard:

Our lunch stop was the Hitchin' Post in Ozona - nice people, good food. A rancher we visited with was meeting a sotol distiller from the Austin area, who was supposedly interested in buying one of his little ranches...10,000 acres. From Ozona, we rode west a few miles before turning south on Pandale Rd, 2083, which is paved to the Crockett County line, then becomes the dirt/gravel Langtry Rd for the remaining 40 miles or so.

A rare sight in this part of Texas - the green Pecos River at Pandale Crossing:

The packed dirt and gravel road was rocky and rough in spots, but not difficult. However, due to spring rains, there were numerous mud holes in the low spots: Very. Slick. Mudholes. One of our party got into an argument with her bike over which end was going to lead, and a splashdown (safe splashdown, I might add) ensued. Otherwise, no big deal and we hit US 90 for a brief stop at Langtry, then on to Del Rio.

Judge Roy Bean's:

Old trading post sign:

We'll spend Day Two in the area north of Del Rio.

 

[bwdmax]

What happened next?

 

[michaellmcc]

Day 2-3

We looked around at the older parts of Del Rio, then took US 90 slightly east before turning north on 2523, which is good two-lane blacktop through rolling ranching country. 2523 ends at US 377, so we jogged back SW through Carta Valley, before turning north again on US 277. We turned west on Dolan Creek Rd, which leads to the Devils River State Natural Area (SNA). Unfortunately, the park is closed mid-week, so this great dual sport road was going to be a 20-mile (each way) dead end. Despite being SW Texas, the recent rains meant big mud puddles again. The mother of all mud puddles, at least 100 yards wide, appeared near the end of the gravel road. Rather than negotiate the mud, only to turn around in a couple of miles and do it again, we decided to turn around there and head back to 277, where we turned north for Sonora, for a great lunch at Pit Stop BBQ. It was then back down 277 to Juno Rd, SW to Juno, south across the lush Devils River area, and down to Comstock. Finally, back to Del Rio for the night. Good riding, great blacktop roads, good dual sport road to the SNA.

I doubt many protested Judge Roy Bean’s rules, which were there long before Covid19:

A couple of easily-recognized shapes: T-33 and GS in Del Rio:

After a little mudding:

Day 3 and we were headed back to the Hill Country; our ride included numerous gravel county roads from south of Rocksprings to Bandera. Great dual sport riding, lots of water crossings, but all too often we ended up at the bane of the Hill Country (actually the bane of Texas), locked gates. But that just meant we got to ride the roads twice.
At one of the locked gates, we shared turn-around space with Chet Garner of “The Daytripper” fame and his crew.

Other times, we ran into the inevitable bump gates; Meryl negotiated their opening pretty well, but had to have someone hold it open so he could disengage. No, we didn't consider leaving him there to get loose from the heavy gate on his own:

We stopped for lunch at the Bent Rim Grill outside of Leakey, which many of you know has a menu named after bikes. Their KTM “burger” sure seems to be aptly named:

Instead of staying in Bandera for the night, given that we arrived there around 4:00PM, our little group broke up and headed for home in Austin.

Great ride, fantastic (mild) weather, cafes that are trying hard to comply with Covid restrictions, be nice, and serve good food. Can’t beat the people, or the whole area in springtime.