I set out to ride around Big Bend National park doing mainly dirt roads with some pavement. I was hoping to complete the trip in 4 days and 3 nights, but ended up finishing a day early. This was partly do to removing a 5 mile section on Day 2 that would have put me on some unpleasant roads. I also pushed a little harder on the last day because it was getting very windy and the campsite I was shooting for was very exposed.
There is very little public land in Texas and this is one of the few places I know of to do a somewhat extended off road bikepacking trip. It's not lots of sweet single track. In fact there is no single track to ride in the park currently (although this will be the first NP to get some). The roads are loose, sandy, rocky and generally rugged. The scenery is amazing if you like the desert, but barren if you don't. I personally love Big Bend and that region and enjoy getting out there when I can.
I tried a section of this with a Bob trailer in 2006, but that was like pulling a boat anchor. My current set up was so much easier.
Here is a link to 3 videos I did:
http://www.vimeo.com/mattinaustinHere is my report...
Day 1: Dinosaur Fossil Exhibit to Rio Grande Village Campground, 37 miles
Stayed overnight in Terlingua which is about 30 miles from the park headquarters which is where I was planning to begin the ride at 8:00 am. Went for a hot breakfast and didn't make it to Panther Junction (park headquarters) until 8:45. Found out you can not park your vehicle there overnight. So I would have to find a spot on the side of the road somewhere. Also had to get the backcountry camping permit which took forever. Park personnel are friendly, but just a little off and take a long time to do the simplest tasks. By the time I left the headquarters it was almost 10 am so I decided to drive north about 8 miles and parked at the Dinosaur Fossil Exhibit. Nice spot on the side of the parking lot area.
Made my way north on pavement for about 4 miles then headed east on Dagger Flats dirt road which was uneventful. Just a little ways down I took a right onto Old Ore Road and headed south. This road is much more rugged and not maintained. There is nothing too technical, but lots of loose rock, shale, and gravel. Of all the dirt roads I did, this one was the most interesting from a mountain biking perspective.
About half way down Old Ore rd, I heard a rattle. Looked back at my rear rack (which is actually a front rack from Nashbar that mounts on canti studs) and the bolts that hold it on were missing! They had vibrated out. A friend told me to loctite them before I left, but I didn't get around to it. So I stopped to see if I could fix it. A few zip ties later and I thought it was rock solid…until I moved the bike and the rear wheel stayed fixed, skidding across the ground. The rack was securely wedged against the tire. Back to the drawing board. This time I thought out the repair a while longer and came up with a much better solution. Zip ties to hold the rack to the seat stays and industrial strength velcro to help support the rack from the seat post. Worked like a champ. I will now always carry heavy duty velcro with me.
Made my way south about a quarter mile from that repair and had a total blow out. A nice long slice in a slime tube…but no tire damage??? Hmmm. I think it was the tire liners I put in for some stupid reason. I knew better than to use them, but I was so concerned about thorns out there I thought it was worth the risk. Live and learn. Had a spare (non-Slime) tube and did the repair. Removed the liners from both tires. And there were absolutely no thorns that I could see in my tires, despite the prevalence of cactus and other thorny brush.
Saw a couple of trucks and 2 motorcycles today. The dirt roads are not all that travelled in the park, especially this time of year.
The rest of the ride on Old Ore was straight forward. There are a few short steep climbs and I was a bit wiped, but when I hit the pavement to make it to the campsite I was feeling pretty good. I was on the paved road for only a few miles. There is a nice little store at the Rio Grande Village campground that is well stocked (which is why I choose this improved campground for tonight vs. a back country one). I loaded up on food and then made camp. Got down to 23 at night, but was toasty warm in my Patagonia down hoodie and Marmot Hydrogen bag. Also in a Shires Tarp Tent for that extra bit of warmth…and condensation. I awoke to rain drops coming from the tent wall. Some interesting animal noises that night…not sure what it was, but it was loud.
Day 2: Rio Grande Village to Black Dike campsite, 48 milesFinally got rolling from camp around 9:00 am. I guess I am a slow starter. I did make hot tea and took my time warming up in the morning. I am a big fan of the beer can pot and esbit stove from Ultralight Outfitters. Crazy light and very effective.
RGV has plenty of water and food, but there is no water between there and the Castolon store except for the river. Access is not as easy as you would think to the river so even that can be a challenge. However, you could easily get by with3- 4 liters if you planned a stop to refill from the river. I decided to fill up the 6 liter MSR bladder and two water bottles in hopes of not needing to filter from the river. Lot of weight to lug around though.
I returned back on the pavement for a few miles then headed onto River Road East. This road is less rocky than Old Ore, but more sand and gravel. Still nothing that I had to walk. The terrain and scenery are nice and there are only a few boring sections in that regard. The mountain biking is rarely smooth, but not technical by any means.
I had planned to head north on Glenn Springs road and then come back south on Black Gap road. However, at the beginning of the trip one of the park personnel said it was just a lot of loose gravel and not very enjoyable. Then I talked to a ranger who drove by and he had a different story. He said it wasn't loose gravel, but nothing but fist sized rocks on Black Gap. He thought it would be miserable on a mountain bike so I heeded his advice and just stayed on River Road. This shaved about 4 or 5 miles from the day. Which probably would have taken an hour on that terrain. So I was able to push on well past my planned campsite and headed for a spot down on the river. I actually had a thought that I could make it to Castolon, but the road got much hillier and the road conditions were worse. It was pretty slow going.
Camping on the river was a great choice as the views were spectacular and I was close to water. I actually went through about 4.5 liters by the time I made it to camp. I cooked with some and drank some more and had about a liter left when I left camp the next morning.
Javelina kept waking me up this night. Even though I was completely wiped out from the day of riding their particular noise is kind of disconcerting. It's not very loud, just odd. Like a big gulping sound. Plus I kept hoping they were not eating my food which I had up on a tree, but not very high since there aren't many high trees in that desert. It was warmer this night, but still had frozen condensation on everything.
Day 3: Black Dike to Dinosaur Fossil Exhibit (and the truck), 63 miles
Made tea and had some breakfast and was on the bike by 9:00 am. Continued out on River Road West which got a lot softer and hillier. It was pretty, but a slog. Fortunately it is not that long and I was on pavement within 10 or so miles. From there its just a few miles to the Castolon store and historic site via pavement. Got there about 11:30, ate the good stuff: cheetos, almond joy, dr. pepper, etc. Also modified my back country permit to camp at a spot further along the course since I was well ahead of schedule. That ended up taking a long time…again, friendly park personnel, but they must be controlled by aliens or something. Very slow. Plus it ended up being a waste of time. So I was off the bike for a good hour.
From the Castolon store I headed just a half a mile out to the Cottonwood improved campground where they have filtered water. I filled the MSR about half full and my two water bottles which would need to last the rest of the day and the next morning. Probably not quite enough which motivated me to push on to my truck this day instead of setting camp again.
There are about 6 or so miles of pavement until Old Maverick dirt road. This used to be pretty smooth I think and the first half was pretty fast going. Just some washboard which could usually be avoided. However, after that it turned into a hilly and torturous golf ball sized rock festival. It was the worst road so far and didn't really offer much in the way of satisfaction of accomplishment. Still some good scenery along the way though.
I hit the pavement at the north end of Old Maverick about 3:00 pm…it was about 21 miles to the park headquarters and another 8 or so to the truck. I figured that would be no problem to do in 2.5 hours. All pavement. Wrong. It was a very hilly road and into what was becoming a pretty stiff head wind. Ended up taking almost 3.5 hours. The last 8 were all down hill and cross wind so that was very nice.
The last day ended up being a slog for me. It was good in the end, but there were times I was getting fed up with the road, the wind and the hills. The sight of my truck was a beautiful thing.
General Observations:Total trip length was just under 150 miles.
Temperatures ranged from the low 20's to the mid 70's.
The Spot 2 worked great on the 2nd and 3rd day, had several people following back home. It did not work well the first day though. I think they use the Global Star sat network which is very flaky right now. They are scheduled to have some new satellites in orbit this year though. It did always have a green GPS light when it was needed.
Down jacket worked nicely to extend the temp range of my bag. Very glad I had it. However it is probably over kill for most trips in Texas.
Good to do lots of testing of new gear before a trip. I did a bunch of new gear with no testing due to some time crunches. It worked out, but was pretty risky.
Velcro ranks up there with zip ties for me now. The repair I did to my rack with it was bullet proof.
I always over estimate my food needs. Especially if I am on the bike all day long and wiped out at the end of the day. Probably when I need the calories most.
The Jandd handlebar bag was great. It was very roomy and provided very easy access. However, I had to mount the GPS way to the right to give room for it and the bike computer was half covered. I would use it again though. It did not hurt bike handling at all since the load was more on the stem and bar instead of over the bar.
Framebags rock! I have had a jandd one for years, but it was too small to be of much use. Making a custom one was the way to go. Seeing the examples from here inspired me to try it myself. It was tough to make, but well worth it.
Tire liners are a very bad idea. Will make the switch to tubeless soon I think. Then I will carry two spare tubes if there is no place to resupply on the trip.
Hopefully I get the attachments right...
