On the agenda today was a visit to Big Bend National park followed by a run through the Big Bend Ranch State Park. Both highly rated motorcycle roads.
Starting out from Alpine it was a bit cool – temperatures in the high teens. Heading south on TX-118, we encountered some nice twisty sections weaving through beautiful scenery of the buttes and mountains sprinkled among the semi-arid desert.
Shortly after the TX-170 junction, we came to the park gate, paid our admission, and followed the park roads around to Sotol Vista Overlook. The road was great and the scenery was amazing, with vistas of the cliffs lining the Rio Grande river.
Continuing on from Sotol Vista, we hoped to view the Rio Grande running through the Santa Elena Canyon, however with recent flooding a week previously, the road was closed about 11 km out, as there was still water on the road. It would have been passable by our bikes, however we didn’t know if other sections were washed out further on.
Reversing course, we back tracked out of the park and turned west along TX-170 to Lajitas. The road was recently capped with fresh asphalt, but apparently not regraded as the road was surprisingly bumpy. The road rose and fell with several twisty sections.
After Lajitas we entered the Big Bend Ranch State Park for a glorious 77 km of motorcycle nirvana. The stretch of TX-170 has everything. Smooth pavement, twisty up and down roads, spectacular scenery ( each corner was like a post card), no traffic and no cops. Honestly, probably the best motorcycle road we’ve seen both Canada and the USA thus far.,
Arriving in Presidio we grabbed a quick snack at The Bean Café before taking US-67 north to Marfa. This was still a nice road but much tamer than those we had finished. Maintaining a steady speed meant decent ventilation in what was now low 30’s weather.
Heading east from Marta we returned to Alpine – another fine day of riding under blue skies and not a drop of rain along the way.