Big Bend, West Texas, USA

February, 2004

10 days / 250 miles

To start this ride, I drove from my home in Boulder and parked my car in Fort Davis, Texas. The ride south from there was not memorable, but the closer you get to Big Bend, the more interesting it gets, with steep jagged peaks that kinda make you wonder if you’re still on Planet Earth. I entered the park and made the big climb to Chisos Basin campground. I didn’t have time or supplies for any hiking in the park, unfortunately, but it was a nice place to hang out. Traveling west, there are some semi-interesting little towns like Terlingua and Lajitas – but the real joy was riding west along Route 170 to Presidio. I camped for a night along this road, spotting some javalinas and watching the Rio Grande flow by. My 2004 self highly recommends this stretch of road… hopefully it hasn’t changed much.

I’m not sure that Presidio is a place to linger in, so I didn’t, and wild camped somewhere north of town after fueling up. I stayed in a motel in Marfa for 2 nights in order to visit the Chinati museum. This was a bullet point item on my list for this trip given my interest in art… but given its uniqueness, I’d recommend it to anybody. It’s not the same as anything else, simply put.

After getting back to my car, I drove north and visited Guadalupe National Park and did a hike there. I remember this being a nice spot, definitely worth a visit.