A really long road trip with bikes

I’ve been wanting to visit Big Bend National Park for several years now, and when I came across this route in Bikepacking.com it was the perfect excuse to plan a trip with my buddy Justin.

I slowly put together the pieces, finding a beautiful, almost -new 2015 Trek Stache on Craigslist for a reasonable price. With older 2X  SLX 10 speed gearing and heavy, reliable hydraulic discs, it wasn’t going to break any speed records but it was a perfect platform to get started on a rig. I fitted King Manything cages to the front Recon fork using King USB clamps, converted the Bontrager Duster wheels to tubeless with 6 OZ of sealant, two wraps of Muc-Off tape,and new Maxxis Ikon 2.4 tires, and then added an SQ Labs 612  Active saddle to replace the soft Bontrager offering. I bought a bunch of Revelate bags to complement the older Revelate Vischacha I had laying around from my credit card tour from Berkeley to San Diego a few years ago. Other than that, I used UL backpacking gear I already had. I ended up with 26 liters of storage which was a little tough with the water carrying requirements of 7-10 liters between reliable resupply and the cold weather  gear needed with a poor forecast. We also both brought UL chairs, which was a great move actually. There is no nice place to sit in the desert FYI. I’m thinking of adding a mini-pannier rack that can hold two more Manything cages depending on route choice to get more water or weight down low, and some different bars and grips than stock. Other than that the bike ran really well.

After a couple days visiting family in So Cal, and a sketchy night in a motel in Moreno Valley where I had to drag everything from my car into my room and chain locked the steering wheel, I arrived in Joshua Tree where I rode Geology Tour Road, a 4WD trail featuring some deep sand in places, but still a fun shakedown ride. I followed this with a hike from my campsite in Jumbo Rocks and then hunkered down in some cold desert winds for the night. 

The next day, I drove to Saguaro NP west of Tucson and enjoyed a fantastic hike at sunset with a bunch of pictographs high on the walls. I passed through the Tohono O’odham Nation lands twice in this trip, and it was fascinating to soak in some of their history and tradition.

I then had a big day on the road, driving from Tucson to Terlingua , TX and picking up Justin in El Paso. 

We got our backcountry permits from the ranger in Big Bend the next day, with some changes to the itinerary. With a cold snap coming in, we had hoped to start riding the route a day early, but the ranger suggested a route incorporating the one backcountry campground I was able to reserve in Telephone Canyon, then a big 70 KM day to Glenn Springs, next a night in Solis next to the Rio Grande, then ending back at our car in Rio Grande Village. Since R.G.V. and the boat ramp in Santa  Elena Canyon are the only two places you are allowed to leave a car inside the park, and I thought it might be nice to have my belongings still intact when we got back, we took a zero day in R.G.V. and started out the next day. 

Day One- RGV- Telephone Canyon

We started a little late and then I got the crashing for the trip out of the way by tipping over in the parking lot and we mostly rode uphill for a couple hours as we watched the terrain change from river floodplain to high desert . When they say the bear box is your only shade, they are correct. Amazingly quiet night with clear skies. Big Bend is one of the best places for dark skies in the contiguous 48 states, and it was showing off the first couple nights! We had some amazing star gazing each night!

Day Two- Telephone Canyon- Glenn Springs  

Big day with lots of wind, we traded pulls into the cross headwind for 15 miles or so before stopping for snacks and water at Panther Junction. Then we enjoyed a ripping ride downhill to Glenn Springs.  Sadly, unknown to us, we saw this truck pulling out in front of us on Old Ore Road. 

Day Three- Glenn Springs- Solis

This day featured the tough Black Gap jeep road and the Mariscal Mine. Justin was riding a steel Bruce Gordon Rock N Road with full panniers, Avid Shorty brakes, bar end shifters, and 47 Teravail tires. Nevertheless, he crushed the descent and we enjoyed a wander around the old Solis quicksilver mine. The weather also turned quite a bit with precip starting to fall. We were aware of the forecast for freezing rain but felt a bit better after chatting with two rangers on patrol, who told us the colder weather would be north of us towards I-10. 

Day Four- Solis- RGV

After a cold, wet night (especially for Justin, who found out his bivy sack was leaking) where we slept next to the bikes and Voile strapped them together (lots of trafficking going up the washes out of the Rio Grande around this campsite) we got back to the car at RGV, where we drank coffee and ate powdered mini-donuts with the heat on for a hour trying to warm up. The mud jamming up the brake bridge on Justins bike forced a few stops. It rained about a half inch and was 34 degrees with a 15 mph headwind at the end of the ride, a tough morning! 

We then headed up the hill to Chisos Basin, driving through snow and rime ice on the cactus, where we had a motel room for the evening and got in a hike on the Window trail.

Wrapping up our riding for a couple days due to the cold weather, we got in a solid 12 mile hike to the South Rim the next day. Unfortunately, there was still precip below us (we were at about 7300 feet elevation) and it was obscuring the views off of this 2000 foot escarpment.

We then traveled to Marfa, where we had amazing BLT sandwiches and holed up in a 2-star during a 4 degree evening, before driving to El Paso in the morning, where Justin flew home and I headed to Patagonia, Arizona. 

Originally, I was going to stay in New Mexico and ride in White Sands NP, but the mass of cold air over the South was pretty unpleasant to ride in, so I was excited to camp in a little warmer air and ride the Spirit World 30 course instead. I now see why this year’s race sold out in 15 minutes! Beautiful smooth gravel roads, basically zero traffic, and a very fun quirky town with restaurants, bakeries, and a great Tacos Y Burro spot. I would strongly recommend Patagonia as a cycling destination. If you go, I would also recommend camping at the new HipCamp that O stayed at which caters to bikepackers and AZT thru-hikers called TerraSol.  

I finished up my ride, grabbed a  chicken burro, and headed to Organ Pipe National Monument , where I caught the sunset on a beautiful hike and rode Ajo Mountain Drive the next morning , a 20 miler of one way gravel and paved climbs winding into the Ajo Range, where I saw one person in two hours. 

I then hit the road for the return home, making a stop in Joshua Tree again, this time on the southern end of the park, which features more water in several oases and a sweet post drive hike and scramble up Mastodon Peak, featuring views of the Salton Sea to the south.

My first bike packing trip is a wrap, all in all a great winter trip. 13 days sleeping outside, over 3000 miles on the car, 3 national parks, one national monument. I really enjoyed it. We were able to cover ground more efficiently than backpacking but slow enough to see things and stop to take pictures and enjoy the ride. Thanks to several of my fitting clients who are very experienced bikepackers, and had great advice for me. We are already planning another trip, likely something bigger. Suggestions welcome!

Originally posted on February 14, 2022