CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
The stops in between: Mariscal Mine and Talley. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Mexico into United States - carry ID and check the toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 36 km this is River Road Big Bend, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The east side of Big Bend National Park drops into a green seam, and Rio Grande Village is the tiny settlement on the river where the Chihuahuan Desert finally gets a drink. Cottonwoods, reed beds and a campground sit in the floodplain, a store sells ice and groceries, and a few hundred metres away the Rio Grande slides past with Mexico on the far bank. The air smells of river mud and creosote, and in the evening there is a lot of birdsong. Southwest of here the Chisos Mountains hold the sunset, and to the east the Sierra del Carmen stands in the haze like a stage backdrop.
Read the complete Rio Grande Village write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rio Grande Village is where the day begins. Next is Mariscal Mine.
The Mariscal Mine is a ruin on the edge of nothing, which is exactly why it is worth the long dirt ride. In the southern part of Big Bend National Park the River Road runs west from the eastern side toward the Rio Grande, and in this corner of the desert you come across old adobe and stone buildings, rusted equipment, and the scarred slopes of Mariscal Mountain, where for decades people dug for mercury.
Read the complete Mariscal Mine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mariscal Mine comes up 26 km in. Next is Talley.
Talley is not much more than a name on a map, but the name tells you something about the rider's experience of Big Bend. It lies in the southern part of the national park, near the Rio Grande where the river carves its way through a deep limestone canyon, and the River Road passes through country that feels very far from anywhere. For a motorcyclist who has made it this far along the dirt, it is the sort of place that tells you what you have just ridden.
Read the complete Talley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
53 km in you reach Talley. Next is Castolon.
Castolon is an old army outpost that turned into a cotton-farming village and then into a quiet park service stop, with a few adobe buildings and a trading post clustered near the river. It sits in the southwestern part of Big Bend National Park, where the Rio Grande draws a long green line through the pale desert, and across the water lies Mexico, with only a rowing boat's width of difference. The place is small enough to see in ten minutes and interesting enough to spend an hour.
Read the complete Castolon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Castolon closes the day.
Rio Grande Village → Mariscal Mine is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mariscal Mine → Talley is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Talley → Castolon is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.