I woke up a bit early today, the sun was barely cresting the horizon, so coffee was quietly brewed with a red headlamp in the tent. Pretty cozy with your legs in a mummy bag sipping a good brew.
I strolled around the quiet camp and soaked in the sunrise a bit more.
I found a few others at camp were doing the same thing. Great minds think alike, and great minds also drink coffee.
Take a stroll with me around camp real quick. We have the 4×4 overlanding rigs, the sprinter van conversions as shown above of course. What else has this motley crew with nothing to do riding through the Big Bend brought with them?
I ate breakfast at the wonderful Chili Pepper Cafe with the troops, and delivered some to-go huevos rancheros to a mildly groggy Matt outside his rooftop tent.
Matt and I loaded up and ventured forth to the west entrance of Big Bend National Park. Some light off-roading, hiking Balanced Rock trail, and checking out the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive were all on the list.
There were a few others off-roading, but we were impressed to the hilt by a family of FOUR, yes FOUR people slowly rolling on a Yamaha TW-200. The passenger had a passenger on their lap who had a passenger on their lap. Like some kind of amazing Russian nesting doll.
And chill safety gurus, they were going 10mph, the TW200’s top speed…
We dismounted and did a quick clothing change from moto gear to hiking gear.
It was a great hike, short and sweet, with just enough up and down to get the heart rate going a bit. The views were hitting, and the warm breeze gave a reprieve from the sun.
Balanced rock is a large balanced rock.
Give me a second, I have to go find my brain cells again after that piece of literature.
It actually was a good photo spot at the end of the hike. It was fun to play around a bit and try to frame up some ideas.
Hike completed, we suited back up and headed towards the Ross Maxwell scenic drive. Sadly for you guys, sometimes I keep the camera tucked into the tank bag and live in the moment.
Well mostly, I did have to catch the clouds playing around.
We were going to hit Santa Elena canyon, and then take the gravel Maverick road back to the western park entrance, but I was starting to feel a little cooked from the last few days of riding. Matt and I agreed to race back to camp along separate paths, me taking the paved scenic drive, and him flying down Maverick gravel on the KLX300.
Spoiler, I beat him to camp by 20 minutes. Spoiler, he did 30 minutes of sight seeing…
This should be where I put the climax or finale of the story, but as I said, I was shifting into the living-in-the-moment part of my trip. The cameras went away, the speeds slowly ever so gently, and I just moved through the landscape of the desert.
At camp in the afternoon others returned with stories of sand, rock, road, and adventure. The group concluded the weekend at the Starlight theater, with a delicious outdoor bar section reserved for the dirty and dusty. St. Jude was there in spirit.
I’ll be back to ‘Around the Bend’ next year, but this story doesn’t end here, only this chapter. For the next morning I was going to pack up camp, load the bike, and continue west into New Mexico for another week of riding, surprises, and….so, so, so much sand.
Enjoy the gallery for full resolution:
