Terlingua Dual Sport ride report

[Earthpilot]

Terlingua, is in West Texas just NW of Big Bend. Pretty much a ghost town with a few residing renegades that hosts the "World Championship" chili cook-off since the late 60's. Trail Riders of Houston has hosted this Dual Sport event the last 7 years officially,,unofficially it has been in exsistance since the late 60's ..The drive from Houston on Friday was a 600 mile drive in the rain,,the last 80 miles things cleared up. We were glad to see the rain had come thru Terlingua and left the dry desert ground moist and ready for riding!
About 130 riders started at 8am Saturday in Study Butte,about 3 mi from Terlingua.., with the first sections of trail on roads, and some dry creek washes. Lots of sand, gravel and rocks ( mostly the smaller loose stuff) on the trails. The course was well marked on day one, with the usual bewildered riders wondering which way to go at many trail crossings( this happens no matter HOW well the course is marked ya know!) The club provided gas at two stops during the day (THANKS!) and after some fantastic climbs, scenery, vistas ( many ruins etc.) we looped back into Lajitas ( a town with a beer drinking goat for a mayor) for a great BBQ lunch catered also. The trails headed back into the mountains and hills, with some fast jeep roads along the way. As far as unusual sights along the trail,, a lot of horned toads, the occasional abandoned vehicle ( and guessing what year it was and WHY it was there), some soaring eagle sightings, a guy from Florida riding with blue jeans and baseball shinguards DUCT TAPED to his legs,, along with two masochists that we saw riding the event on ROKONS! these guys had to be tough! First day ground mileage was a little over 100 miles.
Second day saw the ground drying with a little dust, and some tougher, rocky, long climbs to the tops of mesa's to the North. A fun shallow long creek crossing was a good spectator sight also.
Once again an awesome lunch was provided at the Terlingua lodge
along with three gas stops provided by the club. Trail mileage on day two was "off" at a few junctions which gave us some insteresting "lost in the desert" stories by the end of the day.
This included one member of our group who was circling for 4 hours, ran out of gas , found a KTM on the trail with a blown out
rear hub and spokes, gassed up from it and found his way back
an hour after we returned to camp. Day two ground miles were around 140. I rode a borrowed DR350 ( thanks!) and it was
flawless, along with the TTR's and XR's & WR in our group.
The weather was perfect ( low 70's) and I would highly recommend
this ride to any level rider. The only drawback is that,, it's a zillion miles from ANYWHERE.. 675 miles from Houston TX,, well worth
the drive,, thanks Burl Hughes for another fantastic event!

 

[WoodsRider]

Great report! Thanks for the memories. Sounds like Burl has mixed it up a bit. The years I rode we'd ride around Terlingua Ranch on day one then ride out to the old quicksilver mine on day two.

I remember on the '97 ride being out in the middle of nowhere by this old decrepit windmill when we passed this Mexican riding a burro. Then I almost became a hood ornament for an old mail truck with dingle-balls in the windshield. :eek:

Was the creek crossing that real long one with the bowling ball sized rocks?

 

[Earthpilot]

Terlingua
Yeah we rode to the West & SW the first day,,second day way out NE around the ranch area.. I saw some big round bowling ball boulders at the crossing but there weren't any in the direct crossing line..
The old windmills were cool looking, I saw one lone burro out there..no wetbacks though. I told Burl you said hi, he told me a little story about you and a friend crossing a washout! ( I think thats who he was talking about) He said to tell you to get back down there again,, he is doing this event 3 more years then retiring it from it unless someone takes it over.
Someone asked Burl,, why don't you ever smile? he said
I am smiling! ---- you know what I mean

 

[WoodsRider]

In '99, on day two, Burl's son crashed in a washout at the top of a blind hill. He was laying in the good part of the road when I crested the top. I had two choices, hit Burl's son or crash in the washout. I chose the washout which had a couple good sized boulders. I messed up the forks on a borrowed XR and gained a couple "battle" scars. I drank a lot of Shiner Bock's that night at the Tex-Mex place in Terlingua.

 

[JohnG]

The Gansert brothers '99 Colin/WoodsRider Crash

My brother Pat and I were riding with Gary Miller (2nd day after lunch) when we came to a huge washout with two bikes stuffed into it. Colin was sitting on the side of the road collecting his thoughts and now we know the other poor guy that ended up in that huge washout. Glad you made it through okay. It must have been exciting!