THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Folks,

The plan for the trip to the Big Bend region of West Texas is coming together. It seems like the second weekend of June suits the folks who have expressed interested in participating. We have developed several routes within the Big Bend National Park and have also come up with some route options within the Big Bend Ranch State Park and also the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area.

We don't plan to knock out all of this terrain in this outing but we do have a number of options to consider. Big Bend National Park is located in far Southwest Texas. As I have posted previously, it's what most folks (east of the Missisippi) expect Texas to look like. For those of you out west, it's typical desert terrain. It will probably be a little on the tame side with not too much that would be considered crazy challenging or serious rock crawling stuff but it's a really spectacular region of the country....and it's going to be warm.

A local outfitting whom I'm friendly with has shared / suggested routes for us to consider.

Here is the plan (generally):

Arrival June 11th (Thursday)
Offroading 12th & 13th (Friday and Saturday)
Return travel 14th (Sunday)

I was going to reserve a block of rooms at one of several motels in Study Butte and I am still happy to do that of I can just steer folks to some of these so you can make your own plans. If you have family members joining you who would prefer to go hiking, mountain biking or rafting on the Rio Grand, we can make arangements to do those sorts of things.

Please PM me if you're interested and if you have additional questions about this event.

Thanks!

Alright, help me out a little bit here Dave. Could you post some maps of the trails you are talking about? I know there is a map of BBNP on their website and you can pull up the trails. I can dig up a link if you need it.

I'm in a quandry, because I really really want to go to the Rocky Mountain Pinzgauer Treffen in Colorado, sometime in July. It's their 10th anniversary and I know in July my old bod will be really wanting some of those high altitude temps. So, I need to save my dinero, because I don't think the wife will be wanting to do the tent thing in Colorado. She won't do it here in Texas. Anyway, that will be at least a 7 day trip if not more for me.

I live close enough to the Big Bend National Park that I can probably even drive the Pinz there if not trailer it for a day of trail riding. But, I know I would like to know what trails are up for consideration. I'm not really up for a one way trail that we have to turn around at the end and come out the same way. I mention that only because that is mostly what I have seen in the Big Bend STATE Park map on their web site.

Are you planning on pre-running any of the trails? Is this going to be a kids, wives, and pets type deal, I hope?

What will be Far Flung's input and impact on this? Being an old codger I can't make up my mind if I want to tag along on basically a guided trip where a business plans the stops ot tour.

So, por favor, when you get a chance post some details about what is planned.

Thanks,

Andy

Andy,

I put a BBNP map in the mail to you on Friday so you'll see the highlighted routes suggested by Far Flung.

The main agenda of this trip of the offroading but, if folks are interested, we can hook them up with river rafting trips with Far Flung, hiking in the BBNP or even mountain biking. If we wish, we can have a guide along to help identify items of interest along these routes that they suggested but that's certainly not a requirement.

I don't plan to pre-run any of these routes as logisitics are too complicated for me to orchestrate. As I've probably taked 40+ trips to the region, I'm comfortable that we will have local resources if we need them and to the extent that we require them.

I hope to have this more or less "figured out" before we get there but there will be an element of spontaneity to keep things flexible.

I plan to come up with our actual driving plans as we get a little bit closer and have more fully evaluated the two route options proposed in the BBNP, plus the Black Gap and within the BBRSP.

Where we do this shouldn't be a problem. Coming up with non-offroad items shouldn't be a problem and lining up accomodations should be an issue either. Same with food, we have oprions.

At this stage, we're looking for expressions of interest and getting a handle on what folks want to do if they don't plan to be in the family Pinz all day.

Thanks,

David

10-4, we'll see what the wife brings home from the post office Monday or Tuesday and I'll get up with ya after looking at the map.

Cheers,

Andy

As you and I both know, this is a spectacular venue for an off roading trip.

I want it to be a success and a repeatable event that folks in the Pinzgauer community can look forward to each year!

It is a great place to go, kinda off the beaten track, but still a great place. In my mind the key to repeatable event is going to be to find a place we can all get together (the camaraderie thing) and have enough of a variety of trails to make it worth the drive and time expended. Amenities are in rather short supply and the climate makes having fun in the afternoon an ordeal for some.

Our biggest problem is the size of this state and getting there. Another problem could end up being the continued negative news about the border issues and violence in Mexico and the perception it creates in people's minds. The economy isn't quite what is used to be either.

Keep pluggin'.

Andy

These guys "out west" (you know who you are) have places to go off roading that they can use every weekend year round, an hour out of town.

As Andy points out, Big Bend is off the beaten path and there's a lot of terrain that is unknown to us as this (getting a bunch of Pinzgauer owners together) is a new initiative.

Y'all need to check your calendars and see if you can make it out to join us for this event.

Andy wrote:It is a great place to go, kinda off the beaten track, but still a great place. In my mind the key to repeatable event is going to be to find a place we can all get together (the camaraderie thing) and have enough of a variety of trails to make it worth the drive and time expended. Amenities are in rather short supply and the climate makes having fun in the afternoon an ordeal for some.

Our biggest problem is the size of this state and getting there. Another problem could end up being the continued negative news about the border issues and violence in Mexico and the perception it creates in people's minds. The economy isn't quite what is used to be either.

Keep pluggin'.

Andy

Adventure tourism. Bring your own AR.

Todd...the "accidental" tourists out there aren't quite the same type you all get going to or coming from Yellowstone, to say the least.

When I worked in Presidio, most of the dope running was in that area and between Lajitas and Presidio or downriver from the Park. They have no real reason to go through the Park because there are just too many people around and only two road exits from the Park. Too many other places were the water is shallow and nobody is around.

Andy

I do think it's about time we guard our borders the way the East Germans did. Only instead of keeping people in under penalty of death, it's to keep people out.

Just a matter of time before the violence jumps the border in a big incident. Then we'll have to have the border secured NOW. I feel for those Border Patrol guys. WHEN it hits the fan, they'll be there in the thick of it. As always I hope the good guys come out on top and unscathed.

This is not the definitive list but it's a good resource for folks to gain more perspective on the terrain we'll be exploring during the June trip.

http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/p ... -roads.htm

Andy wrote:
Are you planning on pre-running any of the trails? Is this going to be a kids, wives, and pets type deal, I hope?

Andy:

Just so you know, I am taking my 4 kids, 14, 13, 9 and 6 with me...

No plans to pre run any of this as the location is too far off the beaten path (for me at least).

I know the region well, a group did this for the first time last year, we have maps and lots of local advice and perspective on suggested options.

Here's a map of Big Bend so ya'll can look at the proposed trails when Dave puts them up.

http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/u ... 1_2007.pdf

The dotted line ones are the non-paved roads and you can get an idea of miles by looking at the figures between the little black triangles.

Andy

Andy,

I've got another map i'm assembling which will show all of the routes in the park alsong with mileage and comments. Be looking for it folks.

David