Most national parks frown upon mountain biking, making it illegal to bike on hiking trails and logging roads.
Not Big Bend.
This West Texas park, mammoth at 801,000 acres, offers endless biking opportunities. Many of these ghost roads once served mining towns that popped up in this Chihuahuan Desert landscape. Now they’re your best bet to navigate the park.
Old Ore Road is a 26-mile downhill run from Dagger Flat to the Rio Grande. Laced with prickly-pear cacti, the road will have you heading straight for the ridge of Mexican mountains that line the horizon to the south. If you need to get out of the desert sun, take a shady 1.7-mile round-trip hike into Santa Elena Canyon.
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Contact:
Big Bend National Park
P.O. Box 129
Big Bend National Park, TX 79834
www.nps.gov/bibe
