Big Bend National Park - Old Maverick Road

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This is the easiest off-road road in Big Bend. You don't need anything special including driving skills (you could do this in your girlfriend's Prius if you wanted to). There is a little bit of washboarding, nothing bad. The trail starts at the west entrance to the park and ends just above Santa Elena Canyon. You really, really want to go hike that canyon and Old Maverick Road is the most fun way to get there.
I shot this with a GoPro Hero2 camera mounted on the driver's side of a 2012 Rubicon. The camera mounts are affixed permanently to the forward-most edge of the roof and the leading edge of the front bumper next to the winch. The GoPro just clips in and out of the mounts. The GoPro was set to 1080p 30fps wide. Shooting really wide helps to mitigate the effects of rolling shutter on rough road surfaces. The GoPro doesn't shoot stabilized video so I did the image stabilization in AfterEffects. You can see some stabilization artifacts, but I don't think they hurt the viewing experience too much. The shots from the bumper suffer a lot more from rough roads so I mostly use shots from the roof.
You can see my photographs from the trip at photography.ric...

Опубликовано:

14 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 22

@Pianolisapark315 2 года назад

Fantastic park, so nice, amazing driving. Have a wonderful weekend to you.

@texasgirl9405 3 года назад

I saw some small cars at the parking lot at video's end. I wonder if my Kia Soul would make it on a good weather day. What do you all think?

@xBIGALSKIx 5 лет назад

My wife and I drove this road over the weekend and we really enjoyed it. We have a Ford Edge Sport AWD SUV and we didn't have any problems. The park ranger didn't recommend taking the road because they had some rain recently but we thought we'd try anyway knowing if we ran into any really bad spots, we would have turned around. They also said it's a $500 tow if you get stuck since the driver comes from Alpine. There are some great photo opportunities and interesting stops along the road which were unexpectedly very cool. I did see a few cars trying to drive it but not sure if they had any issues since they were going in the other direction. I recommend people take it if possible and just be careful.

@warrior3738 3 года назад

good video but the music is a no go

@texasgirl9405 3 года назад

Same here... Good video, but the music didn't go with the scenery in my opinion. I had to turn my volume off.

@swcargill 7 лет назад

Thanks for sharing this video. I couldn't tell from google maps how "off road" this road was.

@HUhurdler 5 лет назад

Thanks for the helpful vid!

@7150285 10 лет назад

I'm going to big bend national park. Have a crossover AWD SUV w/ 10 inches of clearance. Do u think the off road trails in big bend is easy enough for my vehicle?? I don't wanna go and end up stranded...

@RichardOndrovic 10 лет назад

You will have no problems on Old Maverick Road, Dagger Flat Auto Trail, the first 3/4 of Grapevine Hills Rd, and the first 1/2 of Paint Gap. My favorite in the park is Old Ore Road but there are some sections that I'm afraid would kill your car. River Road is easy but there can be deep sand in places (you do not want to get stuck in deep sand).

@7150285 10 лет назад

Richard Ondrovic I think I should consultant with the park ranger or at the visitor center there. They might have recommendations and a map showing off road trails from easy to hardcore level. Is there cell signals on these 4x4 trails? Also if people do happen to get stranded will the park ranger go and help out??

@RichardOndrovic 10 лет назад

7150285 Cell coverage is minimal to non-existent. The map you will be given at the gate is excellent and shows all of the paved roads as well as 4x4 trails. There aren't trail ratings on the map, but it does differentiate the trails into 4x4/high clearance mandatory vs trails that lesser capable vehicles can navigate. Please note that if you want to do serious off roading that you should have off road capable tires, not regular "street" tires. If you get seriously stuck, eventually a ranger will find you and give you a ride to safety, but you're on your own as far as recovering your vehicle. getting hauled out by a wrecker will be a very expensive proposition. Know your limits and those of your vehicle.

@RichardOndrovic 10 лет назад

Richard Ondrovic Here is a link to the map -> www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/upload/BIBE_map1_2007.pdf

@7150285 10 лет назад

Richard Ondrovic did you do Black Gap Road as well? I saw there's some scary section of cliffs on that road from other people's vids. River Road West doesn't seem that bad for AWD crossovers but I should be aware of deep sand sections. I probably won't go to any hardcore 4x4 route if I can't find rental lifted Wrangler Rubicons nearby Big Bend. btw, how can u disable the sway bar in a Rubicon? By pushing a button from the inside or physical disconnecting/removing the sway bar from the outside underneath the drive axle?

@taunp8349 9 лет назад

Thanks for sharing

@RichardOndrovic 11 лет назад

Thanks Paul!

@stevelockwood7298 9 лет назад

In 2002 I did this in a rental. In 2009 tried it in a Buick Lesabre and went a few miles from the south end and turned around and gave up. 12 miles instead of 38 makes it appealing. I wish they'd pave it.