river road west

[jim2]

i'm always thinking about the next trip. the road guide to the backcountry dirt roads of big bend describes  the river road west as quite a bit rougher and slower than the r.r. east. i've driven the o.o road, juniper canyon,pine canyon, and the r.r. east to the talley road and talley to the mariscal canyon rim trail head. is the river road west worse than any of those? i drive a 4wd tacoma, and will have new tires before the trip.

[Al]

jim2, you should have no problem.  It is true that RR west is rougher than RR east.  There is a recent report of a long-wheel base 2-wheel drive pickup (Chevy crew cab and what looked like a 6.5' bed) doing both the length of RR and OOR.  He noted more about OOR than RR west which is probably due to the long wheel base of his vehicle and that rough hill on OOR south of Ernst, which I assume is the hill you are referring to, and the stream bed or two north of Telephone Canyon than a loss of traction issue.  There a stretch of silt on RR west which is reported as a potential problem which he made without a problem with all-terrain tires.

Al

[kevint]

I think the rough part of O.O. is well north of Ernst.   I think it was even north of Alto Relex but I wouldn't swear to that.

[Al]

I think the rough part of O.O. is well north of Ernst.   I think it was even north of Alto Relex but I wouldn't swear to that.

I agree and would swear to it.  Sounds like you need to go back.  

Al

[kevint]

Agreed.

[bcampbell]

I drove River Road from Glen Springs road to Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive this last Saturday.  It was pretty bumpy and there were a couple of real loose almost powder areas towards the west end.  I made it fine but it was kinda slow going due to the roughness.