Big Bend, Texas to Durango via Coahuila

Wanted to post this because when we were planning this trip, we found almost nothing online. In November-December 2025 we rode from Alpine, Texas, through Big Bend National Park, across the border into Mexico at Boquillas del Carmen (via a tiny rowboat pulled by a guy wading across the river), then through the state of Coahuila to Durango and the city of Durango.

Texas and Big Bend were beautiful. We had wanted to ride the road along the river (roughly following the bikepacking.com route) but it was closed due to flooding earlier in the season.

The border crossing went well. On the Mexican side, our route was roughly Boquillas – Múzquiz- avoiding Monclova via 34 – Cuatrociénegas – Torreón – Nuevo Graseros – Penon Blanco – Durango. We were mostly on paved road with little traffic until we got close to Monclova. Had to take a couple of unmaintained or barely maintained gravel roads, which we were a little underbiked for, but it wasn't a huge part of the overall kilometres so it didn't slow us down too much. We also got a ride from some friendly people in a pickup near Monclova for about 20km as there was no shoulder and traffic was doing 120km/h. Otherwise, the riding was great.

Highlights:

• Terlingua "ghost" town – actually a fair number of friendly people living there
• a day hike in Big Bend
• the almost empty highway south of the border and a beautiful mountain pass
• small towns in Mexico – Muzquiz, Cuatrociénagas, San Pedro – with great food, nice old buildings, and friendly locals who liked to chat with bike tourists
• the cienagas in Cuatrociénagas – pools of clear blue water in the middle of the desert

Overall, it was logistically easier than we expected – roads were decent and drivers were respectful. Water is the challenge. We had two ~200km stretches with nowhere to get water, which I am not used to from bike touring elsewhere. Food was surprisingly good, though. Pretty well every town, no matter how small, had a store with tortillas, beans, cheese, and fresh tomatoes and peppers.

We didn't feel unsafe from people – we saw police fairly frequently (in some places, theirs were the only vehicles we saw), and didn't notice any cartel activity. Obviously our experience may not have been typical, but it wasn't like what I've heard about bike touring in Chihuahua. All of the locals we encountered were very friendly. At times the biggest obstacle to getting the miles in was getting caught up talking to someone in town in the morning and not hitting the road until 10:30.