The Three Sisters

Went with my buddy David to ride the Three Sisters (RR335, RR336, and RR377) out south of Junction, TX. The first day we rode from Austin to Junction.

We rode west out of Austin on Hamilton Pool Road (RR 3238/FM 962). Nice road, beautiful day. Stopped by Packsaddle Mountain for some agua.

Packsaddle Mountain from Hwy 71

Through Llano and on into Mason – where we stopped at the Santos Taqueria for some hand made gorditas – mighty tasty.

Then we took HWY29 and RR2092 up through Menard. The roads out west of Mason are long and lonesome – I love it.

As you drive west in Texas the roads get more long and lonesome

Fort McKavett is one of the best preserved frontier forts in Texas.

And down to Fort McKavett.

This is one of the better preserved/restored western frontier forts in Texas. It’s run by the Texas Historical Commission.

When the fort was decommissioned in 1883 locals moved into the buildings – and toted off building stone, windows, etc for their own uses. The school on the fort was the community school until the 1950s.

This area is a big goat ranching area. A local company tried to make a go of selling canned goat meat as mutton in the 1920’s.

We camped at the Legends Inn in Junction. – $34/night – and I’ve stayed in places for over a hundred that aren’t half as nice – or half as clean. Highly recommended if you’re in the area – the folks running it are great and they even have rags in your room for cleaning your bike and gear. http://www.thelegendsinn.com

The next morning it was just at freezing, and a little frost on the seats.

So we headed South out of Junction on 377 to do the Three Sisters loop and then we were headed in to Fredericksburg for the night.

377 follows the South Llano River for about fifteen miles.

Then it rises up onto the top of the Edwards Plateau. Really nice road.

This is always a good sign – lots of roller coaster coming up.

We took 41 East to RR335, the first of the Sisters. We were riding counter clockwise – so we started up on the Edwards plateau, and followed RR335 down off the plateau into the canyon of the Nueces River. RR337 cuts over the hills from Nueces Canyon into the canyon of the Frio River. RR336 then runs up and out of the Canyon to the North – ending up back on the Edwards Plateau.

The first Sister.

These are popular motorcycle roads, and get crowded. Not everyone pays attention – so a reminder from our friends and TxDOT

I don’t have a whole lot of pictures of the roads here – in the really nice sections there is no shoulder, often bare rock on one side, and a drop on the other 30, 20, and 15 mph corkscrew curves going up and down with zero sight distance. So, my pictures are from the less exciting sections where there was some place to pull over. Like here.

Lots of fun up and down on 335.

The teeth clenching fear of imminent bloody death and the sun warmed it up by mid-morning.

The whole area is just gorgeous.

Near Vance there’s someone who likes camels – there were at least 3 in this pasture. Someone later told me that this place is owned by the family of the ex-Shah of Iran.

We gassed up in Camp Wood. I’d provide directions to the gas station – but there is only one. Then we cut east on RR337 to climb over the divide between the Nueces and the Frio.

Up on top of the divide the view is amazing. I tried to get a panoramic shot of it – but this doesn’t do it justice.

We did a quick lunch in Leakey at the Bent Rim Grill – lots of HD folks – all HD folks as far as I could tell – food was ok – but I’d skip it unless I was starving. Headed North out of town onto RR336 to run up the Frio Canyon.