Easy: Ride to the Post for #30DaysofBiking

There are roads in our Texas Mountain Trail region that are PERFECT for cycling, including an easy ride (great for families and beginning riders!) starting from Marathon.  The "Ride to the Post" is a five mile trip (10 miles out and back) to the county park, called "Post Park." 

The Road to the Post extends south on Avenue D in Marathon from US Highway 90 and the Union Pacific Railroad, and has an amazing history!

• Your route follows one fork of the Comanche War or Indian Trails into Mexico—there was a skirmish on the ridge above Post Park in 1855 between Buffalo Soldiers, Texas Rangers and Indians in 1855!
• It also generally follows the original Ore Roads to haul the ores (lead, zinc and silver) from the smelter at Boquillas in Mexico in 1895-1906, as well as quicksilver from the Terlingua, Study Butte and the Mariscal mines in south Brewster County to the railroad in Marathon as late as 1937!
• The route takes you near the historic cemetery and the site of an influenza tent hospital from the 1918 epidemic!
• The area known as Post Park was the site of a military encampment, farms, and ranches. Today it is the place for county-wide dance parties, fishing and birdwatching!

Begin your ride at the Gage Hotel in Marathon or at the Hotel's Gage Gardens. The Gage Gardens and Post Park are both sites on the new Far West Texas Wildlife Trail. How to get there? Look for the signs to "County Park" heading south....that's your road! This is an "out and back" route...5 miles south to Post Park and 5 miles back to Marathon.

Don't let the chart fool you, the average slope in this route is only 1.2%, and the elevation gain is only 121 feet. This is an easy ride!

Our Texas Mountain Trail organization continues to find "heritage bike routes" around the region to recommend to locals and travelers alike.  Most of them are great for motorcycling and driving as well.  Even if you don't like to hop on a bicycle, we hope you enjoy our #30DaysofBiking feature all during April! 

Best of 2013: Cycling Marathon's "Ride to the Post" Heritage Bike Route

  

One of our Texas Mountain Trail Heritage Bike Routes is featured in the current issue of the Texas Historical Commission's magazine, The Medallion!   Click HERE to read the entire issue online--a travel article covering our region including Marathon, the Gage Hotel, and Big Bend Ranch State Park starts on page 6!

Is the route easy?  YES!  A family could easily handle the five miles there, five miles back route.  There's virtually no vehicular traffic, is incredibly scenic and the average slope is only 1.2%!  The elevation gain is only 121 feet! 

Why is this called a "heritage" bike route?  The ride starts out at the historic (and cycle-friendly!) Gage Hotel, continues across the highway and railroad (easy crossings!) to the Gage Hotel's formal Gardens.  From there, you follow signs to the Cemetery and County Park. 

Water Lily from Gage Gardens

The Cemetery is a short detour and has the graves of early Marathon residents, with interesting markings and monuments.

Head further south to Post Park, through country that once held a tent hospital during the 1918 influenza epidemic, a buffalo soldier encampment called Post Pena Colorado, and to Post Park. Be sure to read the interpretive panels on the Buffalo Soldier encampment and the geology of the area, produced by our friends at the Brewster County Tourism Council...and have a GREAT ride! 

Post Park!

The park itself is a great place to watch birds and enjoy wildlife, and was a stopping off point for the Comanche and Apache.  It also was a project of the 1930s Works Progress Administration!

Ride to the Post!

Lt. Henry O. Flipper and Buffalo Soldier Historic Sites

Lt. Henry O. Flipper

Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point spent much of his life and career in our Texas Mountain Trail region.


African-American soldiers are important to our nation's and our region's history.  The term "buffalo soldiers" has come to mean the African American soldiers who served in the Army between the Civil War and World War I.  Buffalo soldiers were often stationed--and served bravely--at the leading edge of the western frontier.

While stationed at Fort Davis, Flipper endured a humiliating court-martial in 1882, which was driven by racism.  Flipper always maintained his innocence, and indeed, he was fully exonerated 100 years later with a full pardon by President Clinton.

After his court-martial and discharge from the Army, Flipper worked at a mining engineer, surveyor, and translator.  He lived for many years in El Paso,

Read more about his life here (on our Texas Mountain Trail site) and here (on the Fort Davis National Historic Site).  Click here to read about Flipper's life in El Paso.

Click here to read about Buffalo Soldier historical sites in our Texas Mountain Trail region.  A few are pictured below:

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Post Park, south of Marathon

Gate at historic El Paso Concordia Cemetery
honoring Buffalo Soldiers

Cycling Marathon's "Ride to the Post" Heritage Bike Route!

One of our Texas Mountain Trail Heritage Bike Routes is featured in the current issue of the Texas Historical Commission's magazine, The Medallion!   Click HERE to read the entire issue online--a travel article covering our region including Marathon, the Gage Hotel, and Big Bend Ranch State Park starts on page 6!

Is the route easy?  YES!  A family could easily handle the five miles there, five miles back route.  There's virtually no vehicular traffic, is incredibly scenic and the average slope is only 1.2%!  The elevation gain is only 121 feet! 

Why is this called a "heritage" bike route?  The ride starts out at the historic (and cycle-friendly!) Gage Hotel, continues across the highway and railroad (easy crossings!) to the Gage Hotel's formal Gardens.  From there, you follow signs to the Cemetery and County Park. 

Water Lily from Gage Gardens

The Cemetery is a short detour and has the graves of early Marathon residents, with interesting markings and monuments. 

Head further south to Post Park, through country that once held a tent hospital during the 1918 influenza epidemic, a buffalo soldier encampment called Post Pena Colorado, and to Post Park. Be sure to read the interpretive panels on the Buffalo Soldier encampment and the geology of the area, produced by our friends at the Brewster County Tourism Council...and have a GREAT ride! 

Post Park!

The park itself is a great place to watch birds and enjoy wildlife, and was a stopping off point for the Comanche and Apache.  It also was a project of the 1930s Works Progress Administration!

Ride to the Post!

Perfect place for a picnic--Post Park!

Just five miles south of Marathon (follow the signs to "County Park") is a great little place that's been a resting place for centuries, Post Park!  We know the Apache and Comanche used the spring here as an oasis from the desert heat.  The Buffalo Soliders used the area for their Camp Pena Colorado in the late 1800s.  The community of Marathon and visitors use the park for fishing, picnicking and birdwatching.  Read the history here. Consider yourself invited!

Top Ten 15-Minute Rest Breaks

Post Park, five miles south of Marathon

Sometimes, you just need a quiet break from the road.  Texas Mountain Trail encourages travelers to get off the highway or freeway from time to time, and discover those hidden little places.

Follow this link to our list of places that give you some quiet, or a terrific view, or an experience you might not expect.  It is our list of Top Ten 15-Minute Rest Breaks in Far West Texas!

Wildlife Trail and Cycling Routes Intertwine!

A lone cyclists enjoys the road from Marathon to Post Park, just off Adventure Cycling Association's Southern Tier Route, and part of the Alpine-Marathon Loop of the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail

Our Texas Mountain Trail organization enjoys partnering with others to help visitors find terrific places to explore in Far West Texas.  Case in point is our work with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and our neighboring Texas Pecos Trail in the completion of the state's suite of wildlife trails with our own Far West Texas Wildlife Trail.  You can get the FULL information about all 10 loops and 57 sites here, as all the information is available online.

We also enjoy helping cyclists ride through our region, and have valued our work with Adventure Cycling Association, since their Southern Tier Route stretches through our region, from Marathon to El Paso.  It was a terrific surprise to get an email from our friend, Jennifer Milyko, Adventure Cycling's cartographer recently.  She'd received an email from a cyclist recommending they profile the Far West Texas Wildlife Trails on their blog, and we were more than happy to fill in the blanks!  Here's Jenn's blog entry on the Adventure Cycling Association's blog, "Far West Texas and the Southern Tier."

One of our favorite wintertime landscapes, on a road mostly locals know

There's a road heading south from Marathon you really need to take...either by bicycle, motorcycle or car.  A 10 mile round trip offers a great adventure--history, geology, wildlife and nature--all packed into a short trip.  On a brisk winter day, we took this photo, looking north on our way back to town.  Lovely, right?

The road is known as the "Ride to the Post Heritage Bike Ride," on our website, but is ready for anyone (even non-cyclists!) to enjoy.  Consider all it offers:
The Road to the Post extends south on Avenue D in Marathon from US Highway 90 and the Union Pacific Railroad, and has an amazing history!

• Your route follows one fork of the Comanche War or Indian Trails into Mexico—there was a skirmish on the ridge above Post Park in 1855 between Buffalo Soldiers, Texas Rangers and Indians in 1855!
• It also generally follows the original Ore Roads to haul the ores (lead, zinc and silver) from the smelter at Boquillas in Mexico in 1895-1906, as well as quicksilver from the Terlingua, Study Butte and the Mariscal mines in south Brewster County to the railroad in Marathon as late as 1937!
• The route takes you near the historic cemetery and the site of an influenza tent hospital from the 1918 epidemic!
• The area known as Post Park was the site of a military encampment, farms, and ranches. Today it is the place for county-wide dance parties, fishing and birdwatching!
• The Gage Gardens and Post Park are both sites on the new Far West Texas Wildlife Trail.

Want to learn more?  Visit our "Ride to the Post" webpage for a link to a complete history, by Marathon resident Travis Roberts, PLUS a slideshow of the route!

Rainbow Cliffs

South of Marathon, there's a rock formation called Rainbow Cliffs, which has served as a landmark for centuries.  The striated rock gave protection to Camp Pena Colorado, a Buffalo Soldier encampment as well as the native peoples gathering at the nearby spring and its water.  To read more about history and geology of the spot, click here.

You can see Rainbow Cliffs and visit nearby WPA project, Post Park on our heritage bike route (an easy 10 miles total, out-and-back) which can also be driven.  Post Park is also a site on our Far West Texas Wildlife Trail map on the Marathon-Alpine loop!  Check it out!

Green IS here!

Though we are still under a region-wide burn ban, there are no fires in the region today!

And lots of places offer green respites from the road, including Post Park south of Marathon

From Davis Mountains State Park's garden outside the Interpretive Center

Along the road from Fort Davis to Alpine

Some folks are saying we're all burnt up out here in Far West Texas...and we say, yes, we're still under a burn ban here, but GREEN is here!  There are plants popping out on the roadsides, including one of our favorites...chocolate daisies!!  The photos here were all taken since the wildlfires left our region...

Everything is still here and waiting for your visit...the charming hotels, restaurants, hiking trails....if you need help planning your visit, just let us know!!!

Burned? Brown? West Texas has green places!

Panorama view of Post Park, south of Marathon in Brewster County





Water fowl and song birds!  (click on the photo for a closer view!)

 Some folks think all of Far West Texas is horribly dry or burned, and we say NO!  One off-the-beaten-path oasis, is 5 miles south of Marathon.  Post Park is a lovely quiet, peaceful place to spend a hot afternoon.  This place was used as a watering area by the Comanche, was the site of a military outpost, and in the Depression, the WPA worked here to create the modern day park.

This is one of the sites on the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail map, as you can see birds and wildlife here every day.  We've seen 50 wild turkey, and a herd of javelina, turtles, fish in the pond, and lots and lots of birds.

Post Park is also the destination of the heritage bike ride, "Ride to the Post," an easy 10 mile out-and-back route.

Cycling down the road to Post Park

We've started to put information on our website about another heritage bike ride, an easy, family-friendly 10 mile (roundtrip) ride from the town of Marathon to Post Park in Brewster County.  The route was used by the Comanche, by Buffalo Soldiers and by miners and ranchers early in the modern history of the area.  The ride starts at the historic (and cycle-friendly!) Gage Hotel or the Gage Gardens (a site on the new Far West Texas Wildlife Map) and is a simple out-and-back ride through beautiful scenery.  Take a look at the web page for more beautiful views and an outline of the history of this fascinating place!

The Ride/Drive to Post Park: A heritage bike route for everyone!

Today's photos are two views from our newest heritage bike ride, the Ride to Post Park!  The route is easy and historic, suitable for beginning cyclists and families, or even automobile or motorcycle riders.  The ride takes you along an Comanche route, a route used by early miners, and near a post for Buffalo Soldiers.  The route starts and ends at the Gage Hotel in Marathon and is an out-and-back route, with Brewster County's Post Park as the midpoint.  Wildlife can be seen along the way...the first photo shows a couple of pronghorn antelope!  Post Park and the Gage Gardens, both on this route, are also sites on our new Far West Texas Wildlife Trail...read about it here!

Take a look at the "Ride to Post Park," page on our website, which also has a slideshow of images along the route!

December Skies south of Marathon

A December sky taken just south of Marathon, on the newest heritage bike ride:  Ride to the Post!  This easy 5 mile (one way) bike ride/motorcycle ride/drive) takes you from Marathon to Post Park, and shows you places in geological history, the history of the Comanche and Buffalo Soldier, as well as early ranching and settler history.  This is a great ride for the beginning cyclist or for families! 

Heading back to Marathon from Post Park

From Marathon, follow the sign to "County Park 5" and you'll travel on a single lane road to an old Comanche watering hole, a Buffalo soldier outpost and a WPA worksite, now a county park, called Post Park.  On the way back to town, the mountains and the small town of Marathon, rise up into view.

Fishing at Post Park

Five miles south of Marathon, there's a county park built in the WPA era of the 1930s, Post Park.  Because of the presence of water, the spot had been a stopping-over point for early native Americans, the military (where it became a defense garrison against the Comanches), and travelers heading west.  Today it is a great spot for picnics, birdwatching and fishing. 

Antelope grazing on the way to Post Park

Photographed Saturday, on the road from Marathon to Post Park!  Double-click for a closer look!

The Road to Post Park from Marathon

Five miles south of Marathon, there's a special little place, called Post Park.  The park, a project of the WPA and built in the 1930s is a favorite of local residents, and it is used for picnics, dances and fishing.

During the 19th century, Comanches camped here on raids to Mexico. To deter raids--and to protect supply wagons enroute to Fort Davis--the U.S. Army established Camp Pena Colorado at the watering hole in 1880. Famous Buffalo Soldier Lt. Henry O. Flipper served here before the post was closed in 1893.

Wintertime Wildlife Watching--Post Park, Marathon

There's a special little place five miles south of Marathon that is a great location for wildlife and bird watching.  Post Park has water, and that makes it a popular spot.  Last month, we visited and found a flock of 50 wild turkeys! 

The park, built in the 1930s is a favorite of local residents, and it is used for picnics, dances and fishing.

During the 19th century, Comanches camped here on raids to Mexico. To deter raids--and to protect supply wagons enroute to Fort Davis--the U.S. Army established Camp Pena Colorado at the watering hole in 1880. Famous Buffalo Soldier Lt. Henry O. Flipper served here before the post was closed in 1893.

For more information on birding in the Texas Mountain Trail region, visit: www.texasmountaintrail.com/bird
That page will also provide a link to more information on the development of a Far West Texas birding/wildlife trail map, and a site nomination form!

Post Park

A springfed wetlands surrounded by the Chihuahuan Desert, this place has been a magnet for wildlife and water fowl, a watering hole for the Apache, and a military outpost. Today it is the location for fishing, picnics and community dances. Post Park is located five miles south of Marathon.

More about the park's history is available here, on Visit Big Bend's website.