The best place to cycle (off the pavement, that is) in the Lower Rio Grande Valley is Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (LANWR). There are many trails to pedal from easy to challenging. And LANWR is not only the best place to ride, but opportunities to view birds and other wildlife are many. A cyclist can ride a few easy-going miles or pedal along different trails all day. The most popular ride is the Bayside Drive Loop, also known as Steve Thompson Wildlife Drive loop.
Steve Thompson Wildlife Drive begins about 600 feet southeast of the Visitor’s Center. It’s a 14 ½-mile round-trip. A cyclist or hiker never knows what might be spotted on this loop, from an Aplomado Falcon, bobcats, coyotes, white-tailed deer, to a variety of shore birds and more.
The first three quarters of a mile has a caliche surface, the rest is old asphalt except for about a quarter of a mile of caliche where there had been construction. The loop skirts the northern shore of Pelican Pond and continues to Plover Point (three and a quarter miles from the Visitor’s Center), an observation deck on the shore of the Laguna Madre. The route continues along the shore for three miles to Renee’s Overlook (26.1792564820517, -97.29849707407696), an observation deck accessible by a 325 foot gravel trail, on a loma. At the water’s edge is a memorial, a plaque and benches, for Steve Thompson, a former director of the refuge. The overlook is named after Renee Thompson.
Just past the overlook, the road leaves the shore of the Laguna Madre and travels southeast through coastal prairie for a mile and a half before it drifts west and northwest though thornscrub for three miles. It then heads north for a few miles through coastal prairie and back to the Visitor’s Center.
Other rides are somewhat more challenging. These include rides to Horse Island, North Point, Cayo Atascoso, and to Adolph Thomae County Park. I have discussed Cayo Atascoso in a previous post. I will discuss the others in a new post. These rides as well as the ones I have described make Laguna Atascosa NWR the best place to ride a bicycle off-road in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
