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.
This is the continuation of previous posts where I described Steve Thompson Wildlife Drive Loop, the Laguna Atascosa Loop, and the Cayo Atascosa Loop.
Here I will describe other rides at LANWR: Horse Island, North Point, and the trail to Adolph Thomae County Park.
The ride to Horse Island from the Visitor’s Center at LANWR is about 23 miles round-trip. The first seven miles, from the Visitor’s Center to Osprey Overlook and then north on County Road, is good caliche road.
At seven miles is a cattle guard and an intersection. A signpost indicates that Horse Island is right, or east. The next four-plus miles is moderate difficulty.
A dirt road follows a fence line for a half mile and then drifts away from the fence and down into a swale that crosses to the Island.
The drop into the swale has deep, sandy ruts. A levee-like road, about a quarter mile long, crosses from the mainland to the island. An incline up to the ridge of the island is also deeply rutted.
The road, or trail, follows the ridgeline through thick brush until it nears the north end of the island where the brush opens to views of the Laguna Madre near the mouth of the Arroyo Colorado.
See “The Great Horned Owl” post for information on North Point.
