Under sore muscles, inflatable sleeping pads squeak and groan with every movement and turn. Encompassing the tired bodies is a dome of nylon — a temporary dwelling offering privacy and comfort from the wilderness surrounding them. But the campers nestling in the warmth of down-filled sleeping bags are not your typical outdoors enthusiasts. In fact, these light sleepers are college students, and this campsite is their classroom.
Unconfined to four walls of an academic building with long lectures and slide decks, these Texas Tech University students redefine their futures by shifting gears atop mountain bikes and bikepacking through the Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Aptly nicknamed “The Other Side of Nowhere,” in the far West Texas state park, riders appear small against the vast landscape. Endless skies house the beating sun, where little to no shade can be found for relief. The land is unforgiving and rugged — much of the park requires overlander vehicles for access while the remainder of roads are marked with signs advising against entering due to rough conditions.
In this challenging environment, where the primal worries include food, water and shelter, a group of 21 bikepackers, most of whom are first-time bikepackers and students, embark on a week-long journey with 100 miles of pedaling ahead of them. Their purpose is to create a documentary and tell their trip's story while examining the world around them through citizen science and ethnobotany. The outcome, though, has an impact much longer than 20 minutes of film.
Jerod Foster, Ph.D., an associate professor of practice at the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University created the class, fittingly named ‘Adventure Media,’ as a way to connect students to the outdoor media space in 2014. As interest and support for the class grew, Foster led students on week-long bikepacking tours to fully immerse themselves in an outdoor environment atop mountain bikes.
Foster said that the resilience and grit it takes to complete the class translates to career challenges for students transitioning from the college scene to their professional careers.
On bikepacking tours, outdoor athletes live as simply as possible. One pair of clothes, a compact sleep system and enough food and dense calories to sustain hours of intense riding are everything needed.
Brandon Weaver, a freelance writer and Texas native, annually clears his schedule to accompany the week-long bikepacking trip with the college students. His connection to the cycling community, however, has lasted his entire lifetime.
“I've just always been drawn to the bicycle,” he said. “When I was a kid it really was my transportation.”
In 2018, Weaver and Foster embarked on a 223-mile bikepacking trip connecting Texas state parks. For some states, this might sound easy. The Lone Star State, however, is frugal with its public lands. According to the Texas Land Conservancy, 95% of the land in Texas is privately owned—three times as many acres as any other state. This leaves approximately 13,429 square miles as public land. Texas ranks 45th in the amount of public land available.
The few existing state parks and public lands available in Texas are inevitably crowded. In order to score a campsite or day pass to visit a park, recreation-seekers often have to plan their visit months in advance through Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Due to the overwhelming crowds, the evident need for more state land, and the need to protect and conserve resources under the care of wildlife and land experts, the Texas State Government took action.
Senate Joint Resolution 74 and Senate Bill 1648 both passed unanimously, proposing a constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund.
Proposition 14 passed with overwhelming support from Texas voters, allocating a portion of the state budget surplus and creating a dedicated funding stream for acquiring and developing state parks in Texas.
Bikepacking intense tours through the Chihuahuan Desert is as eye-opening experience as any; but, it also sparks enthusiasm and ignites zeal in many of those who have taken the class. Since her involvement in Adventure Media, Hannah Hudgens explained how important it is for her to enjoy the outdoors and take advantage of the public land in Texas she has access to.
“It's twofold- it's challenging and simultaneously rewarding,” Hudgens said, explaining the sport. “Reconnecting with the space and holding admiration for the people who were set before me has such a deeply rooted sense of culture. I am experiencing it in a way that's not characterized by the struggle and hardship from those before us.”
Shaylin Romero was among a group of students who rode over 170 miles on the Monumental Loop in southern New Mexico with Adventure Media in 2023. Soon after completing the trip, she bought a bike of her own to continue her devotion to cycling. After riding 100 miles in Big Bend Ranch State Park in 2024, Savanna Montgomery* did the same thing.
Daniela Rodriguez, another alumnus of the class, inspired her sister, Sofia Rodriguez, to take the class. They enrolled together in the spring of 2024, and have recently taken more trips to ride their bikes together.
Olivia Raymond now owns not one, but two bikes. She relies on these for recreation and transportation around the college town of Lubbock, a community notorious for inaccessibility for cycling like many other Texas towns.
Bikepacking, as niche of a sport as it is, allows for the simplicities of life to reign and creates an entryway into everyday transportation when not exploring the wild backcountry of nature.
*Savanna Montgomery has no relation to the author.