sunday hill country loop: which one do you run, and how early do you leave to beat the bikes
Started by hill_country_backroads in Owners talk, Sep 23, 2025
drives
hill country
Cayman
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hill_country_backroadsOP
Test driveFredericksburg, TX9 posts, joined Sep 2025
#1
i live in Fredericksburg and i still cannot settle on a loop. the Three Sisters (RR 335, 336 and 337 out of Leakey and Camp Wood) are the ones people drive in from Houston for, and they are the real thing, but on a saturday after 9 there are more Harleys and GS riders than cars and you spend the good sections stuck behind a pack doing 35 through the curves. Willow City Loop is 14 miles from my door and it is pretty, but it is a ranch road with cattle guards every half mile and a 30 mph sign that the Gillespie County deputy takes seriously in bluebonnet season.
what i have been doing: out the door at 6:45, TX-16 south to Kerrville, TX-27 to Ingram, then RR 39 along the Guadalupe through Hunt and up to Harper, home by 10 for breakfast. RR 39 is empty that early and the pavement is decent except for the low water crossings.
so, for the people who do this every weekend. which loop, what time do you leave, and is anybody still running the Sisters on weekends or has it become a weekday only thing. GT4, so i care about pavement more than most of you.
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stone_oak_amg
Daily driverSan Antonio, TX24 posts, joined Sep 2025
#2
Sisters are weekday only for me now. i took a friday off in june and did 337 from Medina to Leakey, then 336 up and 335 back down to Camp Wood, and had the road to myself until about 11. saturday i would not bother. the motorcycle museum in Vanderpool is a decent coffee stop even in a car, and the store in Leakey has fuel.
E63 S here. 337 between Vanderpool and Leakey has a couple of sections where the pavement heaves and the sedan bottoms on the rebound at speed. a GT4 with that nose will find those before i do.
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bentley_gt_weekends
Weekend driverHorseshoe Bay, TX14 posts, joined Sep 2025
#3
from Horseshoe Bay my loop runs the other direction and nobody talks about it. RR 1431 west out of Marble Falls through Kingsland to Llano, TX-16 south to Fredericksburg, then US-290 home through Johnson City. 1431 between Kingsland and Marble Falls has the elevation and the sweepers, and at 7 on a sunday it is ranchers and one guy on a Goldwing.
the GT is 5,000 pounds. i am not chasing anybody through the Sisters, i want a wide road with a view and somewhere to eat at the end. the deputies sit on TX-16 between Llano and the Enchanted Rock turnoff, keep it to the number there.
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x5_in_the_heat
Weekend driverBoerne, TX19 posts, joined Sep 2025
#4
Boerne, so i cheat. TX-46 west to Bandera, TX-173 north to Kerrville, home on I-10. out at 7, back before anybody in the house is awake. 46 west of Boerne has turned into a mess with the subdivisions going in, the good part starts past Pipe Creek now. saw a whole PCA group run Bandera to Medina on 16 last saturday, so you are not alone out there on weekends, you are just behind the bikes.
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mod_laura_v
ModeratorSan Antonio, TX41 posts, joined Sep 2025
#5
if you go the Sisters route check the road conditions map at txdot.gov before you leave. 337 had a chip seal job on the Medina side in august and the loose gravel in the curves took paint off a friend's 911 front bumper. and the low water crossings on RR 39 will have water over them after any real rain, the Guadalupe comes up fast. two cars turned around at the Hunt crossing on labor day weekend.
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hill_country_backroadsOP
Test driveFredericksburg, TX9 posts, joined Sep 2025
#6
went out this morning to try the 1431 loop backwards. Fredericksburg to Llano on 16 at 7, 1431 east to Marble Falls, 281 south to Johnson City, 290 home. 2 hours 40 with a coffee stop in Kingsland. 1431 is as described, wide, fast sweepers, nobody on it. two deer at the Kingsland end at 7:30 so i was not pushing.
one thing for the low cars: the 1431 bridge over the lake at Kingsland has expansion joints that slap hard at speed. this one goes in the rotation and the Sisters wait for a tuesday in november when it is 65 out.
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q7_family_hauler
Weekend driverCedar Park, TX12 posts, joined Sep 2025
#7
not a sports car, but for anybody north of Austin: 1431 west from Cedar Park to Marble Falls, and the stretch through the Balcones canyonlands past the Lago Vista turnoff is better than most of what people drive two hours for. the problem is the cyclists on saturday morning, 1431 is a training road. sunday before 8 it is fine. Q7 with three kids in it, so my version of pushing is not yours, but the road is the road.
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