TimWilder, I will get the Trackleaders sign up ready by early next week for you and your friend's April 7th departure.  SPOTs usually take about 1 week to arrive, so plan to sign up by next Wed. or so if you need rental SPOTs. 

There is definitely some erosion damage in various areas from the huge storm we got a month ago along various sections of the route.  Here is a wash out on Santa Barbara Canyon Road (tour route). 

I rode various trails and roads from Colson Canyon Road (near Sisquoc) to Miranda Pines Camp and back several weeks ago.  Not too much erosion in that part of the forest, but LOTS of wet stream crossings down low. 

Photos from my ITT this past weekend: 

http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/erin_carroll2/library/AZT%20300%202017

BTW, if anyone needs a bike build or a shuttle ride from Tuscon, this guy was awesome for me and he charged significantly less than an Uber:  Kris Bjelk (Ayo Bikes) -  poetloriat@gmail.com

Holy smokes it was hot out there this weekend!  What a damanding and RUGGED course!

Highlights of my trip:
- Kris from Ayo Bikes who gave me a great deal on building my bike and shuttling me to the start late at night.
- Singletracks before Tuscon.
- Sagauro corners restaurant.
- The rocket fuel fudge at the store in summerhaven.
- Singletrack after Tiger Mine road at sunset.
- Gila River singletrack at sunset.
- The exposed ridgeline singletrack with massive views before the finish.
- The friendy folks who just gave me a ride to Mesa.

The not so awesome moments:
- Getting dust blown on my face with 90 plus degree temps on the climb up redington road.
- Running out of water and then finding the solar spring water was too gross to pump.
- The braincrushing heat yesterday near Kelvin.
- Going off trail in the dark this morning and descending at least 1000 ft of trail I had just done! And as a result, running out of water for the last 8 miles.

Good luck to all of you on April 7. Hope the temps chill out by then.

Erin

To be counted as a finisher please carry everything you need, and/ or stop for support only from the stores and restaurants that you will pass by on the first day (in Pine Mountain Club and Ventucopa).   

Tim, I will ask Trackleaders to get the map set up, and the online registration set up before you all head out. You all of course will be counted as finishers if you all use a spot, get on the map, and finish 

Let me know if anyone needs a rental spot. That takes at least a week notice.

Thanks Tim, found it in the 2010 folder.  Is this current?  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19171576

I just got my plane ticket to Tuscon for an ITT St. Pattys day start on the 300 course.  Hopefully that snow on Mt. Lemmon will melt fast 

If snow is too deep and an ITT of the 300 course is not possible, then I might just ride around Mt. Lemmon from Tuscon and get on the AZT near Oracle and head north and then loop the Gila River Gamble route (the ultimate ending would be Phoenix for my flight back).  If I need to do that, what would be the best way to ride around Mt. Lemmon, if I start in Tuscon (more dirt the better of course)?

Good point about camping spots.  If the tour route is done at a 2 night / 3 day pace then the ideal campground for the last night is Mono Camp right near Little Caliente Hot Springs.  The tour route will remain as is for now.  The HAB through the eroded sections of Camuesa road are not necessarily the most fun, but they are totally passable if you get off the bike and walk a little.  I might ride that section one more time before April. 

"The Pines" Campground has not really existed since before the Zaca Fire.  Hidden Potrero is still there, but it got scorched in the Rey Fire.  But one could still camp there if you wanted to.   

Trackleaders sign up and SPOT rental links will be up here around 2 weeks prior  +/- April 1st.  I will also get a take head count for the shuttle around that time.

Did a one nighter out to to the hot springs a few weeks ago. The Rey Fire burn area along Camuesa Road between Little Caliente Hot Springs and Little Pine Mountain saw some pretty significant erosion damage as a result of the fire.  Might re-route the tour route there to follow the proper route instead for this year.  Camuesa Connector Trail is still holding up though.  I have never seen so much water, every little stream is flowing right now.  When we crossed the Santa Ynez river, water depth was about 3 feet.

Date/ time is finally locked in.  Friday April 14th, 7:30 am, Big Johns Cafe.  Get your taxes done ahead of time! 

Photo from Mt. Pinos 2 weeks ago before the big storm came and dumped 3 more feet of powder!

ShipBikes.com only charged me about $40 to ship my bike to Denver last year. But that was only California to Denver.  You might want to get a quote from them. 

For south of SF, I would stick to Jilleo's loop that she posted here awhile back. I have done the segments near Santa Cruz, and its quite fun.  For north of the bridge, here is a loop my friend put together who used to live in Marin.  I have never done the whole loop, but I have done a lot of segments of it.  It has a lot of pavement, but a lot of fun singletrack riding as well.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18691103

Just FYI, I am pretty sure Trackleaders supports DeLorme devices.

This past year to add your own SPOT to the map it was $15.  For rental units I believe it was $55.  Not sure if prices will change for 2017. Registration will be up and running several weeks before. 

I find webcams are helpful to check current snow levels.  Like this one www.webcams.travel/webcam/fullscreen/1469446767

Thinking about a Mid March ITT of the 300 this year. Looking at last years map, it looks like someone did the 300 as early as March 6.  Will keep checking snow levels and webcams as things get closer... 

Summit Trail could be a great trail again if it sees some maintenance.  It goes through some beautiful meadows.  Even that switchback section right near Quaking Aspen was overgrown and bushy when we rode it this past November. 

Upper Tobias is fun right now (from Frog Meadow Campground to 23S16).  Lower Tobias is the bad part (from 23S16 to Fairview Campground).  The lower part has really poor drainage, some bushwacking, and overall it is unused and unmaintained.  There are some really steep and sketchy downhill walk a bike sections. It is not fun or rideable in the downhill direction.  The main problem I saw is that the trail has no waterbars to divert drainage off the trail.  The drainage for the trail is the trail itself, so there are some really eroded deep ruts in the middle of the trail.

It sounds like there is still some scouting to be done to confirm if this big loop will work.  For this May, I think I will be doing the shorter point to point ride.  I think that will be challenging enough.  But I would love to come back as a separate trip to check out Mill Canyon, Remington Ridge, Clear Creek, etc.  I wonder what the Kern River Mountain Bike Association would say about that area.  I have asked them questions in the past via facebook and they have been helpful.  www.facebook.com/KernRiverMountainBike/

I did not know that the lower part of Romero (I assume you mean the Romero creek singletrack?) was "dumbed down".  Interesting, I'll check it out. 

Regarding the date, the consensus will prevail, but my sense is that it seems like a normal weather year finally, which means later in the season might be better.  I have snowboarded on Mt. Pinos in April (once!), and the first time I rode Sierra Madre ridge (first week of April of 2011) there was a lot of snow on Big Pine Mountain.

I thought you were riding the Baja Divide right now?

The 2017 routes are now up!

I agree with most of your suggestions.  However, I would eliminate the northern section of summit trail (north of Quaking Aspen) from any route until it sees some serious maintenance. I rode it 2 months ago on the same trip as Bitter Creek. I would put it in the same category as lower Tobias Trail.  It is totally overgrown and junky right now.  I remember riding this trail about 6 years ago and it was quite fun.  It looks like it just doesn't get enough use.  The upper sections of summit trail were hard for us to even find.  

I think either Nelson Trail or Bear Creek should be part of the route.  Riding through the Giant Redwoods is truly special and should not be missed.  Yes, these trails are technical, but so is a lot of the stuff in this area.  This should be a mountain bikers route first and a bikepacking route second.