I'll suggest you have a 4th option. I'm not saying it's best for your needs, but in the spirit of exploring all your options, you might consider lights that run on disposable batteries, e.g. AAA. This is what I do, I use a standard backpacking head lamp for bikepacking, e.g. a Princeton Tec Remix. I typically don't ride after dark much though.

Pros to this approach:

• Low weight especially if you use disposable lithium AAA batteries.
• A head lamp is convenient when camping, much more so than a bike light
• You can throw away spent batteries at resupply stops, less stuff to carry overall.
• You can also buy more at resupply stops. Worst case you have to settle for alkaline instead of lithium, but any store should have AAAs.
• AAAs may serve double purpose for other devices, e.g. a Spot.

Cons:

• Barely enough light for singletrack, but arguably good enough for dirt roads.
• A bit awkward to change brightness levels on the fly.

I'm speechless. Thanks for documenting and sharing your adventure. Love the humor in your video about the cabins. 

This reply will be too late to help the OP, but I'll share anyway, perhaps it will help others. A friend and I just completed a self-supported run on the Kokopelli, from Fruita to Moab, and had good luck with water. We were prepared to filter from the river but never had to. Here's where we saw water:

• Westwater Ranger Station - I called in advance and the ranger said there was no longer potable water available here. This was not a surprise, it has also been mentioned on other forums for the last year or so. When we rolled up to the far boat ramp next to the ranger's house where the public spigot is, it was indeed not working. However there was a hose bib on the ranger's house itself. We would have felt better asking permission to use it but we arrived after 4:30 (official closing time for the ranger) so we just went for it. No one came out to scold us. We filtered it to safe, but this probably wasn't necessary.
• We found a beautiful spring-fed pool of cold, clear water in Yellow Jacket Canyon below what the maps call Buck Spring, about a mile or two from Dewey Bridge on the Fruita side. If you go down the wash away from the cliff face you'll get to a water fall, scramble down it to find a pool of water several inches deep. Based on the rate of flow we saw I expect this pool to persist for a few weeks at least.
• We found another spring-fed pool behind the Hideout Canyon camp ground which is not far past Onion creek (BTW don't drink from Onion creek, apparently you'll risk mine contamination). It was only two inches deep but it was enough. I expect this to not last long.
• There was water flowing across the trail a mile past Hideout camp ground.
• After this, water becomes plentiful, e.g. Fisher Creek and Castle Creek. You can melt snow too if needed.

Mandatory rest stops would be too disruptive and impractical when applied in some practical situations. For example what if you're in a situation where you have to keep moving, e.g. it's cold and your sleeping bag is wet, or your food is low? Or, what if you simply want to defer rest until you get to a hotel that is 24 hours away?

Making decisions on the trail is difficult enough already without adding unnecessary and artificial complications.

I found the answer to my own question, posting the link here for the benefit of others:
https://grindingroundgreeley.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/colorado-gravel/

drwelby: The presentation of information on your map is great, it makes it easy to visualize some pretty exciting possibilities.

Virtual beer donated and thanks again!

Wow, this is a phenomenal resource, thank you!! 

Can anyone advise, is it safe to assume all routes shown are public? When I analyze the areas I'm familiar with this appears to be true, just wanted to be sure.

Something to consider is frame bag size. The beauty of any hardtail is that is can fit a big frame bag, and the bigger the better because it's the perfect place to carry stuff. If you think a frame bag is part of your future set up, consider getting the frame that has the biggest main triangle (if there's any significant different, perhaps there is not).

In my case I have a custom steel hardtail frame, I specifically asked for a big triangle at the expense of some stand over height. I can fit 100 oz of water plus plenty of tubes, tools, etc. I would have a very hard time giving up this much frame bag capacity.

I'm a big fan of the Etrex 30, I got one just this spring to replace an old GS 60cx and I really like it. Here are my thoughts:

• Consider battery life. The Etrex 30 has tremendous battery life, I observe close to 36 hours using fresh disposable lithiums.
• I agree with the point made earlier the buttons on the Etrex are a bit hard to use on the bike. But how often do you use them? For me, 99% of the time I'm just mindlessly following a track and not otherwise interacting with the device.

My take is a touch screen is nice in theory, but perhaps not practical in the field for someone who's out for a long time and is usually wearing gloves.

I have personally seen two Gen 2 Spots fail. One was mine, one was a friend's. The symptoms were a persistent red GPS light and no upload of tracking data. This occurred  despite not having been mishandled, fresh batteries, and a clear view of the sky. In both cases, the Spots came from REI and they were great about exchanging.

Also in both cases the devices were fairly new. They worked for a few rides and then failed. My current Spot (also Gen 2) has been working fine for almost two years. My theory is there's a flaw with Gen 2 Spots (perhaps specific to a manufacture period) that can cause them to fail early in their life, but if they survive a decent burn in period, they should be OK.

However, is sucks to not have 99.9% confidence in a device that keeps family from worrying or that could be vital to saving your life. Kinda defeats the purpose, eh?

Excellent question and great thread, good luck with your custom build. I also went with Waltworks in 2011 and love the result. Here are a few specific requests I made that were important to me:

• I asked Walt to make the main triangle as big as was reasonable to fit the biggest custom frame bag possible, even at the expense of a little stand over height. Walt nailed it, I can fit a 100 oz bladder and plenty of tools/tubes in the bag, and stand over height is sufficient.
• Third water bottle mount under the down tube.
• Paragon low-mount drop outs. Allows use of a rear rack by including eyelets and gets the disc caliper out of the way. Allows me to use a Salsa Minimalist rack on non-tech rides, e.g. White Rim at Canyonlands, to carry extra water.
• I recommend a 44mm head tube for maximum fork compatibility. I did not get this myself, this standard was still emerging at the time the frame was built. I worry if I need a new fork in a few years my options will be limited.

Getting your saddle selection nailed is key, definitely. The previous advice is solid, proper width is essential and excessive padding does more harm than good. The following works very well for me:

• Specialized Henge saddles. They come in various widths. Go to a Specialized dealer and get measured (they have a device for this called an assometer. Seriously, that's what it's called).
• Replace your saddles periodically. They get more flexible over time and cause more friction.
• Splurge on nice shorts and replace these periodically too.
• Some people seem to not need much, or any, chamois cream, but I'm a heavy user, especially if it's hot. I carry plenty on multi-day trips and re-apply each morning and mid-day.

Jamestown is still closed, yes. Here's a good resource for Boulder county flood-related closures for bicycles:
http://www.bouldercounty.org/flood/roads/pages/bicycletravel.aspx

And so the addiction begins...   

Nice job and thanks for sharing!

Hi, all. I thoroughly enjoy and learn a lot from the various ride reports that people post here, so I thought I'd add my own to the community. I recently did a 4 day loop from my front door in Boulder county that covered segments 1 - 6 of the Colorado trail, including the long bypass south of the Lost Creek Wilderness. I timed my trip such that I got caught up in the CTR excitement. An overview post plus picture heavy daily write-ups are at:
http://nohosing.blogspot.com/2014/09/colorado-trail-loop-overview.html

Some highlights:

• I met Neil B, Joe P (of MTB Cast fame), and a few other racers at the Stagestop.
• Chris P blew by me on segment 5 with a perfectly executed cowboy-style "Yee haw!"
• I practically got run over by the Breck Epic west of Georgia Pass
• I got very close to bighorn sheep and a porcupine (first time sightings for me, at least from a bike)

My route from Boulder to Waterton Canyon is actually pretty nice, I put a fair amount of work into finding a fun, low traffic, albeit indirect route and I even pre-rode it this spring. I'm happy to share my route with anyone who is interested.

Simply amazing, thank you so much for your research and for making this available to the bikepacking.net community. I hope to shake your hand in person this September!

I also highly recommend the Sea to Summit bag, it works great for me as temporary space for food when rolling through town. It collapses to smaller than a tennis ball using the included stuff sack, very nice. The draw cord on the stuff sack makes it easy to hang the collapsed bag from one of the straps on my Revelate seat bag (one less thing to make room for inside a bag). Nice color options too.

As per the previous post, the REI Flash 18 is also great. This is my go-to backpack when I have light but bulky stuff (e.g. clothes) to carry on a long day ride that doesn't warrant a seat bag. It's also a pretty decent option for a partially full bladder. E.g. if I need a bit more than 100 oz of water for a long day ride, I'll put a 100 oz bladder in my frame bag then maybe 30 - 50 oz in a bladder in my Flash 18, making sure to drink this water first. Comfortable enough even with techy riding, works great.

Another option for you. These work very well for me:
http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=51

The short answer is, either would work fine. However, assuming you're acclimated to your fully rigid Fargo, I suggest it's the best choice. The terrain is not techy at all, almost all of it is driveable in a regular car.

I've done the standard WRIAD (White Rim in a Day) trip a few times, always on a hardtail 29er with a suspension fork and thought it was a perfect middle ground. But, I've done it with friends on fully rigids and full suspension rigs, and everyone was 100% happy with their choices. (One guy did suffer a bit with his 1x8 drive train when climbing Shafer at the end of the day, but that has nothing to do with choice of suspension. Spinny gears will come in handy, suggest you have some low gearing on whatever bike you choose).

Have fun and explore all the detours and off shoots, there are some amazing views to be had out there.

I can also vouch for GoLite stuff, including their down coats. My GoLite stuff has held up well.

As a company they may lack the sustainability and "Made in the USA" cred of some competitors, if that matters to you. This may also explain their lower prices?

I've had good luck for a couple years now with a red MSR bladder and would recommend it. It's been durable enough for me, I haven't felt the need for the black version.

I've also tried Camelbak bladders, but the MSR is a bit less bulky. I had multiple bad experiences with Platypus: 1) a pin hole puncture while filtering, and 2) the hose screws on to the bladder, and this came loose in my frame bag, spilling all my water.

-Dave