Thunder Mountain is easily doable on a hard tail, it's a very smooth and enjoyable ride.

The connection between Bryce and Escalante is quite OKish. Not as pretty as the Smokey Mountains, but you get major scenery in Bryce NP anyway. And you'll also have a chance to ride the Thunder Mountain trail. A bit of a detour west but totally worth it. It's basically like a mini bryce canyon without bicycle ban.
 

That would be huge being able to connect over in that direction.  From Liebre you could take forest roads most of the way to Acton, and from there to the top of the Gabes.  It could be possible to connect even further to Big Bear.  That would be a hell of a point to point!  Will give people something to think about, for sure....

You haven't by any chance figured out a cool route for this connection yet? I might need it next week... ie start in Santa Barbara with half of tour de los padres and then simply continue east.

I connected the AZT to the CDT as well, but went through Utah into Colorado. If you want to go to Escalante on your trip, think about crossing the Smokey Mountain Plateau north of Lake Powell. It's a fantastic ride and it drops you right into Escalante.


Climbing into the smokey mountains.
More pictures here: http://www.alpenzorro.de/rockymountix/ (scroll down to Day 17).

Here are the daily gps tracks from end of AZT to Escalante, including a resupply in Page that is not really needed. The turnoff to Smokey Mountains at a place called "Big Water" on US 89 had a very tiny cafe and a minimalistic shop.

http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?url=http://www.alpenzorro.de/rockymountix/data/rmx_10-05-18_Buckskin.gpx
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?url=http://www.alpenzorro.de/rockymountix/data/rmx_10-05-19_LakePowell.gpx
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?url=http://www.alpenzorro.de/rockymountix/data/rmx_10-05-20_SmokyMountains.gpx
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?url=http://www.alpenzorro.de/rockymountix/data/rmx_10-05-21_Escalante.gpx

It's two days and one night from Bigwater/HW89 to Escalante. I did actually find plenty water in the Smokeys in May (a jeep guy, one water tank, a little dribbling creek where I camped, a real river down Collet Canyon). I wouldnt count on it though. If you're tough enough, you could probably do it in one very long day. There's a lot to see along the way though (short detours), like some famous dinosaur footprint area and very pretty hoodoos in a place called "devils playground" or some such.

Need to start in LA now due to flight issues. No harm done, I can just ride south along the beach for a day, take in some good single track around Santiago Peak and then connect to Idyllwild Pine / Palm Springs trail and Joshua Tree.

Joshua tree offroad looks possible, I can enter through "Berdoo Canyon Road" and leave on "Black Eagle Mine Road". Certainly the NPS would allow cycling on jeep roads in the park? There's also this "California riding and hiking trail" but I suppose its not for mountainbikes.

Bradshaw trail afterwards looks like a fun thing to do from Desert Center, thanks for the idea! I would end up a bit further south (Blythe) than what I planned though. My last idea was to get to Parker, Bill Williams River, Planet Ranch Road, Bagdad, Prescott, Sedona, then Phoenix. But maybe that could also be other way round... like Bradshaw Trail - Blythe - Tucson - Phoenix - Sedona. So many options :-).

I think I need to give up on the GET idea. I would be there start of April and that thing follows some pretty high mountain ridges. Dont think I could make it to Albuquerque at that time of the year, unless theres a really dry winter. Maybe the ride has to end in Phoenix with just a little fun loop in the Gila desert.

Hi bikepackers. I am currently looking into riding from San Diego eastward towards Albuquerque around March. Current ideas include

- San Diego to Idyllwild Pine via northern half of Stagecoach-400 route.
- Connect to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree NP.
- Cross Joshua Tree national park from west to east on dirt. Possible?
- Connect to Sedona in the least boring way possible... BUT HOW AND WHERE?
- Ride best trails of Sedona, then connect to Phoenix and follow the GET to Albuquerque.

Anybody ever done this? Any ideas? I am especially clueless about the part between Joshua Tree and Sedona. Couldnt find anything worthwile on the net for this, but maybe I just dont know what to look for. Any input is appreciated!

Thanks,
Joe.