Southern Tier in Feb/March or other suggestions

[denise1]

Hi from New Zealand. I impulsively booked a 6 week holiday arriving in Los Angeles late Jan next year. Now looking at my options. Loved the Great Divide. Tossing up between the new Baja Divide and the Southern Tier (part of). Or open to other suggestions. Wondering if that start time is a bit early in the year for weather/snow considerations on the Southern Tier? Any local knowledge and advice would be appreciated.

[aaron w]

I rode the Southern Tier in Jan/Feb a couple years ago.

[denise1]

Any comments on conditions at that time? Did you like the route?

[aaron w]

I had a range of weather conditions. Lots of good weather overall with plenty of time in short sleeves, but also some prolonged periods of very cold rain in the eastern US.   I stayed warm at night for the most part, except for some pretty chilly temps in the mountains near Silver City.

I truly enjoyed the route, although the feel is vastly different than that of the great divide route.   The traffic and the noise are always present.  Some sections were quite dangerous with high traffic and  no shoulder. In the eastern US especially, camping can be a bit of a challenge. I had to be very "creative" with my camping spots.

 If you are looking for an experience similar to that of the great divide, I would guess that the Baja route would be a better choice.    But if you are looking to experience the southern US, the southern tier is quite a ride!

[denise1]

Thanks for that.

In your opinion what section would you skip(bus) if you were short on time like I am? I may have to lose 500 miles somewhere along the way. I imagine the East end would be quite a different landscape which would be a shame to miss due to a lack of progress.

[dave]

As mentioned, the Southern Tier is dramatically different than the Divide route.  The ST is full-on paved roads the whole way.  If you want more information on it, you're best served by looking at traditional "bike touring" websites like crazyguyonabike.com instead of "bikepacking" sources (which tend to assume minimal or no paved riding, mountain bikes, etc.). 

There are plenty of California or SW USA routes for offroad bikepacking which would be OK in January, if that's your thing.   Good luck.

[denise1]

I'd much prefer to be riding offroad/unpaved. Just haven't found any good route sources to plan from. Can you suggest any guide books or websites that I may have missed? The Arizona Trail looks amazing, just looks like it may require a serious level of fitness, even excluding the Grand Canyon hike a bike section.

[offroute]

Hey, denise1, northern AZ is generally higher elevation that could be quite wintry at that time. So maybe I saved you some training  

https://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/
http://forums.mtbr.com/bikepacking-bike-expedition/

[AZTtripper]

I'd much prefer to be riding offroad/unpaved. Just haven't found any good route sources to plan from. Can you suggest any guide books or websites that I may have missed? The Arizona Trail looks amazing, just looks like it may require a serious level of fitness, even excluding the Grand Canyon hike a bike section.

http://www.bikepacking.net/routes/arizona-trail/

If you look at the AZT network there is a divide like bypass of the trail. Not that you could do the whole thing due to snow in the north.

Just an option to look at.
Tim