lobby ACA to map Great Western Trail

[chrisx]

At a recent meeting, ACA said, "we want to make a new off road route but we don't know where".  Lobbying is a great way to get their attention.  If enough people emailed their chief cartographer at, jhmilyko@adventurecycling.org  they might look into it.

The Great Western Trail is a unique corridor of braided and paralleling trails for both motorized and non-motorized users. The trail system traverses 4,455 miles through Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. It incorporates stunning desert and canyon landscapes, plateaus, woodlands, dense forests and alpine meadows. It links 18 National Forests, Tribal, State and BLM administered lands and encompasses the most diverse vegetation, topography and wildlife in the western United States.  The Great Western Trail encompasses many of the popular trails throughout the five states.

looks like the best trail
 

[DaveC]

See the Great Western Loop thread, below. 

In my experience, the GWTrail is often ATV land (at least in AZ and UT) and when you see a GWT sign it's a good indicator of fall line pain.

[AZTtripper]

Part of the Coco 250 route is on the GWT. Fall line pain=down hill fun.

[DaveH]

Creating a standard route on the GWT - at least in these parts (Utah) - will require a lot more than mapping.  Some of it is outstanding, while much of it is forgotten and difficult to follow on foot and completely unrideable.  The concept highlights what is so cool about the GPS revolution we are enjoying - locals ferret out the coolest of trails, link them up and invite the world to come play on them, all made possible by the GPS.

Look at the map on http://www.bikepacking.net/bikepacking-routes/.  You could ride from AZT to TU, extend over to Moab, pick up the GL, ride to Telluride and up to the Colorado Trail, take that to Breck and pick up the CDT and keep trucking north.  5-6 weeks from the Mexican border to the Wyoming border.  Need more keep on rolling!  I'm guessing the beat down on bike and body on a trip like that would be quite the hurdle.

Oh wait, this thread is about mapping a GWT route.  My bad.

[GrizzlyAdam]

Here in Utah, every trail is flagged as the GWT. Well, nearly. Like Dave said, it would be a massive undertaking. In fact, the local USFS is in the process of removing placards on trails that are not actually part of the GWT.