Medford OR, to Colorado Springs

[literocola]

Hey everyone! My friend and i are pedalin from medford to colorado. we helped his family move here and decided to ride our bikes home. this trip was last minute, and we could use route help home. we dont have much spending money and cant afford the true touring map. i think with a little american inganuaty, it and will be done. if you can point me in the right direction i will praise you forever. i am sorry about the formatting and spelling, i only have a flip phone. this is not easy lol. thanks in advance. mike.   

[jbphilly]

Is this on or off-road? If on-road, google maps is your friend. Print out maps and directions. Or just get state road maps.

If off-road...that's a little more complicated and requires a fair amount of planning for a trip that distance, I'd say.

[JRA]

Not enough money for a map?  Seriously?

Somehow I get visions of Alexander Supertramp.

[Bikeabout]

Map! Years ago (back before the invention of "bikepacking"*) I had a great time getting from Colorado to Oregon by using the Atlas and Gazetteer maps. (by DeLorme nowadays, I think) Honkin' book-o-maps for whole states. Bought a new one as I approached each state. They're nothing like ultralight, but I was able to piece together a fun route of mostly dirt. Small cities and towns for re-supply. Plenty of wild country, lonely countryside and less-traveled roads. Even a little singletrack. $12-20 per state isn't bad when it allows a high degree of improvisation and knowledge.

Basic route was NW Colorado via Brown's Park, Flaming Gorge, North side of the Uintas in Utah, Corner of Wyoming via Evanston (too much pavement in that stretch...), Bear Lake, through Pocatello, Idaho, crossed the Snake River Plain east of Craters of the Moon, through the mountains of central Idaho, into Oregon, Wallawa Mtns and the rim of Hell's Canyon.

I know some folks like electronic devices for navigation, but those olde fashioned paper maps still work, and mine never ran out of batteries. And I didn't have to have a plan when I began. Just made up stuff as I went along. I could lay out whole swaths of countryside, find things that looked interesting, and then go out and see if it was. Which, usually, it was.

--Greg

*Olde Timer Alert "Back when I was tough... "