Mexico Border - Whitehorse, Yukon

[birk]

Hello all together

I`m searching the best route from the mexico border to Whitehorse,Yukon. We plan to start at the end of april and want to arrive in Whitehorse at the end of august. First we thought we`ll  ride the GDMBR from border to border, then head west to Vancouver -> Vancouver Island -> Ferry to Prince Rupert -> Whitehorse. Because of our early depart snow will be a problem on the GDMBR. So I`m thinking about taking an "easy" version of the AZT first. Then go further north trough Utah and joining the GDMBR in Wyoming... or something completely different? 

What do you think is the best and most beautiful route from the border of Mexico to Whitehorse considering:

- We want to ride through the most beautiful landscape possible. 
- We will have more bagage than a normal bikepacker, because we will be on the road for 4 months, so we can`t e.g. carry our bikes through the Grand Canyon. 
- Easy, rideable singletracks are nice. Some bike pushing is ok, but only for short sections.
- We only have time from the end of april to the end of august and want to cover a big distance.
- We aren`t super fast, and don`t have experience in touring in the USA (We do habe experience in bicycle touring in europe and mountainbiking in the alps)

For example: The GDMBR seams ok, but we would prefer more singletrack. For the GDMBR we would plan 2 months.

Does anyone has ideas for routes in canada (Vancouver Island, Price Rupert-Whitehorse)

Thanks for your help.   
Greetings from Switzerland

Birk

[ScottM]

Hi there,

I'd say that some version of the AZT might be perfect for you.  It's got you covered as far as the beautiful landscape is concerned!

You should be able to do some singletrack without too much suffering, but with heavy loads and an aim for a long trip you'll want to take mostly the "green" options on the AZT network file.

You might consider still hiking the grand canyon and getting your bikes/gear shuttled around.  It's an amazing hike, and the singletrack on the north rim is pretty friendly as well.

Good luck with the planning, let us know how we can help.

Scott

[Jilleo]

As for the a route through Canada: You might be able to string together some dirt roads/trails in southern British Columbia, but I think even there the options for through-routes on dirt are extremely limited. Within the Kananaskis area there are some amazing singletrack trails that you can string together with a few dirt roads and pavement from Roosville, Montana, through Fernie, into the foothills of western Alberta and all the way to Banff, basically by combining bits of the GDMBR with the current TransRockies route (albeit with a fair amount of bike pushing, especially if you're loaded.) Otherwise, I think the best route is to follow the GDMBR through Banff, up the Icefields Parkway and onto the Cassier Highway to the Al-Can to Whitehorse. There's really no options for dirt touring north of Jasper. There's just not a whole lot of development up there — no maintained dirt roads and certainly no trails. But once you reach Whitehorse, there is an abundance of awesome singletrack developed by local mountain bikers.

You can always take route inspiration from these guys: http://www.ridingthespine.com. They sought to ride as much dirt as they could across two continents but mostly rode paved highways in Canada.

[alpenzorro]

@birk, end of april mexico to canada on more than just gdmbr is available in all detail here: http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=460366

[birk]

@Scott

I now ordered Andrea Lankford`s book... Do you know, if it is possible to buy maps of the trail along the way, or are they hard to find? Can we get them in Tucson?

@Jilleo

Thank you for the riding the spine link. Do you know anything about routes on vancouver island?

@alpenzorro

I followed your trip "live" on mtb-news.de.  Your route was also a source of inspiration, thank you.

[AZTtripper]

Most of the course laid out in the AL book is on roads that are on the Gazetteer style maps. These are large format books. I usually just take photo copies of the pages I need. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Gazetteer+Maps&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=TI9&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&biw=1024&bih=578&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15792894947525595296&sa=X&ei=tJVvTcq3L4f0tgPRvv3XCw&ved=0CGoQ8wIwBA# These are available for every state but I see they are $16 a pop not sure that is the most economical way to go but they are good maps for the most part.

Have you decided on a starting point AZ or NM.

I got to thinking about your post and came up with what I think would be the best route from Mexico to Tucson. Thinking of the most direct least traveled roads and getting you to the most fun least hike a bike, scenic trails, and staying off of the narrow winding section of road north of Sonoita.



A lot but not all of this is covered on the Green route of the AZT page some of it is a newer route not posted yet. Also I skipped Patagonia just because it's out of the way and then busy highway with no single track reword for the extra effort. If you want the GPX track and beta just shoot me a pm with an email address.

[ScottM]

Yeah, a Gazetteer style map is a good idea and would work pretty well for staying oriented on the AR route.  Of course I recommend GPS, but that kind of goes w/o saying.

[birk]

We will definitely start with the AZT...

Probably I just print out some maps for an overview, and use the gps for more detailed maps.

I`m not sure about the route after the AZT. Reading alpenzorro`s report I think it`s worth to go east until moab, dont`t know about colorado, considering that we are early in the year.

Any experience in traveling from moab to salt lake city -> idaho? This route should be shorter, what I would prefer.

[chrisx]

http://gwt.org/
sooner or later, some one will have to figure out how to navigate the Great Western Trail.
On paper it looks like the more scenic route
not well defined, multiple trails claiming the name, (gwt)
mostly on public land, free camping, etc

http://www.tctrail.ca/thetrail.php
The Trans Canada Trail.  more research, the word trail could mean road in Canada.
Vancouver Island, the east side gets much less rain than the west side.  The rain cycle in the pacific NW continues into June.  Vancouver Island is, well, you might decide to stay there.  Don't worry about the route, there are many and the people are friendly and helpful.

In south British Colombia there is the kettle Valley Railway http://www.kettlevalleyrailway.ca/

The Vancouver BC bike club would be worth while to contact.
http://broughton.ca/bcakfaq.html#a1
http://vbc.bc.ca/links
http://vbc.bc.ca/

The Yukon Government will give you some info
From:   
"Karine.Grenier@gov.yk.ca"

I'm sure emailing the BC government would provide info as well.

[birk]

Hi

We have arrived in Salt Lake City. Thank you for information on the route. After finishing the AZT on 5/17, we decided to head directly north instead of going west to Moab first, so we could save some time. Due to the high elevation of the mountains and the weather in the area we rode on the road for the most the last few days. We will start tomorrow riding in direction bear Lake, then following the Wyoming/Idaho border up to Yellowstone national park, before we go north east to Vancouver. If you have recommendations for trails, or anything else we shouldn't miss, let us know. Thank you.

We will try to update our location about once daily on: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=08jYDCng08P0N42LNCz8AHW3ScSuQx4uc

Have a good day.

Birk

[chrisx]

looks like he made it
wonder if he will post some photos of his trip

[birk]

Yeah we made it. We decided to ride a little bit further north than whitehorse and arrived yesterday in Inuvik after 740 km on the dusty Dempster HWY. I will post some pictures when I m back in Switzerland around mid september.

[birk]

Nogales, Arizona to Inuvik, Northwest Territories

29th of April 2011 - 28th of August 2011

8500km by bike, 700km by canoe and 40km by foot

Arizona - Arizona Trail

We had a wonderful time on the AZT. Thanks to all the people who help building and maintaining the trail. Thanks to Scott and Tim for the GPS-Track and information. We ended up riding part of Andrea Lankfords route, parts of the "cyan" route and some parts on HWYs (Singletrack uphill with a loaded bike  ). Spectacular Landscapes, best weather of the hole trip.

Trail between Sonoita and Tucson. Was sometimes pretty hard with our heavy loaded bikes. Couldn`t imagine people doing this with trailers.  

View from the road up to Mount Lemon. Long ascent for the beginning of our journey.

Thank you Slime.  

In the desert after Oracle. Decided to follow the AZT instead of taking Andreas alternative. But after about on half of the stretch through the desert we had to head to HYW77, because we were to slow with our loaded bikes.

Enjoying some singletrack after Flagstaff.

Grand Canyon

Finally at the bottom of the Canyon.

To many trees on the trail on the north side of the Canyon. Had to use the HWY for a big part to Jacob Lake.

It was cold during the night. Snow in Arizona!

Last downhill before the border to Utah.  

Happy at the end of the AZT. (I tried to lift my bike, but it was to heavy.  

Utah

We run into a lot of snow and bad weather after leaving Arizona. So mostly HWYs through Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.  

Entering Utah. Marvelous landscapes.

Cottonwood Canyon Road before Canonville

Brice Canyon!

Wyoming

A lot of snow in the National Parks. Bad weather before and after Yellowstone. Last snowfall in Butte, Montana in mid June!!!

After some days with bad weather (Rain, Snow...). Entering Grand Teton NP.

Just a little bit of Snow at a Campground in Yellowstone NP.

Yellowstone

The first bear!

Geothermal features, Yellowstone

No Pictures of Montana and Idaho

Washington

Heading west through Washington

Bad headwind along the Columbia River

Oregon

Before Portland.

Oregon Coast

Washington

Back in Washington after 3000Miles

Selftimershot on the Olympic Discovery Trail Adventure Route.

4th of July, Friday Harbour San Juan Islands

British Columbia

We hoped to be able to ride some trails on Vancouver Island, but still not lucky with the weather (wettest summer in BC for 30 years!)

Inside Passage Ferry, Port Hardy

Bear on the Stewart-Cassiar HWY

Alaska HWY, Stewart-Cassiar HWY JCT. Next Campground 724km.  

Yukon Territories

We had planned to ride from Nogales to Whitehorse, but we arrived there one month in advance, so we went further north. First on the Yukon River to Dawson City, then to Inuvik on the Dempster HWY.

Paddling on the Yukon River. 700km from Whitehorse to Dawson City

Dempster HWY

Lucky with the weather

Crossing the Artic Circle

Endless Dempster HWY

Happy, at the end of the Dempster, end of our trip after exactly 4 months. (28th of august)

After 8596km on the bike

The trip was definitely not always easy but none the less a wonderfull experience I can only recommend.

If you have a question or want to know more about a part of the trip, feel free to ask.

[AZTtripper]

WOW, incredible thanks for posting the pics.

[chrisx]

Thank you for the pictures

           

[jahwalla]

great pictures
what setup did you use for this trip?

[birk]

great pictures
what setup did you use for this trip?

You mean bike setup?

Frame: Vortrieb -cheap aluminium frame
Fork: RS Reba
Hubs: Rohloff Speedhub -Rear, Alfine Dynamo Hub-Front
Rims: Rigida
Rack: Topeak

-> Pretty heavy, but sturdy wheels.