Top Ten Bikepacking Trails

I wonder why they left out the Great Divide Route? Not enough singletrack?

Jerry – it's listed (Continental Divide Trail)

Interesting. A buddy and I are discussing a semi-guided ride on the Kokopelli trail. Not gonna bikepack though, gonna let an outfitter haul our junk ahead each day.

Ah, so it is. Thanks for pointing that out. Odd that they referred to it as the Continental Divide Trail as that is the backpacking trail while the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail is the bikepacking trail. Not the same thing.

Thanks for posting this Don. If you are ever looking for someone to do the Trans Ga with
let me know.

Brent, I’ll definitely keep you in mind. Chris Wallace and I have been kicking the idea around a little and I’d love to have it on my calendar for this year. There are a lot of nice rivers up in that area. It might be fun to scour the topo maps to find a nice bike and packraft mixed route to really mix it up. Ideas?

Don Meredith
lightpack.blogspot.com

Well, the White Rim Trail is jeep road the entire way, but it's epic. The photo they have there is a look down from near the top at a climb/descent on the trailhead at east end of the route.

Several years ago, I was grinding up that thing at the end of a long day and felt a rider on my tail. I looked over my shoulder, expecting it was one of my riding buddies and it was, instead, a Dude With One Leg who had passed everyone in the group, passed me and spun up out of sight.

So, there are obviously mutations caused by the uranium dust in the water.

We were in Canyonlands in November, watching some guys go down the windy part of that on mountain bikes. Looked like a blast. Made my legs hurt just thinking about coming back up it though.

That trail looks fun Joe.

Don, I need to familiarize myself more with the trails. I have done a lot of north ga road and mtn bike racing and a fair amount of training, centuries, etc. up there.
I have been wanting to do a long offroad tour for many years.
I also havent ever done any packrafting but have been paddling canoes/kayaks my whole life. Ill be looking hard at the route.

Joe, the climb out Schaffer on the White Rim is cake compared to the Shandies on the Kokopelli.

The site really is not clear if they are talking about the Great Divide Mt Bike Route which is maily dirt roads or the Continetal Divide Trail which is mainly single track. They overlap at times but are 2 distinct routes. Since you can't take a bike in federal wilderness areas or national parks my daughter and I combined the two for a great tour of new mexico last summer. Here is a link site.google.com/a/greyrock.org/new-mexico-s-continental-divide/

They are missing the Centennial trail in the Black Hills of South Dakota, about 100 miles but some great scenery and parts that are great riding as well. Mix of singletrack and jeep road.

How about this one….

Le P’tit Train du Nord

230 km each way

Laurie, I think that sounds like a great ride, but it is a road ride, not an offroad trail. The article that this thread referred to was specifically concerned with mtb trails.

There are many great road rides to be found but far fewer long mtb trails. Thus, it is more noteworthy to find a long offroad trail than a long road route.

Still, it would be great to list a top 20 road tours in North America, maybe an idea for a new thread?