Ohio to Monterey CA off road?

[Bier]

In the next couple of years I really want to do a cross country trip off road but I've never really planned a trip of this sort before and was looking for some advice. I was looking at following the TAT from Tennessee out to Nevada as the route is already well planned out and I don't have to come up with the roads, but where it turns north in Nevada I'd really rather keep going west to go through Yosemite and eventually make the coast somewhere around SF/Monterey/Carmel.

- What's the best way to try to find routes through NV and CA? I've been looking through various forums but routes are all over the place when you look by states the routes are going in every conceivable direction. Google maps doesn't work because it doesn't let you filter by dirt/gravel/forest service.
- Are there any good ways to estimate how long it will take? On road it's been easy to figure out for other trips since you don't need to worry about how technical a route may be or if you need to reroute.

Any help for a noob would be much appreciated, thanks

[doogle]

It takes time to develope maps.As you must know,TAT maps aren't cheap.Because it took a lot of time to produce.To make maps,you take a chance that people may not be interested in your project.Across the USA sounds interesting.From Nevada to SF probably has been done.But probably not mapped.

Good luck. You might try AdvRider forum.

[markharf]

You're not going offroad through Yosemite, that's for sure: it's a national park. To the north and south are more national parks (Kings Canyon and Sequoia) and various wilderness areas--all forbidden to off-road motorized use. You'll need to go further to the north or the south to get around them, or hop onto the pavement over the pass of your choice. Don't forget to allow for snowmelt, which might close mountain routes until July--even later in a big snow year in some areas.

Order up copies of the applicable Delorme or Benchmark atlases for initial planning, then contact National Forest and Bureau of Land Management offices for the areas you think you'll be passing through--often they'll have maps aimed at motorized travel listing where you can and can't go and what the local regulations are.

Once on the road, be prepared to gather local information (i.e., talk to everyone you meet) and to improvise when nothing goes quite as planned.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark