Is it Possible to traverse the entire USA off road?
 

I have been wondering how possible it might be to traverse substantial parts of the USA off road, avoiding as far as possible sealed roads. I have this vague impression that there exist ancient (by US standards!) trails that some people hike or pony trek on.

Do such trails exist? If so how can they be identified and does right of way exist, is it legal to drive on them?

I am thinking crossing more southern to northern borders on either side of the Rockies.

These guys have done Canada to Mexico on Quads, so largely off-road as they're not legal on-road in all states CLICKY. Marc, France and Minnie are hugely helpful people and reply to mails really quickly, so they'd no doubt be able to give you more advice, if you wanted it.

And this lot did West to East of the US of A again with Quads, but with a support team to bridge the impassable bits CLICKY. I don't know how friendly they are as I only discovered them yesterday, but the Quadtrek people link to them so I'm figuring they'd be pretty OK too.

Sounds interesting, we're considering a North - South trip of the Americas in Polaris Rzrs...

...after the trip to China, so we'll also be looking at using the off-road trails as much as possible.

I read somewhere a year or so ago about a Brit who flew his bike over to Florida and rode it to Oregon (bottom right to top left!) aiming to only use on unmade trails or complete wildernesses.

From memory, he was only on tarmac for about 10% of the distance.

I look for what/where I read it and post here if I find it.

Trans Am Trail
 

Trans-America Trail, Cross-Country Motorcycle Adventure, Motorcycling, Trans-Am Trail, Sam Correro, Dual-Sport, Motorrad Media, BMW, F650, GS, Road Less Traveled documentary,
HTH
Chris

Found it..
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/russell/

although the second page has moved and I have not the time to find the way round it yet.

Unpaved roads
 

Only about 25% of the roads in the state of montana are paved. The great divide trail in it's various forms goes from mexico to canada mostly on dirt and gravel. Here is link to a 900km day on a little bit of montana USA. A Monday Ride Along the Continental Divide - ADVrider

Thank you so much guys! I thought I was being original in imagining this trip but so many have had the same idea before me. I just love this site and the people on it for the way they respond with their experience and knowledge. I have mates who think they are being adventurous in doing a package tour on Harley's on Route 66! lol

The "Shadow of the Rockies Trail" seems exactly what I had in mind and the Montana roads too; I can visit my old friend in Great Falls :)

The only downside to this site is that one little thought, one little idea suddenly becomes one BIG idea with weeks (months?) of research and planning ahead of me. :mchappy:

Thank you once again.
I'm supposed to be writing a business plan but I just spent three hours surfin' this route/idea lol.

I have never seen such a vehicle before - what is it exactly?

Here is a north-south trip I linked from my local newspaper:

News: Canadian couple riding quads off-road from Canada to Mexico | joinville, hirth, journey : YumaSun

It has been done its not off road per say some roads gust dirt here. For more info look up on advrider Adventure Rider Motorcycle Forum much like the HUBB gust meaner and dirty and they like it that way. You can post and ask or look up this search I did hope this works
ADVrider - Search Results
The Trans American Trail or TAT is more of a string of roads people have strung together from where they start to where they want to go not a so much one trail.

The Quad in the pic may not be legal on road all over the US. On a trip South I ran in to a bunch in Arizona in th USA with road plates.

It's legal here in Arizona, but not in Nevada, Utah, or California (not sure about New Mexico) which are all states bordering Arizona, which might limit your travels.

However, I think if one has a road plated ATV from a foreign country, such as one of the European countries, you might get away with using one on the roads across the US. I remember a German guy rode from the east coast to California on a quad, and continuing across the world and the article was in the Los Angeles Times, but I don't remember the specifics or the time period for that matter.

Yes, the Trans Am Trail is about the best bet for a mostly off-road southeast to northwest route clear across most of the country, and there are numerous threads here and on advrider about the subject. I think the catch is that one needs to get a map for each state's part of the Trail as there is not one map that covers the whole thing (as far as I know).

If you wanted to regionalize, I know that there are certain states which would probably make a good off-road trek. Having lived in the northern part of Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation, I know that there are endless dirt roads/trails throughout that part of Arizona, and if one was to research, could connect with the southern part of this state in one big loop over a week's time.

Thanks Yuma - I did search for this route but it was only when I put the item on here that I found anything. It seems to me the most rewarding way of crossing the USA and although it will be a while yet, I would do it on a bike or possibly in my Zil131 (look it up!).

I have already ordered the map for the Shadow of the Rockies trail. In the UK we have oranance survey maps which are extremely detailed and would show such tracks. Are there equivalent types maps in the US? I was thinking about the Montana tracks.

It's what's known as a side by side, or sometimes a UTV, but rather than derail your thread by prattling on for hours about them (believe me I could) I'll tack it on to the quads thread HERE as it's closer related - and if we really go of on one I'll start a thread just for it.

Not sure of those kinds of maps, but there are geophysical maps (I think that is what they are called) which show details as far as elevation and such, as well as most every trail, road, and highway. Google Benchmark maps which have road atlas sized map books breaking down several states grid by grid in detail. I have used the Arizona one, and it is very accurate as it showed obscure dirt roads accurately as compared to other publishers' maps of the same areas.

As far as UTV's go, those can be licensed for the road in some states of the US, but will be restricted by other states for on-road use, such as the People's Republik of Kalifornia, just like the ATV's are.

Here is the link to Benchmark maps. They have maps for the western states, but like I said, are very detailed, and in my limited experience with the Arizona one on some remote parts of the Navajo Indian Reservation was very accurate with the dirt roads there, so I would think they would prove to be accurate for all the states they publish for.
Benchmark Maps Home

Non-Indians (American kind) should note that in the U.S. there are many Indian reservations that are closed to non-Indians. There are many public roads that pass through reservations, which are open to the public. But venturing off the public road can get you into trouble with the tribal police. The worst jails in the U.S. are supposed to be the Indian jails, due to lack of funding by the US government.

Check before venturing onto Indian reservations.

I am fairly certain (just from experience) that the Navajo Reservation is open, as there were many places to go for tourists, and quite a few of us "bellaganos" (I think that is the spelling, but that is what us "white" people were called-not sure if it was an insulting term...) worked there, plus the many denominations of missionaries who frequented the land, so people going up there, passing through on back roads, would not have any problems.

That being said, I didn't think of the other tribes and their allowance of non-tribal members on their land. That would be something for someone to look at on a map, and inquire before heading through there.

Thanks guys, I shall check out those maps.

The reservations sound very much like the situation in Australia where you need permission to travel through the Aboriginal areas. I'll take care to respect the provisions of the law - wouldn't want an arrow in my back :rofl:

If you are just doing initial planning and want to see the USGS overlay for a particular area, try using Nasa's World Wind 1.4

You can move to an area, load the USGS Topo overlay and see some very good detail on the entire nation. It will take awhile to load and the overlay ends at the US/Canada or US/Mexico Border.

Its got a nice 3D effect to it so you get a feel for elevations, cliffs and whether or not a route may work, before you spend much money on full detailed maps.

Nice little tool if you haven't used it.

Nice Blog
 

Brian's Bliss His trip on the TAT.

Thanks for that ref: I've just spent a nice hour reading his log. A well written and quite an interesting account of this route.

Jerry Counts can hook you up if you want to go South to North on the West Coast
Mexico to Canada - Dual Sport Adventure

Canada to Mexico
 

Buy the Book
"Cycling the Great Divide" Michael McCoy
The Route was designed for Mountain bicycles but is perfect for Dual Purpose Bikes. It starts in Canada and ends in Mexico.
Check out this web site. Great Photos and some GPS info.
Great Divide Intro

Thanks Seb - that's what I'm talkin' about! It looks like the America I want to travel through although some of his comments about seeing Idaho etc before it gets over developed seem strange to us British who can't move without knocking elbows with each other!

Montana looks a wonderful place.

Trans America trail
 

Road Less Traveled - an off-road adventure documentary, 35 days on the Trans-America Trail : BMW, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, KTM, dual-sport, dual sport, dualsport, dvd, tat maps, bike-cam, video, sam correro,
Check these blokes out, they are making a doco about the trans America trail, would be a great ride.

Thanks mate, I'm reading through their notes! I think we should keep this between ourselves now, it looks too good and I can easily envisage it getting too popular and losing its' mystique.

I notice your are from Australia - I've also been looking at similar routes across your country but there are soooo many from which to choose.

PS - chack out the guy being struck by lightning as he worked on his bike - it's the funniest thing you will see all day :) Road Less Traveled - A Documentary by James Beatty - click on the "play movie" :thumbup1: