Hi, I am planning the same and will use my garmin GPS with TAT pre-loaded card.

When are you going, and where are you based?

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'00 XT600e / GXR750K5 / WK450RX

Hi,
The plan is to ship the bike, BMW X-Challenge, end of April from Germany to Orlando/Florida. From there exploring the south states and joining the TAT in Colorado. Will use also a Garmin GPS and going to buy the tracks.
Whats your plans?
Martin

Planning on shipping to NY beginning of June, riding E-W and then South to Mexico, 2x XT600s it looks like at the moment. Frantically trying to organise things.

How much is your shipping and who are you using?

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'00 XT600e / GXR750K5 / WK450RX

Shipping is not yet decided. There are a few options.
Lufthansa aircargo is the easiest but also the most expensive option. It is € 2700 all inclusive even customs handling.
After finishing the TAT I'm going to visit the HU meeting in California in Sept. then heading south to Mexiko/Baja.

I'm curious what sort of "pre-loaded" card you will be using. Does it have .gpx tracks for the different routes? These are ever changing I understand and may be updated somewhere. I haven't started and serious research yet so if you have a .gpx track source I'd like to get the link.

Hi Guys, I have found these online, I have no idea on their reliability or how current they are ?

link - https://sites.google.com/site/gpskev...-america-trail

Hay Guys
I'm looking to do this trip in 2019. I'm finding it hard to get a GPX file of the route, is the TAT an actual set route? or is it just a term used for a Trans America route?
I'm also considering doing the TCAT instead.
Let me know if anyone would be interested in joining me, I will be shipping from Europe possibly from the uk

Hi James - there is an official Trans-America Trail route, in that the concept of crossing the whole of the USA on a series of unsurfaced roads and trails was originally conceived by Sam Correro, who rode and logged and mapped his route across the country - originally from Tennessee to Oregon, but now recently extended all the way to the east coast in Virginia and North Carolina too.

www.TransAmTrail.com

Before the advent of wide-spread GPS use and more detailed GPS mapping, Sam's roll charts and maps were the most detailed way to describe and follow the route. These days, people have track-logged their own journeys, and the link Davo posted above is essentially a collection of crowd-sourced routes, that generally follow the 'official' route, but utilise some alternatives - such as offering more technical sections and conversely easier/bigger-bike route options too.

Sam will tell you that the Trans-Am Trail is foremost a guide - taking you though some of the best adventure/dual-sport riding the United States has to offer. You can try and following it exactly, or you can utilise his route as part of your own personal planning, and deviate as you wish - either to sight-see or ride a number of side trails in the areas you're passing though.

Certainly when riding over 5000 miles of mainly unpaved roads and trails, almost inevitably you'll have to deviate from the official route at some point anyway - if only to avoid sections blocked by fallen trees, landslides, snow, flooding etc. - but fundamentally Sam's has ridden every inch of his official route, and he continues to update and revise various sections so the information is accurate and as up-to-date as it can be, and fundamentally should not lead you down any dead-ends or onto private land for example.

Whether you need to purchase his maps and roll charts, or simply his GPS downloads for each state really depends on how you like to plan and navigate. I've been quite happy just using his GPS tracks, and working out my own fuel and camping/accommodation stops - but other people may like more information during their initial planning stage - which the maps provide.

I've ridden the TAT twice now - most recently end to end in it's entirety, and previously by breaking it up into three sections due to the time of year I was riding (end of the autumn followed by early spring).

I have also subsequently revisited some favourite sections when passing through particular States, and also incorporated a few alternative trails in those areas with which I am already familiar.

If your intention is to ride the full TAT, then I'd recommend getting at least Sam's GPS tracks from the link above.

Hope that helps!

Jenny x

Hi Jenny,

I see you said that you've done part of the TAT in early spring. I am planning on coming across next year to do the TAT in March/April so a very similar timing. I would be interested to hear your experience of what parts were doable and what weren't? My goal is to try ride as much of it as possible, and most likely get to the more snow prone areas (i.e. colorado) by mid-april.

Cheers,
Tam

Hi Tam - is your plan to ride the whole TAT as far as Oregon, or are you time limited? Either way, once you reach Trinidad in Colorado at that time of year, you're going to have to reroute around the high passes, as they will still be closed due to snow.

If you stay south (on highway 160) you ought to be able to pick things up again west of Durango/Cortez (ie. Dove Creek on the TAT - heading west towards Monticello) - which is what I did in early 2009 - although again you'll almost certainly have to bypass the TAT section through the La Sal mountains via Geyser Pass - you have two options there, hug the west side of the mountains on trails that run alongside high 191 north (again, what I did in 2009), or take the Lockheart Basin trail which is part of the UTBDR route from Canyonlands up to Moab on the west side of hwy 191.

You're probably going to need to reroute the current TAT once you get north west of Castle Dale UT too, as the mountains between there and Ephraim are also over 10,000ft.

note. you might also have issues still in southern Idaho (between Arco and Sun Valley) depending on what the snow fall has been like that winter.


Otherwise, the majority of the first half (ie. prior to Trinidad CO) ought to remain do-able earlier in your trip as long as there hasn't been too much rain or flooding. When I was there in early March 2009 Tennessee and Mississippi was a mud-bath on the trails, but since the route skips regularly between paved and short[er] unpaved sections, you can work around easily enough and not miss too much.

for info. I was certainly able to ride the Tail of the Dragon and a chunk of the Blue Ridge Parkway prior to starting the TAT in Tellico Plains that year, but it was chilly still.

Things really started to flow on the TAT once you cross into Arkansas, and as long as the weather is on your side (ie. not raining) Oklahoma is navigable too, and you can always use the grid like nature of the road/trail layout to avoid certain washed-out and flooded sections too if required.

Basically, at that time of year you need to be flexible, and be prepared to forfeit all the high elevation passes in CO and UT.

However, one thing I would recommend is take the half-day train ride on the Durango-Silverton [Steam] Railway; and if hwy 550 is open all the way through, then ride that paved road to Ouray and head towards Moab that way - epic scenery and a taste of what the 10,000+ft passes have to offer, even if you're not on the dirt.

Hope that helps!

Jenny x