Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - The Continental Divide

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- Travellers Seeking Travellers (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/travellers-seeking-travellers/)

- - The Continental Divide (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/travellers-seeking-travellers/the-continental-divide-74942)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strong Bad (Post 458865)

Well, we are doing it kinda solo as we will be alone in the sidecar.

Please note as I stated before, that there is a Continental Divide TRAIL (CDT) and there is also a Continental Divide ROUTE (or ride if you wish) (CDR). The CDT is a route for hikers and bicyclists and has sections of single track trail through areas where motorized travel is NOT allowed. The CDR is primarily US Forest Service dirt roads of various quality with sections of tarmac connecting them.

An average rider should be able to do the CDR IF that average rider was smart and not riding over his head. The ride reports over on ADVrider has lots of pictures, including plenty of pics of guys that have crashed and the type of terrain they crashed in. A few soft spots and occasional muddy sections is it.

Thanks matey. Happy with that and suspect that I will be doing the route solo. Not fussed by that since majority of my other trips have been solo. I will add it to my blog when I am finished.
Potted Roads and Bumpy Tracks

a few places that wont work for a side car

I heartily support your idea to do the CDR with a side car. belo are sme segments that wont work:
NM - Mt taylor to Cuba- there are some parts of deep sand and deep, muddy,steep arroyo crossings. Cool alternatives are easily available(via Pueblo pintado).
Cuba to Abique NM- depending on who's route this could be a a minefield of of babyhood boulders. Many excellent alternatives are available through the Sante Fe NF.
Hopewell to Colorado- avoid the section above Lagunitas lake(nastiest in the route) and go instead to los Pinos and make an end around to conejos.
Colorado is easy, best part is Colorado river north
Wyoming is easy but slightly sandy in the great basin
Montana is spectacular but avoid the obvious extreme options.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strong Bad (Post 457686)

Howdy Darbya! Twowheels03 gave me heads up on this thread. Indeed SWMBO and I will be doing the CDR starting in late June going from south to north with our sidecar rig:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...2/DSCF1098.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psdf966c7d.jpg

We live in Southern California and we own land just outside of Anaconda Montana. Having lived and worked through out Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, I've always wanted to do this route and finally get to see Colorado and New Mexico. My planning for late June early July was to allow for snow melt in Colorado but yet be early enough to avoid most of the July thunderstorms, and much of the hottest time of the year through New Mexico. I also wanted to be in Anaconda for the 4th of July.

I've been obsessively researching and studying the route for a while. Over on ADVrider there are a fair number of ride reports and GPS tracks, with the best tracks being BigDogs and Cannonshots. The CD Trail (CDT) that the bicycles follow has sections that motorcycles can not follow (due to a number of different reasons). The CD Route (CDR) overlaps the CDT for most of the way.

I'm not too concerned with mud as once most of these roads get muddy, it is a sticky mess that packs in around your wheels and fenders and pretty much becomes impassable no matter what you are on/in. You either wait for the road to dry out or you bypass on the tarmac.

Pasomonte,

Thanks for the tips! They are a very welcome addition to the information I've been collecting!

I'm following Cannon Shot's GPS files and have created KML files from them so I can preview the route on Google Earth and on Google Maps.

Regarding the Mt. Taylor to Cuba section. I would be very disappointed to miss this section as this appears to be some of the most remote areas of NM. With my rig, I can handle anything that a standard pick up can do without 4x4. Sand is not too much of a problem unless it is deep enough that, again in a pickup, you would need to air down and use 4x4 to plow through.

If you would recommend nothing less than a 4x4 pickup for this sction, do you know the area well enough to be able to comment on the following alternative?

From Grants head north to hwy 509 and then take 509 towards Pueblo Pintado, but rather than all the way up to Pueblo Pintado, take Indian Service Route 7004 to hwy 197.

Regarding the nasty section above Lagunitas Lake. You are saying to turn off of Cannon Shots route (following [87] at that point) and onto [87A] [443] Los Pinos River Access Road to Conejo Colorado? Then from Conejo, take Hwy 79 west to where it intersects the route again, right?

Thanks again for your input!