Old 09-08-08, 12:48 PM
  #3  
jamawani 
Hooked on Touring
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 2,854
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 347 Post(s)
Liked 141 Times in 91 Posts
Bill -

When you starting? When to end?
Maybe May 15th to August 15th?

An inexpensive tour of the American and Canadian Wests involves lots of public lands where it is free to camp - dozens of spectacular national parks - and generally nice weather. Hah! As if predicting weather in the West is any science.

If you start in the Bay Area you can catch Yosemite when the waterfalls are at their peak, cross Nevada before it gets hot, take in the canyon country of southern Utah, hike the Grand Canyon, then head on to the pueblos of northern New Mexico.

From there, just as the summer heat is hitting the lowlands, you can ride the Rockies from Colorado thru Wyoming and Montana into Canada and hit Banff and Jasper. There are a number of options after Jasper. You can cut south towards Vancouver thru the Thompson Valley and continue back towards San Fran along the Pacific Coast of Washington and Oregon. Or you can head out to Prince Rupert and up to Alaska or down to Vancouver Island.

By taking the Alaska, or BC ferries and/or Amtrak you can get back to the Bay Area or end you trip anywhere along the coast.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?...c_id=1168&v=sF

I've done variations of this about a half dozen times.
The weather is generally good, but can range from icy to sizzling.
Time frame 10 weeks to 14 weeks,

Best - J
jamawani is offline