DXchulo

If I get lucky I might get a little time off in late May. I'd like to do a short tour and was thinking about Reno to Seattle, Pocatello, Flagstaff, or something like that (somewhere with an airport). I like the idea of starting from home and it adds a little extra convenience.

However, if I start in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, etc., then I'd get to see more stuff that I haven't seen before. I could use a little more help brainstorming in that area. What's a good 700-mile route that's good for May? I'm looking for something other than the Pacific Coast, and none of the ACA routes are grabbing my attention at the moment.

BlarneyHammer

I might go from Phoenix to Salt Lake City (or the reverse, if you prefer). Stops along the way: Sedona, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon.

That said, central/northern Idaho is a hidden gem. Seattle-Coeur d'Alene-Stanley-Salt Lake City would be an excellent tour, though a little longer than 700 miles.

saddlesores

forgive me, this is all from memory, too much trouble to
fire up the VPN just for google maps right now.....


fly to albuRquerque, start with a little circuit in the mountains
around los alamos. don't miss the neckit hot springs!

head south, take a west at socorro, take the back roads heading
south west, cross into arizona somewhere down near the innerstate.

there's loads of gravel/dirt/unpaved back roads, farm roads,
blm roads to stay off main highways if you want.



see organ pipe, tuscon, boothill cemetary, phoenix, saguaro national
park, flaggstaff, grand canyon, canyon de chelly...

head up into utah.....zion, bryce, mexican hat, arches, monument
valley, yadayadayada......then to salt lake to fly home.

if still have time left, head west on highway 50 to virginia city,
then reno to fly out.

diphthong

the length of the washington cascades from hwy 20 south to the oregon/california border. north cascades np. glacier peak wilderness.
alpine lakes wilderness. mt. rainier np. goat rocks wilderness. mt saint
helens. columbia river gorge. three sisters wilderness. crater lake np. steens mountain.

diphthong

california central coast bouncing between the coast and inland. specifically in the paso robles area.

diphthong

grand canyon np (north rim), zion np, bryce canyon np, escalante nm,
capital reef np utah-arizona

diphthong

point reyes natl seashore along with sonoma coast and redwoods np
northwest coastal california. add a day or two in the sf city area for giggles

DXchulo

How about Salt Lake City to Denver? Anybody ridden on 40 through there? Might be too early for too much fun in the Rockies.

stevepusser

You must be talking about the Great Western Bike Rally in Paso Robles. Lots of quiet winding country roads in that part of the state, though for the most part, the scenery is more bucolic than spectacular.

Maybe flying into Sacramento, or San Francisco, and starting a tour from there: SFO-Wine Country-Northern Sacramento Valley-Hwy 49 over Sierra--Lake Tahoe--Yosemite. The falls are booming in Yosemite this May. The route from Tahoe to Yosemite would depend on which passes are open.

Salamandrine 

Reno to Seattle sounds fun. I'd go over the Sierras northwest to around Mt Shasta and Weed, and then ride up the 97 to the Oregon border, past Klamath Lakes and up to Crater Lake (camp there for sure), and then listen to ooga booga cuz I haven't been north of crater lake on a bike tour. (yet)

squid22

I'm going to try a tour starting the last week of May in Oregon. I will start on the coast and work my way toward Crater Lake then north up to the Mackenzie hwy and back to the coast.

saddlesores

the sturgis rally will be august 8-14 !!!!

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