tblendell

I just read that the ACA maps won't be available until next year. I was thinking of using the out of print Bill Paul book and mapping a route south to north (from So. Cal. to Washington state) this summer.
I've done a couple 2-3 week tours in the past, but i'm wondering if something like this (very mountainy!) without the ACA maps would be biting off a bit more than i can chew. or pedal.
haven't been able to find any posts about this route and i'd be curious to see what people know about it.
love all the info from this forum! thanks!

Big Lew

I've been trying to get information on riding south to north or north to south along the eastern sides of washington, oregon, and california between canada and southern california as well. I've driven through the area a couple of times and have noticed there's many long stretches without facilities, and most importantly, water. Answers from forums have suggested travelling south to north because of the prevailing winds which can be very brisk. There are several very steep and high passes. My calculations suggest at least 3 weeks. Wish you a great trip! Hope to hear how it turns out.

tblendell

thanks! well, we'll see. i'm just starting to look at maps and get an idea where things are how how heavily trafficked some of the roads are. check back if you find any great info for your own trip!

fiatjeepdriver

i have most likely ridden on some of the roads for the southern oregon part of the journey but with out seeing a map a cannot be sure. if you have some questions about road conditions for my area (southern oregon) just let me know and i see what i can do.

arctos

This pdf file shows the ACA routes for a general idea of where the Sierra Cascades Route goes:
https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/RouteNetwork.pdf

AAA section maps of California are quite useful for route planning when combined with CalTrans traffic volume numbers. Krebs cycling maps of N. California are excellent as well but only cover part of this route in Ca.

Bodfish Cycles in Chester,California just South of Lassen NP is the origin of two excellent guides to backroad and offroad cycling touring routes in N. Ca. and California cycling routes in general. The titles are Cycling the California Outback and California Dream Cycling. Owner Chuck Elliot wrote the guides. 503-258-2338

The following are my best route guesses from riding this California route in various ways in the past.

From the ACA pdf map it looks like the S-C route follows California Hwy 89 from Mt. Shasta City through Lassen NP to Lake Tahoe to the end of Hwy 89 at Hwy 395 then South to Hwy 120 to climb Tioga Pass into Yosemite NP then out of YNP on Hwy 41 to Fresno then on to Sequoia Kings Canyon NP. Then over to Lake Isabella in the Kern River Canyon down toward Tehachapi over Hwy 58 to Mojave then Palmdale then East parallel to the San Bernardino Mts. to Big Bear Lake then South to the border terminus at Tecate.
Since Tioga Pass and the pass through Lassen NP are 9943 ft and 8515 ft snow clears by early June most years. This means traveling the other parts during the hottest portions of the Summer in the Central Valley and Mojave desert areas if traveling North to South.

I look forward to the official route when details are available. Great scenery and a bit of climbing to earn it!

jamawani 

Agree with the comment above -

It will be a difficult route to do because of the dramatic differences in temperatures and climate. To review, from north to south - North Cascades Highway closed in winter - opens earlier than national park routes; sections of routes in Gifford-Pinchot closed by snow; Crater Lake loop doesn't open until mid-June, sometimes July; Lassen road doesn't open until mid-June, sometimes July; Tioga Road usually doesn't open until Memorial Day, sometimes later; Great Western Road closed in winter.

The route appears to avoid the worst parts of the Southern Calif desert, still it's pretty hot down there in mid-summer. My guess is that the best time to do it would be late spring heading northbound - starting about Memorial Day or just before - or southbound - starting around Labor Day and hope that early snows don't catch you in Crater Lake, Lassen, or Yosemite.

Tricky timewise.

valygrl

Oh, now my brain is ticking over.... start memorial day in the south, ride all the way north, hang a left, head down the coast..... sigh.

BengeBoy 

I have the Bill Paul book ("The Pacific Crest Bicycle Trail") - you didn't mention whether you had gotten it yet, but definitely worth getting. From what I can tell the new ACA route is pretty similar to the Bill Paul route. The Paul book is pretty out of date, but very detailed, and has some interesting alternatives.
Here's what I know from North to South:

- From the Canadian border to Yakima the route is part of the ACA Washington Parks route; you can pick that up from them.

- From Yakima down through Mt. Rainier National Park I don't think you have much if anything in the way of services until you get to Packwood, Wa. From Randle on down toward Oregon you have beautiful country but again not much in the way of services until you get out of the Gifford Pinchot national forest. The Bill Paul book describes several different alternatives on how to get through this section, some paved, some not paved.

I've done parts of this section by bike and it's beautiful. Make sure you study a map carefully and figure out how to cycle over to Windy Ridge for the overlook of Mt. St. Helens - the road was badly damaged by storms a few years back so is closed to car traffic but you can go through the roadblock on your bike; just watch out for boulders in the road. It's about 6 miles off the main road to visit Windy Ridge and 6 miles back; you're rewarded with a great view of the Mt. St. Helens volcano crater.



- The section through Oregon is pretty regular ridden by bike tourists - I think if you dig around on crazyguyonabike you could like find journals that cover this section.

- I've cycled the section from Mt. Shasta to Lake Tahoe in California - it was great. Like other sections of this tour, you just have to plan your services. Plenty of small towns, stores and campground, as I recall.

If you piece together a complete map, would be great if you post it.

For that matter, have you tried contacting the ACA and find out if they will at least reveal which roads are going to be part of their route?

tblendell

i did send an email to aca to send when the maps will be available. it'd be great to get a bit of a preview but i'm not counting on it. thanks all for the input here. i think i'd be heading south to north around the beginning/mid of june. seems like a tough ride but i like the idea because its sort of remote and mountainy,and, i'm thinking, probably less traffic than cycling North to South on the Coast route. which i'm sure is also fun and made easier by frequent campgrounds and services...

Big Lew

Riding north to south along the coast is a relatively easy adventure compared to the inland routes you are planning; also, the prevailing winds get stronger the further south you travel, and are generally pushing you along (sometimes a bit dangerous when transversing the switchback side canyons as they can push you into traffic or off the pavement)

tblendell

spent some time looking through the bill paul book and a map of CA. last night. he breaks the rides up into 70 mile(or so) chunks with fairly straightforward directions. but the profiles? wow. regular days of 5000 feet of climbing. i toured through the alps a couple of years ago but i don't think i did that much climbing. interestingly the pictures of people's loaded rigs (there are only a few, and remember this is from the late 80's presumably, since the book was released in 1990) there are no large, mtb style cassettes in the back and it looks like nobody is riding a triple crank in the front. also noticeably absent: lycra.

also, for anyone checking in, i just received an email from ACA that the Sierra/Cascade maps will be available early summer of 2010.

BengeBoy 

There's no doubt that the inland route would be considerably more challenging. You could also consider shortening it a bit -- say (if you're going from South to North) starting in Redding, Sacremento, or Reno.