jbphilly

Updated with a new route plan...see edit of the top post!

https://goo.gl/maps/Lg7bn

staehpj1

I wouldn't bother starting the trip with much more that 4 liters or so of capacity myself. I would then add and remove capacity as needed. It is easy enough to add recycled sport drink or bottled water bottles as needed. Even on the ST, I have never needed more than 24 hours worth of water and rarely that long. So, I never carry more than 6 or 8 liters.

In most of the desert on the ST I found absolutely no filterable water in the places where I would want or need to filter. I will say that in the Sierras and the Colorado Rockies it was nice to be able to have cold mountain stream water rather than hot water from my bottles.

valygrl

There is no prevailing wind issue in the mountains in CA/OR/WA - the "go south" directive applies to the actual coast.

I'm not sure about your April start on the east coast, possibly a bit early, but I would defer to local knowledge, I haven't spent much time there. If you drop south fast, it's probably OK.

KirkBeiser

I like the northern route. The southern route would be great also but I wouldn't want to be there at all near summer. The UP, northern Wisconsin, and northern MN are an underappreciated area imo but perhaps I'm bias because I grew up in MN and went to college in the UP. The east half of the Dakotas would be boring but things get better in the western half. Of course the highlight of the trip would be crossing the rockies and Sierras. I understand really wanting to do Utah and AZ though. Really cool landscapes. New Mexico was nice when I visited but I'm not sure I would go that far out of my way to hit that area though.

Just a note about the summer heat: You are going to need to be out of the desert way before summer. If you are doing the southern route I think you should leave in January/February. I think by May the temps are already getting close to 100F. I hiked the PCT 5 yrs ago and it was ridiculously hot in May but we didn't have a choice since we arrived in the Sierras before the snow had melted as it was.. I think the summer going across the UP, northern WI+MN would be tolerable especially since you have really long days and could ride in the evening when it was even cooler.

jbphilly

I was under the impression that higher-altitude deserts (northern AZ, Utah) were going to be a bit milder in terms of summer heat, as opposed to southern AZ or NM - is that accurate?

KirkBeiser

Of course high altitude is cooler but I see a long stretch from MS to NM where you will mostly be at lower altitudes in May/June. And even in AZ and UT you will be going from high altitude to low altitude some. I spent a month+ in NM/AZ/UT in each of 2007/2008 and the first two were perfect in Mar/Apr regardless of elevation. UT was cooler especially at the highest elevations that I wanted to travel.

jbphilly

I'd be aiming to be in the central south in late April, early May, with this schedule. Of course, leaving earlier is an option too...none of this is set in stone at all.

Machka 

What route did you end up doing, and how did it go?

jbphilly

Wow, thanks for checking back in on this! There's good news and bad news...the bad news is, I haven't biked across the US yet, though it's still on my bucket list. The good news is, I've been busy for the last year and a half with a really great job mapping a hiking trail in an under appreciated part of the world...we just published a new, free online guidebook at Abraham Path | a long-distance walking trail across the Middle East, and I'm pretty happy to see the fruits of all my labor out there for the world to use.

Anyway, the bike tour is something I'm still hoping to do, but as always, work makes it tough to find the time...thanks everyone for all your input and inspirational content so far though!