niknak

Our plan is to ride from Sacramento, California, to Lake Tahoe, where we'll pick up the Sierra Cascades route to Washington. We may then visit the San Juan islands and return home via the Pacific coast.

indyfabz

If you camp at Husky Haven in Rockwood and don't sleep like a rock, bring ear plugs.

See the video in post #3 of this thread:


https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/10...ver-slept.html

Ty0604

I pulled that info from a story in the Flathead Beacon dated June of 2013.

The article states "There is also a new hiker/biker campsite, just for those traveling with a tent."

EXPLORE: Whitefish Lake State Park - Flathead Beacon

The article you linked to says "Improvements will be made to sites at Whitefish Lake State Park...."

Meaning they were already there in 2016 but being improved. At least that's how I take it after reading both the link you posted and the one I posted.

gamecock

Near Knoxville to Mammoth Cave National Park to connect with the Trans-Am to Missoula, then figure out how to get to Renton, WA.

Ty0604

There's a few different ways you can go. If you jump on US-12 in Lolo you can ride that all the way to Morton, Washington (US-12 runs from Aberdeen, Washington to Detroit, Michigan) and then take Highway 7 (aka Mountain Highway) north through Eatonville to Tacoma and then follow the sound to Renton.

Or you can follow the Interstate 90 corridor via the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.

Assuming you're riding into Renton...

TheCharm 

I'm in the early stages of planning a loop from Saint Albans VT -> Montreal -> Quebec City -> Saint Albans VT. Obviously I'd spend nights at towns in between, but those would the major waypoints. I'll take the Amtrak Vermonter from DC with my bike. My other idea had been to leave a week or so earlier than the spouse to meet the rest of the family on the Outer Banks of NC. But I think I'd prefer this loop through Canada. I'm hoping I can budget about 10 days of riding, which should give me time for exploration and a rest day or two, should I decide I want/need them. I'm thinking of mid-to-late August.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has done similar to this route.

The most I've done is two nights away from home on my bike, so this will be a big advance for me. I live in an apartment with not a lot of storage, so I'm looking at the viability of credit card touring in inns/motels vs. acquiring a tent, etc. for camping. I'm not sure I'd be ready for wild/stealth camping at this point, so I'd want to utilize campgrounds.

I'm busy now looking at route ideas -- there are a few choices to be made. First off, should I take the route as I stated it? Or reverse it and make my way from VT to Quebec City first? Regardless of that, it seems that most who ride between Montreal and Quebec City ride on the north side of the St. Lawrence River -- I'd call it the west side, but when I visited Montreal they seem to prefer north/south designations. Anyhoo, any thoughts here appreciated.

BikeliciousBabe

Southern Tier! We'll leave San Diego 2/15 and aim for a 5/1 arrival into St. Augustine, +/- 2 weeks!

Hawksley19

Not 2017...but 2019 across Canada. Stoked!

DXchulo

Now I'm leaning towards this, which is the El Paso route. I can do that as a credit card tour. I could also do full camping. Not sure why, but I'm having a hard time making up my mind on this trip. My W-E trip was easier to plan.

indyfabz

Have you ever seen this?:


La Route verte


I fond this web site extremely cumbersome to navigate, but I think it also has route information that would be useful to you.


Having done ACA's Cycle Vermont tour back in August of 2010, you might want to consider getting off in Essex and riding the short distance to Burlington, which is a fun town with a nice campground near the lake. St. Albans is not that far of a ride from Burlington. We passed near it on our first day after riding along the trail than runs along the lake for a bit.


Also....Based on the number of people I saw on the roads both during Cycle Vermont and when driving back to the states after Velo Quebec's Le Grande Tour in 2008, I think reservations would be a good idea, at least for indoor accommodations. The 2008 ride was in an area SE of Montreal (e.g., Sherbrooke). When I got in my car on a Friday afternoon to head back to NY, the main highways were packed with families presumably heading out on vacation.


BTW...Back in September I took my bike on the Vermonter from Philly to Brattleboro to start a tour back home. It's a nice service and was also pretty crowded even after Labor Day. Several people got on and off with bikes. There is only one bike space per car, so I would also make my reservations sooner rather than later. Finally, I have tried to book bike space on Saturdays several times but the web site always tells me bike space is not available. I just tried a few minutes ago for May 6th and got the same message. I am wondering if there is something wrong with the web site booking or they don't allow bikes on Saturdays.

TrikeFan

I plan on leaving from Louisville Ky,riding to the Trans Am and heading west and either riding southwest on Route 66 or continuing on the TA.I haven't decided yet.

DTG

From reading about everyone's trips, I don't even want to post mine but hell, I will anyway. I'm just taking a short trip from Portland to Bellingham over Memorial Day weekend. I'll ride the train back home. It's only 300 miles. I'll stop in Seattle to see a friend then continue north. Drink some beer, eat some seafood, just relax.

OneCheapGT

I'm just starting out with touring myself, so looking into doing a weekend off-road trip up through Seminole State Forest and into Ocala National Forest. Will plan on camping at a couple of the springs.

TheCharm 

Wow, thank you very much for the first-hand information. I did find that La Route Verte site and I agree that it is clumsy to use. I was concerned about space on the train; I know there are few bike slots. I didn't anticipate that filling up might be an issue. I might poke around the website and see if I have the same issues. Or perhaps I'll call and see what I can find out from an agent.

Since I think I want to do credit card touring on this tour, I'll take to heart your advice about advance reservations.

One thought about that: do you know how to find out which hotels/motels might allow me to roll my bike into the room for the night? Or is my best bet to plan my route and then just call and ask when I make a reservation?

indyfabz

That's probably the best plan.

It was the Lake Champlain web site that I find difficult. The Route Verte site seems o.k., and I think it has links to bike-friendly lodging.

BTW...There is a border crossing near Richford, VT that I think is easy. Just make sure you have your passport to get back into the states.

Ty0604

Why bother asking? I've only stayed in a few hotels on all of my tours but never asked to bring my bike in. Leave the bike outside and wheel it in after they give you your key.

It's similar to asking if you can wheel your suitcase into your room....

Could you share your route when you're done? We'd be interested in doing it. My best friend is buried up in Ferndale and thought it'd be nice to ride up there and catch Amtrak back to Beaverton.

DTG

I can just tell you now. From Portland it's two ways to get to Kelso. You could take Highway 30 north and take the bus across the Lewis and Clark bridge. Thing is, it runs every 3 hours and only 3 times a day. I wouldn't try riding across the bridge because the shoulder is narrow, cars going by at 35-45 mph, and let's not even get on how much debris is in the shoulder itself. The way I'll ride is north to Woodland, get on a 5 mile stretch of I-5 (It's legal) that's flat, hop back on old 99 and take that into Kelso. From Kelso, you just reverse the STP route all the way to Seattle. From Seattle you'll ride the RSVP route which takes you all the way to Vancouver BC or where ever you choose to stop.

DXchulo

I don't ask at hotels, either. I did my W-E ride as a credit card tour, which was 23 nights in hotels. Never took my bike into the lobby and never had any issues.

Ty0604

Thanks! I've done Seattle ---> San Diego twice so was more interested in the part north of Seattle. I'm not familiar with the RSVP but just Googled it. I've never gotten onto Interstate 5 during the route though. It's really legal up by Woodland? Good to know, thanks!

Eltell

I am signing up to this - looks awesome - i've ridden many of the cols and passes throughout Europe but need to tick off the Stelvio, so here it is... Munich To Milan Trans-Alp Stelvio Cycle Tour ... europeancyclingtours.com

Eltell

Love this thread...very exciting stuff going on here!

Eltell

[QUOTE=Ty0604;19281632]I'll be doing the Southern Tier in 2017. It'll be my 6th long distance tour but my first across the south. Departing San Diego on February 15th and hoping to arrive into St. Augustine by May 1st. I'm going with one other rider at least. Still waiting to hear confirmation on a third rider due to a family situation they have. It'll be my first time touring with people I don't know for long periods of time. The Southern Tier was on my bucket list only because there's 10 states I haven't been to and the Southern Tier passes through 4 of them. New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. [QUOTE]

Happy Touring!

Good luck - looks incredible!!

Ty0604

[QUOTE=Eltell;19336093][QUOTE=Ty0604;19281632]I'll be doing the Southern Tier in 2017. It'll be my 6th long distance tour but my first across the south. Departing San Diego on February 15th and hoping to arrive into St. Augustine by May 1st. I'm going with one other rider at least. Still waiting to hear confirmation on a third rider due to a family situation they have. It'll be my first time touring with people I don't know for long periods of time. The Southern Tier was on my bucket list only because there's 10 states I haven't been to and the Southern Tier passes through 4 of them. New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Thanks! 3 weeks from today we'll be on the road!

haskellelephant

From 13th of March to 2nd of April I am going to ride the Carretera Austral in Chile.
Haven't found any touring buddies though, but I have heard the road is pretty well-traveled
so hopefully I meet some people along the way...

jwade

As still being new to bike touring and working out the bugs before a long distance tour I've got a couple trips planned here in my home state of WA. First I'm doing a round trip, 3-5 days, to Ellensburg WA. on the Iron Horse Rail Trail. This will take me up, over and through the Cascade Mts.

The second trip is a loop around the Olympic Peninsula, 8-9 days, starting and ending from my home near Anacortes, WA. utilizing the Olympic Discovery Rail Trail as much as possible.

Both trips will be camping the whole time. I'm hoping by then I'll have the bugs worked out of both my bike and gear. After doing a couple two day trips last year I found out I needed to update my backpacking/camping gear, purchased in 1990, to some newer lighter weight gear. Not to mention re-gearing the bike as I found out tour bike do not necessarily come with the right gears, especially for us older (65) guys.