Continental Divide Ride

Very timely.

KnucklesGA and I rode this section a few days ago. Here's a screenshot of the bypass (in Magenta, and Countdown's CDR track in Red).




and a link to a GPX Track with the divert for those who want it.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6825265/CH11Divert.GPX

No problem.... and don't sweat the 'Deep Crossing' listed just after that. There was a mild winter and a dry summer so far. It was very tame.

Good luck on the adventure!

As this is Big Dogs thread, I'll address this to him...

But as my planning is terrible and I should have left a couple days ago... I'll take an answer from anybody...

In Idaho just north of Ashton,and just north of the railroad tunnel is a 40" wide elevated cattle guard. I'm trying to pin this location down a little better, as our hack rig is almost 60" in width - so I really need ot avoid this, and not have to turn around once I get to it and retrace steps - and burn precious fuel...

Here is a pic of Big Dogs route:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/advrider-p...ocruiser_CDT%20Ride_NarrowCattleGuardinID.jpg

and here is a pic of the cattle guard:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/advrider-p...cruiser_CDT%20Ride_PicofNarrowCattleGuard.jpg

I'm thinking that the cattle guard is on the "loop"; so it would appear we could take the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. Can anyone confirm this?

TIA

Yeah, when I came down in 2009 I stayed on the scenic highway and never ran into the cattle guard.

From the reports I read at the time that section was pretty whooped out so I didn't want to ride it anyway.

When I got to the southern end where it connected back into the highway, I got on the ORV trail and rode northward to the first railway tunnel - which was closed! They had a bypass for the tunnel, but it wouldn't have been the same so I'm not sorry I missed it.

I missed that section as that was when I noticed I was missing my counter shaft sprocket nut. :huh I slabbed to the closest dealer for replacement then rejoined the trail to slide between the parks.

Wow, Bigdog's tracks make navigating look easy. Thanks a million!
Any recommended paper maps to go along with the CD tracks?

AAA paper maps help. Benchmark map books are better, but hard to carry. They come by state.

I studied the route and actually used Cannonshot's tracks as they were more recent. I started with AA maps, then moved to Benchmark. Then I used google maps to trace the route. Then I loaded Cannonshot's tracks to my Gamin Basecamp software and studied it on their Citynavigator electronic maps. If you zoom in enough all the roads are there. After that I loaded it into my 60Csx and made sure it was there. Then I rode the route. I'd studied it so much including all the RR's I felt I rode it before!

I ended up zooming out on my 60Csx and just followed the tracks. If the tracks veared off I made a U and turned off on the road the tracks veered off on. Very simple after a day or so of riding.

Countdown has posted an alternate route thru New Mexico in his library on GPSXchange. IMO his modified route is much better than the classic route especially the Chloride Creek segment.

You say better but is it easier or more challenging? Just checking.

Hopefully the latter.

First it follows the divide as close as is possible. It crosses the divide over 40 times in NM.

In many places it is not Adv Bike friendly, I did it on a Dual Sport bike. I remember one very rocky road going to gas in Winston. I also found gas north of pie town while following the divide instead of the classic route. There is a mini White Rim trail just north of Thoreau

If you want a much better ride, the GWT in AZ & UT is great.

Well the Chloride Creek segment is more challenging and just to the point of being lots of fun. There is no problem riding it on a KLR. And I was on one ride where a guy and his wife rode it two-up on a KTM 950 and were right on my tail when I was on my KTM 450. Nothing very hard but lots of rocky creek crossings on the east end.

Plus this segment gets you to a neat gas station in Winston. I haven't studied them closely but at first glance it looks like the other segments in Countdown's alternate are pretty similar to the classic route in terms of difficulty.

Didn't know the name but that was the hardest section I remembered.

There was another much more fun section than classic route starting north at Hwy 12 on way to Pie town.

My wife and I leave the Texas coast to do the ride this Sunday, the 30th. Our gear is packed and we will follow Big Dogs route. It is predicted to hit triple digits as we cross TX. If I can, I will post updates as we ride or we will see you on the trail.

I'm curious if the CDR section has been closed around Del Norte, Salida, etc., because of all the wild fires. Colorado, in general, is having a really bad fire season this year.

info here: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3436/

My crew will be rolling CDR to TAT from the north about 2.5 weeks from now...

Right now lots of New Mexico forests are closed. The Carson is still open I think, but the Santa Fe and Cibola are closed where the CDR runs. I don't know about the Gila, but there is a big fire near where the CDR runs.

We usually start getting rain in early July and they might open up in a few weeks but surely not until after the 4th of July danger.

Or they might not. Our drought is severe. Temps have been well into the 90s even at 8-9k elevations.

We're hitting the CDR N-S in about 10 days. I know about the fire near Del Norte that will probably block that section. Are the NM forest closures due to active fires or just high fire danger?

The section between Cuba, NM and Abiquiu, NM is frequently closed, and this seems to be the case currently. While riding the CDR two years ago the situation was very similar so I stopped at the Forest Service office in Cuba before continuing on to Abiquiu. I showed them where I'd be riding and asked if these roads were closed due to fire activity. "Oh no. You'll be fine." Well... 40 or 50 miles later the road was indeed closed. Moral of the story: keep your plans flexible and be ready to route around.