Road Trippin USA TR

[brannen]

So I was asking people here for some advice for my next debacle/adventure. Going from Colorado- west come September, but did Moab - East this last year. Some of you people gave me some advice on some rides to take, so thanks a lot, never really had time to thank anyone. I forget who all helped me, but here are some pictures from our roadtrip last Sep. - Nov. with explanations. Hopefully this next trip is as fun.
Started in Salida, did the Monarch Crest Trail and then headed towards Moab.
Monarch Crest
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/monarchcresttrail24.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/monarchcresttrail11.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/monarchcresttrail3.jpg

Moab
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/memoab1.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/memoab10.jpg

Some Huge Arch we found on a ride, Pretty Sweet, but too steep to ride
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/bigassarch4.jpg

We stopped in Lake McConaughy, Nebraska to do some Kiteboarding. Got one good day in with the wind, and this sunset kicked some serious ass
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/beachsunset4.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/kiteboard3.jpg

Then we made a stop in my old stomping grounds of Chitown and partied way too hard. We did ride Palos Heights, which I heard would be the place the Olympics will ride if Chicago gets the summer Olympics. Pretty sweet riding for so close to Chicago
Only one picture b/c I was way too hungover and ended up riding for like an hour before calling it quits
We did some serious city riding around too, but no pics. That city has some awesome features, whether you skate, bmx, or ride a Mtn bike

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/knowhowiknowyouregay.jpg

Met up with a Keystone buddy up in Port Huron, Michigan and did some park riding and along the Lake

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/mebikehuron3-1.jpg

After Michigan we headed to Louisville to hangout with some more ex-Keystone employees. The riding in that city is great too. There is a huge park right off of the highway that we started riding in and found at least 10 miles of killer singletrack. It was one of the best rides we had all trip, the singletrack was great, and it didnt stop raining for weeks. It was a terrential downpour the entire time we were riding, making the rides dangerous as all hell, and more fun then anyone can explain. It rained soo much that 3 ladies died getting out of a cab. They got swept away and into a sewer. That is alot of rain

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/louisville3.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/jamiebike.jpg

Took off from Louisville and went to Mammoth Caves. They have a pretty sweet system of trails there, we probably road 20 miles worth. About 10 miles in we encountered some serious flood waters. The river was 25 feet above normal, and the fairies werent even running. The trail we were on turned into a stream crossing that got about 5ft deep. Pretty gnarly walk across, bike overhead, no shoes, on slippery wood, rocks, and mud.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/mammoth3.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/mebikekent1.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/mammothbikeflood.jpg

We then headed to the Land Between the Lakes National park. This place was wicked. 30 miles of singletrack on the North-South trail, all wooded and hilly, most of it right along the waterfront. Sweet scenery and some killer climbs, believe it or not. Apparently all i have from here is a truck pic from the "campsite" and a sunset. OOPS!

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/lblsunset6.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/truckstreamcross6.jpg

We then went to Nashville and saw the Citizen Cope show at City Hall, cool place. Dropped my buddy off at the airport and went to the Big South Fork National Park for some riding. This place ended up being one of the most scenic rides Ive ever done. I volunteered some time to do some trail clearing and was shown the goods by a few locals. This place had it all, climbs, huge downhills, woods, cliffs, rivers, caves, etc..
Cant wait to ride here again


http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/grandgap34.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/grandgap17-1.jpg

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http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/grandgap42.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/grandgap38.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/collierridge7.jpg

[brannen]

On the way out of Nashville we saw a waterfall on the map and decided to stop and check it out. No riding, but found out that it was the largest waterfall east of the 'Ol Miss'sip. Fall Water Falls or someting like that. Gnarly, and really cold water for late late september

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/Falls2.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/Falls7.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/Falls4.jpg

Picked my buddy back up from the airport a few days later (he had a wedding or something to go to) and we headed towards the Occoee river. Did some rafting there, but couldnt find time to ride some trails that we heard were pretty gnarly. Beautiful place, so i belive it. The dudes at Big Frog Expeditions were cool enough to let us borrow a raft and some kayakers, and we took a few runs down the Occoee. It was pretty tame, but real fun running a river youve never seen.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/seamusocoee.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/bigfrog2.jpg

Then we headed towards the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. This place is scenice, but what the fuck, why cant you ride that famous trail (forgot what it is called, maybe the Appalachian? the one that goes almost up/down the whole eastcoast)? So we did the picture taking thing and got out

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/smokies3.jpg

After that we made it to Tsali and rode all of those trails. Another scenic place with some really cool rides.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/jamiemebiketsali.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/jamiemebiketsali-1.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/mebiketsali8.jpg

Left for Charlotte, to hit up the National Whitewater Center. This place is rad, and if you dont know anything about it, look it up. Probably the coolest outdoor adventure center soo close to a city. Manmade rafting/kayaking, mtn bike trails, climbing, ropes courses, and so on. Did some rafting and some great biking down a course. Unfortunately my buds camera got stolen a few weeks later and we lost most of those pics.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/nwc34.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/nwc19.jpg

Left Charlotte and hit up the Pisgah National Park, for some of the nastiest downhill I have ever seen/ridden. It was raining again, so we could only go 100% and not balls to the walls. Still a nasty trail that will kick anyones ass at full throttle. Did one of the hardest climbs ever too, following a fixed gear maniac who made us all look like pussies. He killed us going up that hill, but nicely let us fly by on the downhill. No pics of the downhill, just vids. Pics from the Trace Ridge trail and campsite.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/pisgah1.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/pisgah11.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/metsalitreehuggin.jpg

Left and drove to West Virginia to raft the Gauley blind. That river kicks ass and I will be back to conquer again next year. No pics, but Class VI are some cool ass people.

We then left for DC to visit my buddies sister. Ive never been, so we rode around and pumped out all the tourist shit in one day. Riding aroun there is cool.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/capital2.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/lincoln4.jpg

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Left DC and did some riding in Maryland and Virginia, but no pics. Rode some cool places, if you wanna know where, let me know. I can look it up.
Then we left and headed to Philly. Did some skating, no riding

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/phillylove2.jpg

Baltimore

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/baltimoreme1.jpg

NYC, ended the trip here, where we then flew to Europe for a crappy ski season.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/brooklynb2.jpg

[Crinkle]

stellar work on covering a lot of distance. Yeah you can't ride the appalachian trail, not that a lot of it can't be done, just not around popular areas. It is tad bit creepy you guys not wearing shirts, you must have gotten shalacked by bugs. I would say there is a lot more to CO than Monarch. I would throw Fruita in that mix and head northwest, hit up Utah, lift serve at snowbasin and deer valley. Then up to Boise and Sun Valley in Idaho (talk to the Rev for suggestions). Stop in Kellog and do some more lift laps at Silver mtn. Drop on over to Coeur D'Alene and hang out at the lake and there is some trails to ride there as well. Zip on up to Mt st helens and hit some more goodness, aka Plains of Abraham, up to the Canadian border and i'll let someone else take it from there.

[LaBelle23]

Looks like a killer trip, but are you adverse to wearing a shirt?

If I was doing a CO west trip I would go south first, hitting Crested Butte, Durango, the lift at Silverton, Fruita, Virgin, Moab/La Sals, SLC area, and the Tetons. I don't know too much about further west though.

[brettf]

yeah - more shirts needed!

that is hidden arch IIRC. Not just too steep to ride, but too exposed to ride. Hah.

[Rontele]

Awesome pics. Palos is great for Chicago-area riding.

[brannen]

Yeah, the shirt thing was habit, I guess. We did alot of swimming on these rides, since most of them were close to water. We also only brought like 2 shirts each, and didnt do too much laundry. Il be sure to wear one more often on this next trip.

As for heading west, we were planning on doing this trip, just an idea so far...
Monarch, Fruita, Moab, SLC for a day (any riding around Alta/SnowBird?), Ketchum, Portland, and Eugene.
My buddy will be with me for three weeks, and then Im stranded on the WestCoast with no plans on how to get back. Most likely hit up Montana and Wyoming on way home, but the southwest sounds pretty wicked. And Vegas would be soooo close if i did that route.

Including city riding we hit up 14 states last trip, it would be sweet to get close to that again, although all the western states are huge-mongous. At least 6 though.

[doublediamond223]

Great TR. IDK if you are into climbing, but some of these areas would be worth keeping a trad rack and rope in the car/pack. Examples:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/grandgap34.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/chunderscrunch/bigassarch4.jpg

That arch looks hard though.

[brannen]

actually was supposed to climb on tuesday but am still stuck in chicago. never climbed outdoors, being from the midwest and all, but my new ladyfriend is supposed to teach me this summer