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  1. #1
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    Oct 2005
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    2+ weeks to road trip in August: where should we go?

    With Burning Man cancelled, we have that time for a bike trip. Start will be Tahoe (so crowded now that I can't stand it).

    Last year we went to Idaho and did a bunch of backpacking and moto riding and loved it, but this year is all about bicycles, mtb and road. GF is intermediate mtb rider but has enough endurance for 50mi backcountry rides. We like big climbs.

    I used to live in Gunnison so I've considered heading there/CB/Salida, but I wonder if I'm missing some fantastic areas. After the incredibly crowded summer here near Tahoe, empty trails and camping are a top priority. We can't realistically hit both CO and ID, for example, since quickly covering huge distances in the 1982 Winnebago isn't without its challenges.

    So, where will you send us?
    ride bikes, climb, ski, travel, cook, work to fund former, repeat.

  2. #2
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    May 2012
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    Normally I'd say BC or Europe with 2 weeks off but not this year.

    Durango-Telluride-Silverton area is rad. You could easily fill a couple weeks. Roads like the Alpine loop may be overrun with tourists but it isn't hard to get away from crowds by bike, and there is tons of great riding. There is some nice dispersed camping too. It's a compact area which would minimize having to drive. Do you have a second vehicle with you or just the Winnebago?

    Montana/Idaho. Tons of options. But more spread out to get to rides. Just pull up Trailforks and look at the area around the CDT following the MT/ID state line, for example. You could spend weeks exploring around other areas like Bozeman/Big Sky, Missoula, etc.

    Norcal/Oregon loop. Head over to Mendocino and the Redwoods. There are a few cool/worthy rides up the coast to OR. Loop around through any of Ashland, Hood River, Bend, Oakridge, etc.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by evdog View Post
    Normally I'd say BC or Europe with 2 weeks off but not this year.

    Durango-Telluride-Silverton area is rad. You could easily fill a couple weeks. Roads like the Alpine loop may be overrun with tourists but it isn't hard to get away from crowds by bike, and there is tons of great riding. There is some nice dispersed camping too. It's a compact area which would minimize having to drive. Do you have a second vehicle with you or just the Winnebago?

    Montana/Idaho. Tons of options. But more spread out to get to rides. Just pull up Trailforks and look at the area around the CDT following the MT/ID state line, for example. You could spend weeks exploring around other areas like Bozeman/Big Sky, Missoula, etc.

    Norcal/Oregon loop. Head over to Mendocino and the Redwoods. There are a few cool/worthy rides up the coast to OR. Loop around through any of Ashland, Hood River, Bend, Oakridge, etc.
    Thanks! I lived in Telluride for a bit (learned to tele there), but never mtb in that area. I always heard it was rad though.

    Leelau's MT TR from 2018 makes me want to ride that area, but I worry many of those big alpine rides will be too techy for the GF to enjoy. She's fine doing 40 miles of mellow trails with lots of climbing, but the equation changes when it's technical...

    We're hoping to just take the WinningBago, as it's small and can get nearly anywhere a van can, but carrying at least 4 bikes is a problem. We need a trailer to carry the bikepacking ones too, but that complicates accessing trails etc.
    ride bikes, climb, ski, travel, cook, work to fund former, repeat.

  4. #4
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    Dec 2009
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    Are you wanting to singletrack or more varied rides?

    I'd head north, maybe singletrack around Bend. S24O on the Oregon trail or similar. Idaho to the Hot Springs route. Whitefish and Glacier for more singletrack or bikepacking on the Tour Divide or Wild West Route.

    Ride for 3 days, then a day to travel to the next spot.

    Enjoy!

    Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

  5. #5
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    Jan 2017
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    The trails in bend are pretty blown out right now... need moisture

  6. #6
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    Thanks. Yeah, I've ridden in Bend before, and def wouldn't go there in late summer for the same reason I'm leaving Tahoe. Things just get too blown out.

    Combining some singletrack with a couple of 2-3 night bikepacking trips will prob be the ideal solution. We'd originally planned to do the whole ID Hot Springs loop, but are assuming it will be super crowded like everything else. No? Are crowds up north more normal than they are here? Trail use is up at least 100% here.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T707A using TGR Forums mobile app
    ride bikes, climb, ski, travel, cook, work to fund former, repeat.

  7. #7
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    Apr 2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by climberevan View Post
    Thanks. Yeah, I've ridden in Bend before, and def wouldn't go there in late summer for the same reason I'm leaving Tahoe. Things just get too blown out.

    Combining some singletrack with a couple of 2-3 night bikepacking trips will prob be the ideal solution. We'd originally planned to do the whole ID Hot Springs loop, but are assuming it will be super crowded like everything else. No? Are crowds up north more normal than they are here? Trail use is up at least 100% here.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T707A using TGR Forums mobile app
    During the week, trails in CO are just about empty- especially up in the mountains. For example, we rode Monarch Crest last weekend (Fri and Sun), and other than passing a few groups on the initial climb, we didn't see anyone on the descents (Starvation, Greens, and Fooses). Didn't see a soul on Canyon Creek either.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    What about Oakridge in OR. Some huge descents, many of them blue (almost green as far as I'm concenred). Very fun flowy riding.
    Just don't drive thru Portland on your way there...
    https://www.trailforks.com/region/oa...lon=-122.37810

  9. #9
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    Mar 2006
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    Or you could stay the fuck home and stop pretending we aren't living in the middle of a pandemic.
    So many out of state plates around here, and of course the numbers keep going up.
    No longer stuck.

    Quote Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn View Post
    Just an uneducated guess.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn View Post
    So many out of state plates around here, and of course the numbers keep going up.
    Well then you should understand why someone might want to GTFO of town when the masses with their covid cooties descend on your local area and trails.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by evdog View Post
    Well then you should understand why someone might want to GTFO of town when the masses with their covid cooties descend on your local area and trails.
    What does that mean? Is it just a generic statement that everyone should have empathy for self-interest?

  12. #12
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    Sure...some empathy for locals who no longer feel safe in their own area would be nice.

  13. #13
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    Sorry, I just didn't understand it in the context of Stucky's comment, since he's sort of a local. The whole thing sounds circular.

  14. #14
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    It is circular, agreed. You can try to be responsible by staying home and recreating locally, but is that really the most responsible thing to do when you have tons of people coming to your area from other places, many of whom aren't wearing masks or social distancing?

    I have the same thing happening in my area, where throngs of people from all over are flocking to the beach. Can't even ride a bike in the bike lane because people are walking in it to avoid all the other people who are on the side walk. The number of close encounters is far more than I'm comfortable with - same goes with our local covid-hiker infested trails.

    So I go out of town to camp and ride remote trails where I'll encounter as few people as possible. Of course that means I'm coming into someone else's area to recreate and you could argue contributing to the same problem I'm trying to escape. I can't deny that. But unlike the people mobbing Tahoe or my beach area, I'm not meeting up with friends or socializing, I'm keeping visits to stores and restaurants to a minimum, and I'm choosing trails and/or ride times when I'll encounter fewer people.

    Not perfect, but the number of interactions with people is far less than if I stayed home. Seems like climberevan is trying to do the same thing. If anyone here has a problem with this, sorrynotsorry.

  15. #15
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    Well... Thanks for the discussion. Obviously we've considered the implications of any travel right now. It's not like the plan is to party hard all over the West and get physically close to strangers. Riding trails and hanging out by ourselves in the middle of nowhere is about as low-risk an activity as I can imagine. The occasional grocery store or fuel stop will be undertaken with the utmost care, and masks will naturally be worn.

    Contrast this with the big groups of people I've seen camping everywhere around here and with the huge crowds on the beaches and outdoor cafes. That's the kind of behavior that is problematic, regardless of where it's happening and where the people are from. I have no issues with people traveling from state to state if they are behaving responsibly.

    There are certainly those who argue that everyone should just stay in their homes for the foreseeable future, and I can appreciate that argument. However, I believe that the way through this is for people to behave responsibly (masks, physical distance, no big groups), not to lock themselves at home. It's important to find a behavior pattern that is both sustainable and responsible.

    Anyway, we're thinking we'll check out Oakridge and the environs first, then maybe head NE from there.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T707A using TGR Forums mobile app
    ride bikes, climb, ski, travel, cook, work to fund former, repeat.

  16. #16
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    Nov 2005
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    I won't put words in Stuck's mouth, but it's worth noting that this being the internet these threads are typically <10% about the OP, so hopefully nothing is taken personally. Traveling self-contained obviously offers a more responsible and safer way to do this and I'm not trying to imply you shouldn't.

    As we're all seeing, the people who are descending on "tourist towns" right now are self-selecting in the other direction. Locals seem to be hiding here, if the ratio of local to out of state plates is any indication (<5% at one count last Saturday). And somehow even more than most years, the latest crop of CA (and now TX) transplants assumes everyone here has just been waiting to check out their sweet ass matching lycra and share their favorite huckleberry patches.

    Regardless, since people will do what they will do it makes sense to give advice that helps responsible people avoid irresponsible ones. Anything else is unhelpful at best and at worst contributes to problems. So the only timely advice I've got at the moment is that things are not more normal further north unless you do a really good job of avoiding towns. (Shocking, I know.) Think 20 miles of dirt roads and 5 miles of a steep climb, preferably starting on an undrivable fire road/double track/moto trail for 2 or 3 miles. Otherwise the hikers are out in force.

    FYI for our coastal friends, redder states are putting out a more welcoming message which belies the reality, especially if you're coming from someplace with more executive orders. Regardless of one's own politics (since that somehow seems to matter) the sense of how bad things are in a given place is often calibrated by governors' orders, but it shouldn't be: local counties and cities are taking less publicized actions in the absence of outright state restrictions. And state level guidelines are still recommending responsible behavior, they're just slower to mandate it. Lower publicity and smaller populations tend to disguise the level of the pandemic in these places where testing is down, percent positives are way up and case counts have been looking more like a hockey stick than a parabola. So maybe it's not surprising that the least responsible among us choose to go places where responsibility is voluntary. It sounds like you don't want to join them. Good on you.

  17. #17
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    Look, I know we're likely not swapping Covid Cooties on the trail.
    I am aware that most cases seem to community spread.
    But you have to think about all the gas stations and takeout places you'll be going in and out of. It makes it possible to spread it, or get it and take it back with you.
    Not the best thing to do right now.
    Also, it's really unpleasantly hot, so we got that going too.
    No longer stuck.

    Quote Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn View Post
    Just an uneducated guess.

  18. #18
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    Back in the spring, I talked on here about how I thought it was pretty shitty that people were going on road trips and (potentially) spreading their germs around. That was when our tourist town effectively didn't have covid. We went 2 months without a single confirmed new case.

    Then tourist season arrived. Now our tourist town is overrun with maskless idiots, and our case count is skyrocketing.

    But at this point, the ship has sailed. Go wherever you want, because regardless of what you do, there are thousands and thousands of people traveling freely (and not abiding by any sort of coherent covid precautions). Americans are incapable of a collectively responsible approach at this point, and individual responsibility doesn't really gain much of anything (aside from safety for that individual, maybe).

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by toast2266 View Post
    Now our tourist town is overrun with maskless idiots, and our case count is skyrocketing.
    Crazy what a difference 130 miles makes. Mask compliance here seems to be basically 100%, at least inside.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by RootSkier View Post
    Crazy what a difference 130 miles makes. Mask compliance here seems to be basically 100%, at least inside.
    It's gradually trending better, but there's still plenty of maskless types. And in fairness, there's a lot of locals that are aggressively anti mask. It's definitely trump country up here.

  21. #21
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    Feb 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by RootSkier View Post
    Crazy what a difference 130 miles makes. Mask compliance here seems to be basically 100%, at least inside.
    It's crazy what difference 20 miles makes:

    County / State New Cases Total Cases New Deaths
    Routt 2 110 0
    Eagle 23 1092 0
    Garfield 13 734 0
    Grand 0 44 0
    Moffat 1 26 0
    Rio Blanco 0 8 0
    Summit 1 324 0
    Colorado 426 48376 5

  22. #22
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    Jan 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by climberevan View Post
    r

    There are certainly those who argue that everyone should just stay in their homes for the foreseeable future, and I can appreciate that argument. However, I believe that the way through this is for people to behave responsibly (masks, physical distance, no big groups), not to lock themselves at home. It's important to find a behavior pattern that is both sustainable and responsible.


    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T707A using TGR Forums mobile app
    Well said.

  23. #23
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    May 2008
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    Denver/Dillon, CO
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    We are doing the last week of the month through Telluride, Durango, then out on US50 so I can show my wife the old stomping grounds of central Nevada. Let me know if you want our proposed route. Tons of great hot springs and a couple cool state parks you may not have hit from out in Tahoe/Reno
    Someone once told me that I ski like a Scandinavian angel.

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