Trip itinerary out West: Suggestions...

[dparadis]

Hi all,

Well looks like I might be doing the trip of a lifetime (mine anyways) this summer.

Leaving from Montreal and thinking of driving West to Grand Canyon, up thru Death Valley and on to BC, back thru the Rockies and home either thru Canada or Northern U.S.

The problem I am having is the planning of the whole thing. I have bought MS Streets and Tips, use Google maps and other Internet resources to assist in the task. Well by now I am tired of looking at maps and not really getting the information I am looking for.

Having never driven any of those areas, and not being a geographical nut, I have problems identifying the nice landscapes along the way. Thanks to Anna and her web site (excessivelocity.com), I am getting a better feel for what I would like to see along the way!!

But it still feels like I am trying to do something that must have been done thousands of times already... ...

My ideal resouce would be a map where landmarks and landscapes would be pushpinned and a pics would appear from the pushpin as the mouse would go over it!!! Good roads would also be highlighted by theme.

Anyways, after this wetdream, , if anyone has any suggestions about itineraries, please feel free to suggest away.

Is Route 66 a good idea? Better going thru Nebraska or Kansas? You know, that type of thing!

Overwhelmed in Montreal...

-David

[Bobcat]

Checkout Google Earth for terrain and elevation changes. Personally I'd return through Canada, but that means you'd probably have to find some way to cross the Alberta prairie without sitting on that mind-numbing Trans Canada.

If you're looking to do some riding in WA or BC, pick up a copy of Destination Highways.

[VIVID1]

My road trip planning resources:

http://www.motorcycleroads.us
http://www.roadsideamerica.com
http://www.motorcycleroads.com
http://www.motorcycleridesinamerica.com


I also look up scenic byways on the state websites
and I have a National Geographic scenic byways book

[monkeymunch]

I will definitly second the destonation books they are great I own the wa and BC books. they also have an oregon or northern cal book I think. I have a few sugestions for you and you would ride them in this order. 1.)when comming north up WA ride hwy 101 on the west coast the whole way from OR. to the north peninsula. 2.) THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!! south skagit hwy/HWY 20 over the mountains to winthrop. (this is rated the best stretch in wa). 3.) In BC you need to ride hwy 99 north past whistler to Lillooet and you will have tons of routes from there. Have fun you will emjoy our neck of the woods.

Other great roads in my specific area are:
Hwy 9 from arlington to bellingham
hwy 11 (chukanut DR.)
old pioneer hwy
also the roads around mt st. helens are great.

[*JD*]

I grew up in Washington, lived there until last year. It is a great ride if you do it right. just remember the center of the state kindof sucks. a little deserty, and not much to look at. Stay east or west. East it lots of rolling hills, and farm ground, west is the coast. I lived east, so i am partial , but i reccomend west, and monkeymuch said.

Drive the coast line, you can get from bellingham to california all along the coast, good scenerey from the coast, mountains, forrests etc. Mt Saint Helens has Great riding, good views, and nice twisty roads.

Good luck, get some destination higway books, and get rolling

[dparadis]

Thx everyone for the suggestions.

So far it has been Google Earth (which rocks!) especially around Mt. St-Helens and Raininer area, and an old, hard to find series of maps from National Geographic (thinking about buying the series here...)

http://www.performance-education.com...roducts_id=140

[crevans]

Originally Posted by dparadis

Hi all,

Leaving from Montreal and thinking of driving West to Grand Canyon, up thru Death Valley and on to BC, back thru the Rockies and home either thru Canada or Northern U.S.

If you're headed to the Grand Canyon, I'd highly HIGHLY recommend taking the scenic route by taking Highway 191 (old highway 666 ) through Moab, following it to highways 95, 24, and 12 through southern Utah where you can pick up Natural Bridges, Capitol Reef, the Kodachrome Basin, Lake Powell, and Bryce Canyon, then take highway 9 to Zion, then south on 89 to 64 to the Grand Canyon. Check out all of them at www.nps.gov and maps via maps.google.com. Enjoy our National Parks, you can get a 10 day all park pass for very very reasonable rates and save some $$$

Just be advised that from the Blanding, UT the next gas station is at the junction of 24 & 95 - I clocked 137 miles. I was running on fumes. Big, beautiful, empty land.

[Lost Sheep]

I just road from Vegas up to St. George UT on Interstate 15 then tood State road 9 up thru Zion park, then state road 89 to Fredonia AZ and thu the Grand Canyon and over to Page AZ. From there back to Fredonia and then back to Vegas. About 500 miles in one day. There were some great sites but we had to hook it along and made the whole trip in 12 hours. This included lots of stops for pictures and gas.

I have also done all of Death Valley in one day.

I'm not sure how long your trip is going to be but there is a whole lot to see. If you want some points of interest for Vegas, Death Valley and a little of Southern Utah shoot me a pm.

[BooRidesSB]

Tioga Pass http://www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/Highway120.htm
and Ebbetts, Sonora, and Monitor Passes. The passes are named in MS S&T so you can just enter the pass name in "Type place or address" box and find them.

In edit: And, in Western Canada there is a lot of riding activity around Banff. (My son may be moving to Calgary, so I'm checking out that neighborhood myself.)

[ferdiandrei]

I'm getting organized now for a similar trip in august if everything goes as planned. I'll be riding with another body starting from Seattle heading down towards Santa Maria via route 101 (a beautifull route along the Pacific coast all together about 1300 miles). Than head East toward Sequoia and Yosemite to the north through the parks. From there NE through Nevada and Utah bound for Colorado and the rockies to the North. I've been already on parts of this routes but I was driving at the time. I think rt 101 and the ride in the National Parks will be the highlights of the trip. The whole trip must be somewhere in the vecinity of 6-7000 miles and a lot of soar ass.

[sauster]

I drove through Canada last summer and thought the Prairies were wonderful to drive through... it was Ontario that was too long. On the way back I went under the great lakes through the U.S. and that was a nice change of pace.

[zuman]

I'm making a two-week, 3500 mile trip to Seattle and Northeastern Utah.

Thanks to some of the above, I have plans for up the Oregon coast and through Washington (stopping in Seattle) on my way over to Yellowstone and a couple of nights in Logan, UT and then back to Vegas by way of Great Basin National Park.

The areas I can't figure areacross California to the coast and Eastern Washington and Idaho. I'm thinking CA-120 through Yosemite and then over to Napa Valley before hitting the coast; anyone have particular mountain passes or quaint towns to suggest? Maybe I'll stick to straight lines from WA-20 to Yellowstone so I will have more time in the park, but I'm interested to hear if there are better ideas.

Since I'm on the Wee-Strom and a new set of Anakees (but not a dirt biker), I would kind of like to spend a little time on some 2WD gravel roads too.

--J

DL650K5

[dparadis]

Update

My riding buddy is having reservations about going to the Grand Canyon in July because of the heat. He wants to go to Alaska instead which I am not to crazy about.

Question: Is the Grand Canyon and California to warm to ride in July (most of which is Highway riding...)?

[VIVID1]

Originally Posted by dparadis

My riding buddy is having reservations about going to the Grand Canyon in July because of the heat. He wants to go to Alaska instead which I am not to crazy about.

The Grand Canyon is not that high in elevation, it does get hot. I did a ride though AZ in March and in places it was 70 degrees and in some places 30 degrees. I also rode though Utah in August, but if was an off year, cold and rainy, some places can get pretty hot.

Higher elevations, places in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Northern Utah, Colorado and California should be fine.

[gober]

Sure a lot of replies about riding thru Utah. I just wrapped up a Portland to Zions National Park trip myself.

I'd avoid the Grand Canyon in July myself, and avoid Nebraska or Kansas year round!