"Just Jeepin'" (macintux)
10/10/2020 at 16:33 • Filed to: road trip, backroadtrip
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"Just Jeepin'" (macintux)
10/10/2020 at 16:33 • Filed to: road trip, backroadtrip | 16
| 30 |
I’ve written in the past about the similarities between a true open air Jeep experience and motorcycling.
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It turns out we have more in common than that.
There are several mostly dirt & gravel routes, very long routes, scattered across the country, largely created by motorcyclists. Two-wheelers, I’m grateful for your efforts to keep slow driving interesting.
Most of the GPS routes are freely available, with one notable exception I’ll save for last.
Unfortunately most of them aren’t anywhere remotely close to me, but someday one of my Jeeps will be robust enough, and work will be sane enough, and the pandemic will be quiet enough, that I can try one of these. Maybe.
Ride respectfully
Most of these routes are defined by a non-profit called !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . They’ve been introducing routes since 2010, and their website is a great resource: not only the routes, but updates, alternate routes to bypass more technical segments, camping and hotel information, etc. Mad props.
Much like the Jeep world has embraced (well, somewhat embraced) !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the BDR organization promotes their “ride respectfully” ethic.
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East of the Mississippi
When it comes to off-roading, back-roading, dispersed camping, and backpacking, there are really two very different worlds in the U.S. The mostly urban, mostly private land in the states east of the Mississippi have very different rules than the vast swathes of federal land in the mountain states.
Still, gravel and dirt roads can be found in the east if you look hard enough (and trust me, I keep looking).
Northeast
This is one of BDR’s routes. One end is the impregnable Canadian border; the other is a small town named Hancock, New York. 1300 miles, seven states, several technical sections with alternatives for the less ambitious, some roads that are only open for part of the year.
Estimated riding time: 8 days
Mid-atlantic
Another BDR special. This isn’t your favorite apostle’s road to Damascus.
Damascus, Virginia, with a quick dip into Tennessee, then all the way to the Pennsylvania/New York state line. A mere 1000 miles, this route starts at a waterfall and includes a visit to Antietam National Cemetery ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , honoring one of the most brutal days of a thoroughly brutal war.
Estimated riding time: 9 days
Kentucky Adventure Tour
Growing up in Indiana, there were no shortage of Kentucky jokes. Sadly my cousin married a Kentucky sheriff, so I’ve had to learn to smile and play nice with our southern neighbors.
The state, regardless of what you may think of its inhabitants (they’re great people, really) is spectacular. Rolling hills, valleys, curvy roads, mountains (ok, Appalachian mountains, but I’ll take what I can get around here), lakes, rivers...just beautiful.
This loop covers 900 miles without the harder segments (and trust me, from what I’ve seen of eastern Kentucky, there are some brutal forest roads), and crosses the West Virginian, Virginian, and Tennessee state lines just to add some exotic flair.
Just be careful of people who don’t much like noisy vehicles coming through their peaceful backwaters; in fact, that’s a problem for all of these routes. (Again, see “ride respectfully” above.)
Estimated riding time: 6 days
Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail
http://transwisconsintrail.com
The website sums it up this way:
Be prepared for DEEP sand, ruts, mud, dust, livestock in the road, horse and cow manure, deer, bears, porcupines, possums, turkeys, logs, low hanging branches, barbed wire, drunk or distracted drivers, bear hunters running dogs, logging trucks, ATV’s, rednecks, amish, bad roads, no roads, lakes, streams, washouts, police, sharp unmarked corners, etc. Be aware you can die at any point along this route, regardless of your skill level.
600+ miles for the Overland version of the trail. Guided tours available (which seems like a pretty cool way to find a group of riders to share the risks with if you’re not from the area).
West of the Mississippi
Oklahoma Adventure Trail
This route doesn’t have a dedicated website; instead, there’s a forum thread and a tourism site page. If anyone knows of something more official, please share it in the comments and I’ll update this post.
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1500 miles of pure Oklahoma, with one optional side route to take you across the Red River into Texas. I’m sure Oklahoma can’t be as boring as, say, Kansas, right?
The western BDR routes
The Backcountry Discovery Routes organization has defined several adventure trails in the mountain states along with connecting routes. Rather than try to describe a part of the country I know nothing about, I’m going to be lazy and just link you to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and show you the maps.
Trans-America Trail
No, not the Pan-American Highway; although that would be fun, it also requires far more physical endurance than I will ever possess again in this lifetime.
This coast-to-coast mostly-unpaved route was shepherded into existence by Sam Correro, originally from Tennessee to Oregon, and the “official” route can only be purchased from Sam. There are now some community-managed versions, although there’s some controversy over private lands along the way; if I ever have the ambition to drive it, I’ll gladly pay Sam for the hard work he’s done.
I can barely manage to keep straight the routes I’ve found in Indiana with GPS and mobile apps; mapping the gravel and dirt roads across the country in 1984? The dude worked for it.
Because I don’t have the GPS file(s), this is a representation of the map I found at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
Epilogue: For the unpowered two-wheelers
Thanks to Wikipedia, I discovered this organization for bicyclists with backroads routes across the country:
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No matter your vehicle of choice: go forth, ride safely, and coëxist peacefully.
ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 10:45 |
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The TAT guy is a dentist from Mississippi or something like that. I’m sure you’ve seen the other, short routes he has on the website. The “Lake Hill Motors” routes are very close to me, and though I’ve been tempted to run them, haven’t done so yet.
UserNotFound
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 10:55 |
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Great resources. I’ve been building up towards doing some off road trips like these. I was intrigued by that loop in the Harper’s Ferry/Antietam area but it looks like that one is all paved roads. Either way, definitely going to be checking all of these out.
Pickup_man
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 11:08 |
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This is really cool but I need some South Dakota/Minnesota maps. Eastern South Dakota/SW Minnesota are chock full of gravel roads, most of them are straight and well maintained grid roads, but I’ve found several little pockets of fun, curvy roads, usually along rivers that while short are still really fun to drive.
I’m actually shocked that w estern SD and northern MN are missing from this site. The Black Hills are full of fun gravel roads, forest roads, jeep trails, atv trails and single track. I make it out there a couple times a year (was just there last week actually) and find new places every time. Central SD can be good in it’s own way, it’s pretty featureless with lots of straight roads, but the vast plains and rolling hills are beautiful in their own way.
Northern MN is gorgeous, and while I haven’t spent a lot of time there it’s basically all forests and lakes and is really fun to wander around. Central MN is pretty fun to as the land transitions really quickly, back and forth, between flat farmland grid roads and curvy hilly lake/river roads.
WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 11:10 |
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I can smell the lede picture.
Great writeup.
CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 11:11 |
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Have you ever tried Gaia? It’s what my dad (and to an extent I) use for trail mapping. Its slick
OhCrikeyTheRozzers
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 11:40 |
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Great write-up; and the description of the Trans-Wisconsin is fantastic. Did some easy stretches on my Tiger awhile back, probably all of the risks are accurate. Would add farm implements randomly appearing to the list.
TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 11:45 |
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This is fantastic, thanks for sharing. I wouldn’t mind doing the Trans American in my Defender... Maybe 2022... hmmm.
and 100 more
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 12:05 |
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Aaaaaand nothing in Texas! Because all of the property is privately owned. :(
415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 13:27 |
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I noticed the All Trails app that I use to look for hiking trails also has recreational off road as well. We also have some state recreational parks here,
Sadly a few places where you used to be able to go are no longer allowed apparently . We can’t go on most fire roads, Death Valley is really the only long range place to go here, there are some routes I found with All Trails, but some are closed and have been since the first major fires.
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Just Jeepin'
> CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
10/09/2020 at 13:51 |
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I love Gaia, but it’s suboptimal for my use case in one particular: there’s no good easy way to hide routes/tracks in bulk. This is a screenshot of the area around Bloomington, Indiana, and that’s with some number of tracks hidden.
Very hard to follow any particular route.
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Just Jeepin'
> ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy
10/09/2020 at 13:51 |
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I had assumed those shorter routes were just segments on the overall TAT. Interesting, thanks.
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Just Jeepin'
> UserNotFound
10/09/2020 at 13:51 |
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All of them? I wish I had that kind of free time (and reliable vehicle)!
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Just Jeepin'
> 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
10/09/2020 at 13:53 |
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I’m definitely going to write up some of my other resources for finding interesting roads, but discovering BDR elevated this post from a random thought to something I really wanted to publish.
I was hoping someone would point out other long routes like these.
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Just Jeepin'
> Pickup_man
10/09/2020 at 13:54 |
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BDR comes out with a new route every year, or so they claim, so that might be on their future plans.
Or, come up with something and make it famous!
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UserNotFound
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 14:06 |
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Haha no I mean checking out all of the links and resources.
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Pickup_man
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 14:17 |
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I’ll keep an eye on it!
I would love to, but I’m a wanderer, not a planner, although I do like to highlight the trails I rode after a day of riding.
Rufant
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 17:04 |
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Good stuff. I don’t think the ‘official’ website existed when wrote about the TAT a couple of years ago.
https://overland.kinja.com/great-overland-routes-the-tat-trans-american-trail-1820207400
I guess another indication of the growth of the off road motor travel sector.
I’d be hitting up at least part of those other trails if they are in striking distance for you. If someone else has done the research, that’s a great starting point.
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Just Jeepin'
> Rufant
10/09/2020 at 17:09 |
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I need to get to the point where my Jeep is fully functional first. Still too fragile, and I need 1st gear back, and I need my throttle to not get stuck all the time.
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Rufant
> Just Jeepin'
10/09/2020 at 17:35 |
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Yes, those things would be good.
I’m spending the day working on the Land Cruiser, so I can relate.
EngineerWithTools
> Just Jeepin'
10/10/2020 at 16:56 |
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Mr, Jeepin’,I’ve been meaning to say this since I saw this earlier in the week: Thank you!
We live in the far northern Chicago suburbs ( WI is about 350 ft away) and my family lives in Northern WI.
The WI route looks awesome, and easily do-able in our F150, maybe with just a little provisioning. What a great way to spend a weekend, without having to deal with crowds and cities and a pandemic.
Anyway, I appreciate the work this kind of Oppo takes, so thanks again!
flatisflat
> Just Jeepin'
10/10/2020 at 16:59 |
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I don’t even have an off-road capable vehicle, but I absolutely loved this write-up. Thank you!
Also, I didn’t know we had our own Nurburgring. ;)
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415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
> Just Jeepin'
10/10/2020 at 17:01 |
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I have had a lot of time to think about the M37, I may have to modify it more in the future so we can use it more and go further. An engine and tranny swap can be done without hurting the truck, the Chevy diesel swaps are pretty good, the BT Cummins are too noisy. I’d still probably have to trailer it to far away places so it may not matter.
LastFirstMI is my name
> Just Jeepin'
10/10/2020 at 17:03 |
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This really isn’t helping my wanderlust. I will say the Oklahoma adventure trail explores some surprisingly cool places (Arbuckle and Ozark mountains).
DipodomysDeserti
> Just Jeepin'
10/10/2020 at 17:05 |
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Looks like that TAT map skips past some of the best rural roads in AZ. Guy must be afraid of Indians. L ets keep it that way.
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Just Jeepin'
> EngineerWithTools
10/10/2020 at 17:17 |
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As someone roughly equidistant from the Wisconsin and Kentucky trails, I think the Wisconsin is more appealing with my fragile Jeep . I loved driving the Daniel Boone National Forest, but those were some tough roads.
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Just Jeepin'
> flatisflat
10/10/2020 at 17:21 |
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That would make for an interesting rally course.
Beefchips
> Just Jeepin'
10/10/2020 at 18:19 |
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Thanks so much for this JJ! I’m psyched to get out on the Western ones soon. I have a couple extra months’ vacation saved up from work so mulling a SW moto trip this spring
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Just Jeepin'
> Beefchips
10/10/2020 at 18:21 |
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Wherever you end up going, pics plz kthxbai.
And saf e travels.
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Beefchips
> Just Jeepin'
10/10/2020 at 18:22 |
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Don’t worry, I got you !
Taylor Martin
> Just Jeepin'
10/11/2020 at 14:28 |
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D ud e, this has opened up a whole host of bucket list items, thank you kindly. I plan on one day having a vehicle that could tackle trails like this, and if I ever had the ambition, I would happily take the Trans-American Trail, and damn the expense!