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Old 01-02-2013, 12:41 PM   #11
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Re: Advice for spring on the Continental Divide

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Originally Posted by salivan
There is a mountain bike route http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divi ... Bike_Route.

There are a couple of mountain bike races along this route each year. The movie, Ride The Divide, is about one of them. From the movie, most of the route looked drive-able with 4X4 ... the web site will certainly give you some route options.
Reputedly you can also dual sport the whole divide on a dirtbike. Some iffy bits, but there's documentation online about the route. From what I investigated, some of the parts might be nice in a van. But quite a bit wouldn't be accessible to a big vehicle.

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Old 01-02-2013, 02:27 PM   #12
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Re: Advice for spring on the Continental Divide

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Originally Posted by rob_gendreau
Great suggestions; keep 'em coming.

As to AB, I've been down towards Pincher Creek, but not all the way to the border. I've always wanted to drive that forestry trunk road from near there up towards 1.
I quickly put a google map together of a route (includes the forestry trunk road) that i would suggest to anyone wanting to backroad southern Alberta from the U.S. border up to the Banff/Canmore area. Its mostly gravel, with endless boondocking and lots of off shoots to lakes (fishing/kayaking etc), trails (hiking/mtn biking and motorized activities like dirt biking and quading), and some small towns to hit up for supplies. Not to mention passes right by Waterton National Park that has great trails as well. How early in the spring will determine just how accessible everything is. I can give some more detail if need be.

Here's the google map link:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Saint ... ,11,12&z=8
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Old 01-02-2013, 03:59 PM   #13
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Re: Advice for spring on the Continental Divide

I posted earlier on this topic or rather tried to post but hit the wrong button somehow and lost it. But anyway, if you look up the ADV riders website there are multiple blogs on the GDMBT. I think you can do the entire thing on a dirt bike and from what I have read in the past you can do almost all of it in a 4x4. There have been both bicycle and dirt bike groups that have used 4x4 sag wagons.

The entire route has been sliced, diced, detailed, way-pointed, video'd, photographed and otherwise documented in more detail than most of us could ever absorb. If you want a slightly more spontaneous trip, (real adventure perhaps?) just ignore the detail but it does give a pretty good idea of where you can actually go on dirt roads as a starting point. In NM the route ignores some very cool places that are not too far off the divide for a vehicle. I would stop in Mogollon, not far from Silver City, perhaps spend a day looking for wolves in the Gila, maybe go over Mt. Withington which is a very pretty dirt drive, perhaps detour through Winston and Chloride and over to Truth or Consequences for the hot springs and general funkiness. The El Malpais national monument is really interesting, the Zuni's are almost completely empty and can be crossed by dirt road, ending up near Gallup, (100 miles west of the divide) you can drive over the Mt. Taylor massif from Grants on dirt, down towards Cabezon (I think this is on the GDMBT), Cabezon has an easy hike/scramble on the NE side that is well worth doing for the views, eat at El Brunos in Cuba, do hit the ruins in this part of the world, especially Chaco canyon though you could spend weeks exploring the other ruins in the area.
Then a bit of Apache reservation and you're in Colorado. Depending on your interests, or level of disconnectedness from the reality most of us occupy, there's also Dulce, NM, Famous for some sort of alien life form/force/whatever.... http://www.reptoids.com/Vault/ArticleCl ... istory.htm

Sounds like an great opportunity for a fabulous trip, keep us posted!
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Old 01-02-2013, 06:30 PM   #14
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Re: Advice for spring on the Continental Divide

gnty, thanks so much!

It's unbelieveable but Google has street view of most of that route, including going way up north, even on some of the gravel range roads (AB-40). Some of the prettiest street views I've ever seen; go check it out. I may not need to drive it now...
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