Hey Kids,

First off, thanks to everyone for all the beta and WETA / Paul Koski for getting the reroute completed.  

Awesome thanks Mike, I was hoping we could ride some of the path.  So Kyle and I will start an ITT tomorrow night when ever we get there.  I don't think we can call it a grand depart with two people! We're going counter clockwise, starting from Loma and riding the whole route (Koski Traverse) and the extra trail including the power lines that BD called out. in the above map.  We considered adding the western rim for fun, but decided to go as "classic" as we could -

Thomas, are you still going out on Friday clockwise? We'll look for you, hope to see you out there.  

I'm looking forward to finally seeing this course, thanks for all the beta guys -

Good Luck guys, looking forward to some good stories!  


Eric D. and I got out last week for a CCW GL run.  We rode S. Camp/Broadway/C-340/I-70 from the LL to Loma, the Koski/Nucla reroute to see all the new stuff and we skipped the Divide/Transfer/Powerline roadie gig but hit all the singletrack, turning left from Divide Road onto the Powerline and left onto the Tab.

Still working on my writeup but in short- Eric had to bail at Whitewater due to stomach/gut issues and my time was 4 days, 21 hours, 57 minutes.  (From Sun May 20 @ 6:59 am to Fri May 25 at 4:56 am)  20-ish hour push at the end from Traver Trail/Moore Creek to the LL.  

Here's the links to my pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VyMcRye4WRUN89hY2

Cheers,

Jim

Hey fotooutdoors,

The only other trail/singletrack route in MI that I can recommend is the High Country Pathway, however it’s a bit more rustic and technical (read: carrying your bike over deadfall, bushwhacking around flooded areas and riding/walking slippery wooden skinny bridges) so save that for another day.  And you’re correct about the U.P.- mostly gravel.  You could bikepack / trail to trail ride to connect all the singletrack in Copper Harbor, Houghton and Marquette in a point to point fashion.  I’m unsure of the neighboring states.

So that leaves the NCT in the Manistee NF.  Bowman/56th Street to Mesick is ~80 miles, mostly trail, which would meet your requirement for ~40 miles a day for ~5 days, out and back fashion.  You could mix and match in some roads to make it more interesting in both directions.  Generally I’ve been recommending a loop that is about ~150 miles- Starting in Reed City and taking the Pere Marquette rail trail / roads to Baldwin/56th Street, NCT for the ~80 to Mesick, roads to Cadillac (going over Briar Hill, the highest point in the L.P.) and finally the White Pine rail trail back to Reed City.  There is quite a bit of road / rail trail, but other than riding through Mesick and Cadillac, the route has very low traffic and adequate services.  Here’s the route: https://www.strava.com/activities/1098990935

There are other sections of the NCT that are fun to ride, but are a bit more challenging (read: rustic, sandy and hilly) than the section per above.  Giem Road -> Petoskey (going through the Chandler Hills) and Kipp Road -> Mackinaw City (climbing hill and dale over the soil encrusted dunes and through the marshy sections of Wilderness State Park).  I can provide more info for those sections, if you like.

Does this help answer your question?

Jim

Hey munky,

What kind of mph can I expect on that stretch from Cumberland Falls State Park to Arvel

We averaged 3.9 mph on that stretch.  I had 43.69 miles and 11:13 H:M of moving time to go from the Cumberland Lodge to our second resupply in Bernstadt, KY.  In Bernstadt, we had a pizza dinner from the gas station / gun shop, bivvy’d on the grass lawn between a chapel and a cemetery, and refueled / breakfast at the same station before going two days / 120 miles to the next resupply just before the Red River Gorge.  The Mountain Parkway exit you ride by has good services.

I pack pretty light and I'll be riding a rigid El Mariachi with Minions.

Hmm…  I don’t know if I’d want to go out there fully rigid.  And the concept of a ‘light kit’ on this course may consist of a Borat suit in a toothpaste tube cap.  Depends on how much weight you can lift above your head.

Also, how's resupply look like along that stretch?

Water: non-potable aplenty.  Food/Services/Etc.: Zero.  I’m unsure what may be off-course.


As with anything, YMMV.  You’ll definitely become perceptive to your position on our comments once on the trail.  

Does this help?

Jim

Hey sXeXBMXer,

Yep, the track hasn't changed since '14, but it's still current.  Post up if you need more info or are looking for others to ride with.  We have a group that gets out a few times a month in the summer and we're always looking to include people into the fray.

Jim

Depends on what you're looking for, start here: http://transmichigan.blogspot.com/

More questions?, post up.  We have a mixed group that likes to get out a few times a month for an overnighter or two, always looking to get more people into the fray.

Jim

Cross posting for those looking to ride in TN/KY.

http://zipspot.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-sheltowee-trace-nrt.html

Subscribing to the thread...

Hey sdr,

Did you get this figured out?

I'm on the mac and mount my etrex30 as a drive via usb, then copy the tracks I want on the mounted drive here: Garmin -> GPX

You'll then need to go to the Track Manager on the unit, select that track and choose 'Show On Map'.

Jim

But now I see the GPX has been posted on bikepacking.net since 2012, so...nevermind, I guess.

I'd say even with the track, you'll still be bushwhacking a bit.  And there's still the conundrum of available water sources...

The Google Earth overlays from this site are informative as well: http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/earth/

Hi All,

I'm a potential, however I've been waiting for the Paradox re-route to happen...  And as always, if it's more advantageous (weather wise) to slide the start date and go ITT, that would be my intent.  With a Tab TH start off Monument Rd, Koski Traverse, Paradox re-route.

Hey Paul, what's the chance that some spring Grand Loopers might be able put down some tracks on the new route?

Jim

Still looking a bit moist up on the plateau at this point, does anyone have this on their radar?  If I give it another go my target start date is June 5th, but as always I'll move that around a bit due to weather and/or course conditions.  Hopefully things dry out a bit over the next two weeks...

The latest update from the FS (5/20) still says Divide Road is closed.  Cite: http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/gmug/home (click Spring Road Conditions under Quick Links on the right hand side of the page and then find the Uncompahgre reports in the list.)

Depending on your disposition, NOAA has a fairly good link for their snow analysis: http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/earth/

Hey Stefan,

I started on 8/8 @ 8:46 am and finished on 8/20 @ 6:45 pm, which calculates out to 12 Days, 9 Hrs, 59 Mins.  I'll post my writeup - pic dump once I decompress and debrief my thoughts.

I'm definitely glossing this over- but big thanks to you for organizing this event, everyone I met and rode with along the way, Toby Gadd for the track/waypoints to follow and the CTF for laying down the trail to make all this possible!  We're certainly living the dream out there!   

Cheers and peace,

Jim

Finally made it to Silverton after four grueling days from bv.  Been riding with Jeff Taylor and another untracked rider Chris.  Luckily for us one of the bars was still open and we were able to score some late night vittles.  Had a good crash on the dirt road coming down off cataract.  Hoping to make Durango in two more days!  Man this course is a beast...   

Hi All,

I'm starting my ITT this morning about 8-ish from Waterton Canyon (friend is dropping me off on his way to work).  I registered with Trackleaders yesterday, so I should be visible at some point.

Good Luck to everyone!

Jim

There's very little sand, I run a Rampage 29r 2.35 on the front and Saguaro 2.2 on the rear.  I've run Python 2.0 tires on the NCT before as well, without issues.

I'd say the fat bike would be fun, but kinda overkill if they're worried about sand.  Although there certainly are some small stretches where it would definitely be an advantage.

When you right click and save as, you can always change the file extension to gpx.  Or after you download to your local computer.  From the link below, I just did the download to my computer and uploaded to my Etrex 30 w/o issues.  I'm on the Mac, so the path to the unit mount is this: /Volumes/GARMIN/Garmin/GPX , however if you're on Windows it will be something along the lines of <drive_letter>:\GARMIN\Garmin\GPX  Once downloaded you might want to change the names of the track(s) to something simple when you upload, or it will just have the name 'Track' in the selection window.  For instance, I changed the big loop to TMLOOP.gpx and that's the name it shows in the selection window on my Etrex.

I just put up a new post consolidating the tracks (so you don't have to scroll through the old posts).  These tracks also include all the relevant p2p waypoints into each file.  Here's the link: http://transmichigan.blogspot.com/2014/07/2014-tracks.html

I'm going to try and post some overview maps of the routes at some point in the next few days.

Post up if you have any more issues.

Jim

Hey big_papa_nuts,

You'll want to download the gpx tracks to your computer (right click on track link -> save as) and open them in TopoFusion (download the free version at www.topofusion.com).  The p2p route from White Cloud to Mackinaw City has been verified (post: http://transmichigan.blogspot.com/2014/03/2014-course-info.html).  If you're looking to do the loop, the portion (~80 roadie ride) from Gaylord to Cadillac is not verified.  I was hoping to do the verification over the 4th of July weekend, but got distracted and rode to Higgins Lake via Grayling instead.

Does this help?  If you need more help/info, post up and I'll help the best I can.

Jim

Yep, the Kent Square Parking Garage.

Cite: https://www.facebook.com/kentsquare.parkinggarage

New 'loop' route up on the TM site: http://transmichigan.blogspot.com/2014/04/additional-2014-tracks.html