I'd look at trail forks for the singletrack parts and then maybe ask on ADVrider (dirt bike forum) for the rest of the route.  Many of my friends who do long-distance dirt bike camping are also mountain bikers (who are too lazy to bikepack! but still good folk and source of info).

For those wanting pics of the tyvek framebag, they are still available as of Feb. 2019 if you look at google image results for the search "DIY tyvek bikepacking.net frame bag."  Not the top hit, but maybe 7-8 images down.

Hey Demian, I was in the same boat a few years ago.  I started the SLC Bicycle Touring & Bikepacking Meet-up, so I now have people to go with.  Just food for thought.  Roo

I use 4 strategies:

1. Serfas Puck lock - about 18 oz, easy to stow away.  This is for trips where I need a real lock (including cities, civilization)

2. Gun lock.  Very light, this is for trips where I'll mostly not be near cities.

No lock strategies:

3. Helmet straps in spokes, make the bike hard to ride, derail the chain.  Take the front wheel with me.  Etc.

4. Overnight - Tie bike up with part of the tent, inconspicuously but so that the tent will shake if someone messes with the bike.

SLC Bicycle Touring & Bikepacking Meet-up has a good collection of bikepacking trips including some not too far from Grand Junction (esp spring and fall).   We have some members in Colorado...

https://www.meetup.com/SLC-Bicycle-Touring-and-Bikepacking/

Sold.

For Sale - Tarptent Double Rainbow in excellent condition.  Seam sealed but does not include stakes.  Used 2-3 weekends.  Selling due to break-up with former bikepacking companion.

$260 including shipping within U.S., via paypal for your buying protection.  Or $250 if you're local to SLC and we can do a cash/in person deal.

Seems to me like the Upper Allegheny River might hold some potential: Allegheny National Forest, Clarion PA area?  No real info or experience.  I'm a native of Western PA and went to college in that area (20+ years ago).  I haven't looked at it from that perspective in particular, but if I were in Ohio, the Upper Allegheny is a place I would research.  Hope that helps!

Thanks, I know the alum trick for silty water but hadn't thought about it for cows vs. western river water.  Will plan to take some along.  Thanks also for the link on other water sources. 

We are planning to do a route, perhaps similar to ChadB's, that is something close to but not quite the same as the Kaibab 125.  (We are so not racers.)  We will roughly bike in from near the Kaibab Lodge, do the Rainbow Rim, out to Sublime, to N Rim, AZ trail to East Rim, continue N on AZ trail for a while and then loop back on the west side of the paved road, around 130 miles.

I'm looking for updated info on water in case anyone has any.

• There was a fire this summer just north of Quaking Aspen Spring - which many had reported to be a reliable water source.  Has anyone been there since the fire to have a report?
• Another wild card is Kanabownits Spring.  Some have said no water.  Others have said yes.  I talked to a ranger last fall who indicated that there might be water but pretty mucked up by cows.  (I'm ok with that; I both filter and use tablets.)  There has also been a fire near (but not right to?) Kanabownits Spring in 2014.  Any beta?

Thanks!

Ya know, that Secesh section must not have been so bad... because for some reason now I'm thinking about trying the White Cloud option (next year).  We shall see.  Maybe not with the fat bike next time?  Or perhaps in the spirit of Type 2 fun, enough time has now past...

How did this trip go and do you have a trip report somewhere?  That area is of interest to do at some point.  Thanks!

Yeah, I'm not kidding!  I'm planning a trip to Craters of the Moon National Monument (in Idaho), probably a 4-day trip.  It is a volcanic landscape of lava flows, rifts, and small craters.  And, yes, there is an Idaho Hot Spring on the route (Wild Rose HS, very soakable from everything I have read).

In the spirit of Pink Floyd, we are going to the "backside of the Moon" -- that is, the dirt roads, jeep trails, and other remote locations that are located on the less-commonly visited side of this national monument.  

Trip is dependent on it being cool enough temperatures at the end of August / beginning of September.  If it doesn't work out we will reschedule probably for early November when there may well be snow on the route...!

This trip is listed and coordinated through the SLC Bicycle Touring and Bikepacking Meet up group (see my signature).  It is limited to 6 participants; we'll probably end up riding in a couple different clumps (faster / slower) if we are more than 4-5.  We don't go super-fast or far, but we go some great places and have WONDERFUL adventures.

There will be a mandatory advance trip planning meeting for everyone who is going.  Anyone from outside the SLC area can participate via internet/screen share and phone.  If you're interested, join the Meet-up group (it's free) to see the details.

Hey all,
Along with a couple others from SLC area, I am doing a 125 +/- trip over about 4 days on the Kaibab Plateau / North Rim of the Grand Canyon, including about 75 miles of singletrack on the Rainbow Rim and Arizona Trails.  Dates are Sept. 25 to Sept. 29, 2014.

This trip is listed and coordinated through the SLC Bicycle Touring and Bikepacking Meet up group (see my signature).  It is limited to 6-8 participants; we'll probably end up riding in a couple different clumps (faster / slower) if we are more than 4-5.  We don't go super-fast or far, but we go some great places and have WONDERFUL adventures.

There will be a mandatory advance trip planning meeting for everyone who is going.  Anyone from outside the SLC area can participate via internet/screen share and phone.  If you're interested, join the Meet-up group (it's free) to see the details.

Hi all, and Casey -
Our group also did sections of the Secesh and Eagle's Nest singletracks.  I'll have a more detailed trip report, photos, and discussion later.  I would say our reaction especially to the Secesh section up Zena Creek / Steamboat Ridge is similar to Jay's group (hi, Jay!).  We survived it, we smiled, it wore us out, but... no, we weren't prepared for it from what we read in the maps.  Succinctly, here's my take on the singletrack:

• Write more detailed trail descriptions for each section.  Our route said "the singletrack turns skyward and riders may have to hike-a-bike."  MAY?!  We made fun of that sentence the whole time we hauled our bikes up that completely unridable route.
• Put the singletrack maps each on their own map (a series of 4).  Provide more trail descriptions, and possibly alternate routes.  For example, is riding the ICT/Secesh River Trail a more mellow option that will still connect to Loon Lake IMBA Epic section?
• Provide ratings (ski trail style - green, blue, black, double black, red). The singletrack sections are widely variable, and includes sections that are dirt road or clearly doubletrack.  It also includes sections that are, honestly, "zerotrack" - there's barely a hint of a trail.
• Include on the printed maps the information about the singletrack sections that was included in the blog.  Including the photos of grueling hike-a-bike.
• Be honest about how long the hike-a-bike sections are.  I expect some hike-a-bike.  I generally expect that the hike-a-bike will be "rollable".  The hike-a-bike we encountered was steep enough that (even without the logs and boulders), it was mostly a case of push the bike forward 1-2', apply brakes to keep the bike from rolling back down the hill, step up, repeat. Not just for a short stretch, but for 3-4 miles.
• The down was not very ridable, either due to the deep ruts and loose surface.  It might have gotten worse since you rode it.
• Trails that include switchbacks, water bars, check dams and other similar features tend to hold up better to additional use than trails that just beeline up the fall line.  I suspect that some of these singletrack sections (up the fall line) are going to deteriorate further.

We also found it ironic that the photos on the main route map seem to be of the singletrack sections. 

The main route itself I found very ridable but fairly boring: paved, graded dirt road, flat and maintained forest road.  Nothing that actually requires a mountain bike.  I also like off-track adventurous routes, and have several routes in Utah that include sections of riding across barely visible tracks through meadows - trails just off ATV areas, now closed to motorized use but still open to the (infrequent) bicyclist or hiker.  So, some compromise between the main route and the unridable single track would be the sweet spot for me.

Thanks for the fire report, IdahoSpud.  We have decided to start in Cascade; thanks for the suggestion.  Sorry I missed you as I was off bikepacking in the Uintas.  Perhaps you are off to that moto event you mentioned - have fun!   

Hey I am wondering about some off-route options, partly depending how much that whiskey fire burns, and would love any info on whether there's an off-route way to get from Silver Creek area (north of Crouch) to the Deadwood Reservoir or other points east without too much hike-a-bike?   

For a place to park, we talked to http://www.gardenvalleyrv.com/ and they would charge a whopping $1 a day for car parking.  This could be a good option if it is not on fire, probably a little better than leaving the car by the side of the road.  Thanks, IdahoSpud, for the suggestion! 

Usually I love a good Whiskey - even complex.  This one I am not a fan of as the 4,000 fire is near where we are planning our first day on our loop including the Lowman Cutoff.  Thanks for the report, Casey, and I am following on the fire website.  For everyone's reminder, that is  http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/13/

Blue Jay (east of Lowman) is not good, either, although reported as 50% contained. 

The NWS point I'm following even for north on Steamboat Ridge (on singletrack south of Burgdorf HS) is showing "Areas of Smoke" in the forecast.   

Looks like we have an "early" fire season.

We are likely to take N95 masks, which many in SLC have due to urban smog / inversions.

Hi all, just updating this thread.  We have been doing about 1 trip a month, sometimes two.

In the past year, we've been to:

• Uintas - a couple different places.  Whitney Reservoir, Washington Lake area, and North Slope / Blacks Fork River.
• Cathedral Valley / Capitol Reef National Park
• Cedar Mesa - lots of petroglyphs and ruins
• Lockhart Basin
• Wasatch Crest Trail
• Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge / circumnavigation of the Fish Springs Range
• Cedar Mountains just south of the Salt Flats
• Silver Island Mountains
• Skyline Drive, Reeder Canyon and Joe's Valley in the La Sal Manti National Forest
• Topaz Mountain and the Thomas Range - gemstone prospecting by bike
• Diamond Fork Hot Springs and Strawberry Ridge

We have upcoming trips planned for:

• Grand Canyon North Rim / Rainbow Rim / AZ Trail - in late September
• Peter Sinks - one of the coldest "cold pockets" in the lower 48 - date TBD
• Book Cliffs
• La Sal mountains

More trips will be coming.  We mostly do overnights or two-nighters, and have also added fat biking as part of our group.  If anyone is interested, please do take a look and sign up.  We have several members in Colorado, and further afield.   http://www.meetup.com/SLC-Bicycle-Touring-and-Bikepacking/

1. Starting in Crouch would be a good option. It has a small grocery store. There are 2 RV storage lots where you could leave your car or maybe even at the 2 RV parks in town.

Thanks, Idahospud, for this info.  We were thinking of starting in Crouch anyhow so we will follow-up on this!