Multi-Day Mountain Bike Trails

Epic trails, multi-day trails, bike-packing, whatever you want to call it, everyone dreams of doing them, but few do. So, pick one, get some friends together, and get out and do it! Whether you self-support, organize your own sag wagon, or pay for a guide company, you'll talk about it for years to come. Most go through beautiful and historically important areas and include a wide variety of trail, since many of them are made up of pre-existing trails with new connectors.

I have done the Kokopelli several times and the White Rim once. I hope to do the Maah Daah Hey and the Telluride-Moab this year (2007). Care to join me?

I'd like to eventually put a little info box on each of these trails with length, rideable length, and percent singletrack.

The White Rim Trail is entirely in Canyonlands National Park and requires very early campsite registration due to its popularity. Uranium mining roads from the middle of the last century skirt the triangular edges of the Islands in the Sky portion of the park, following the Green River to the confluence then turning and following the Colorado upstream. Some hardcore people start well before sun-up and knock it out in a day, but if you're doing that, you don't need my help! Although the trail is really a jeep road with no singletrack, the beautiful views, isolation, and stunning landscapes make it highly recommended. Read more...

 

The Kokopelli Trail connects the mountain biking giants of Fruita and Moab, making it probably the most famous multi-day trail. The trail connects singletrack, sandy roads, dirt roads, occasional mud roads, and even some pavement, sometimes giving the trail a bad name. Singletrack is a minor part of the trail, and the scenery isn't as nice as the White Rim, but it's variety and fame make it worth doing. It has great access for support vehicles, and is typically done in 3-6 days. Read more...

 

Can anyone argue with over 100 miles of gorgeous singletrack? The grasslands and badlands of North Dakota set the stage for this trail, whose popularity is quickly growing, but stymied by its isolation. Read more...

 

This is a 200 mile hut trip using the San Juan hut system. A fee is required for the well-maintained and well-stocked huts. The thing is, what you get for what you pay really is a really great deal. The trail connects Colorado's high-country in Telluride, with Moab's epic desert vistas and is jaw-droppingly beautiful! Read more...

 

The Colorado Trail was designed as a hiking trail, but is useable by mountain bikes in all portions that don't pass through Wilderness Areas. The nearly 500 mile trail connects Denver with Durango and passes through some of Colorado's best known mountain biking spots and is almost all singletrack! Read more...

 

All the way from the Utah border to the Mexican border, this trail connects pine forests, desert, and mountains with tons of singletrack. When complete, the trail will span around 800 miles! Read more...

 

A two and a half thousand mile mountain bike trail? This trail nearly follows the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico (and now extends into Canada!) through some of the most beautiful states in the US: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Read more...

 

An absolutely wonderful Colorado trail, spanning 144 miles of the Uncompaghre Plateu from Grand Junction to Montrose, and creating one of the three legs of a large triangle formed also by the Kokopelli and Paradox trails. Read more...

 

The third trail of the COPMOBA epic triangle follows a similar route as the Telluride-Moab hut trip, but is a little shorter and slightly north. The Paradox Trail follows the stunning Paradox valley from Colorado's high plains to Moabs desert along trails and jeep roads. Read more...

 

Lake Tahoe is not only the home of the famous Flume trail, but the 164 mile Tahoe Rim Trail and the nearly completed Tahoe-Pyramid bikeway. Read more...

 

The Czech Greenway connects Prague to Vienna via a series of roads and trails passing through villages and culturally important places that will let you see more of what the Czech Republic is in seven days than staying in Prague for a year would! The Greenway is a bit rough for a road bike, and not quite rough enough for fat knobbies, but is ideal for a fat-tired tourer, cyclo-crosser, hybrid, or mountain bike with some 2" tires without too aggressive a tread. Read more...

 

Not a trail, but a variety of routes that all lead to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. This hisorical catholic pilgramage is done by many on foot and bicycle and by non-Catholics, simply for the history and the experience. Although there isn't any singletrack, how many other trails promise you a 50% reduction of your time in purgatory upon completion? Read more...

 

The North Country Trail allows bicycles, but is made for hikers and their site only discusses hiking as far as i could see. Does anyone know about bicycle use on the trail? At least the North Dakota portion is mostly gravel roads and double-track prairie trails.

Jayme Kohler did the Lewis and Clark Trail, a 2,658 mile mountain bike tour in 2004-2005. I don't know anything about the trail other than this site.

Multi-Day Trails

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