Bikepacking Route Planning

NGS asked me to really break down (into the nitty gritty, I think she said) the logistics for my trip. Since route planning is one of the things that takes the most time, I will start with that. Route planning is kind of a three step process: (1) prior to leaving, (2) weekly check ins/general routes (3) daily/last minute updates. 

(1) Prior to leaving. Before I left on my trip, I started by figuring out a general idea of how I wanted to do this. You would think it would be very calculated, but really for me, it went something like this. First, I knew that I wanted to do the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which goes from Banff, Canada to Antelope Wells, NM (the Mexico border). However, instead of going "straight" there, which may have taken me through Nevada and Idaho before getting to Canada, I decided to visit some friends along the way. I also had winter to contend with so knew that I could not really go anywhere where it was still quite high in elevation or high in latitude. For this reason, I decided to stay near the west coast for a while, where it would hopefully be warmer. I also knew that when possible, I wanted to go on dirt instead of highways. 

To find routes, I used a combination of Bikepacking.com, other bikepacking websites and blogs, Komoot and Google Maps. Bikepacking.com has prearranged routes, with descriptions and maps that you can download. I chose to do the Oregon Outback through Oregon and the BC Epic 1000 from Hope, BC to Fernie, BC. To connect the two, I chose to use some of the BC portion of the Great Northern Bikepacking Route and then the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from there. Then I used Komoot and Google Maps to fill in the gaps. 

For both of the above, they have maps that are usually made with the Ride With GPS site, and can be downloaded and/or exported to your navigation device. I have a Garmin Edge and so I then export the route to the Garmin for use on the road. You can also edit the routes on Ride With GPS, but I normally do my editing in Komoot. 

The Garmin Edge is like any other GPS navigation tool; it will tell you when to turn, how far you have gone, how fast you are going and what your elevation is etc. It also has a hill feature, where it will tell you data on each hill: how far it is from you, how long it is, and when you are on the actual hill, it will show an elevation profile. This is probably my least favorite aspect as it generally means I am struggling, but it is handy. 

Regular mileage/data screen

Turn by turn

Hills! Dark red is my enemy!

Komoot is like Google Maps, but it has options for dirt, gravel or road, and can also be used for hiking for the same reason. With this, you put in your start and end and then choose your method (road biking, mountain biking, gravel, touring) and it will figure out the best route for you. This needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as it often will take you on private or closed roads, or will go off the main route to get a more scenic route, which often results in more hills or more turns. However, it is a good start. Once the route is complete, you can save it offline into your phone, and/or you can export it to a navigation device. Note, this will also tell you your elevation gain and loss, total miles, time it will take, surfaces and way types along with an elevation profile. 

Google Maps was mostly used to look at city routes and to compare with the route that Komoot came up with to see if they or where they differ. However, I cannot export the Google Map to my Garmin, so before leaving, it was used more as a fact checker than anything else. So basically, before I left, I had the maps for my trip all the way to Antelope Wells, NM and I figured I would sort the rest out later. 

(2) Weekly check ins. As you already know, right from the get go, the snow caused me to have to change my route from California, as I had planned on going up and over some 6,500 foot mountains, but ended up having to take the lower, more flat, more road heavy route. This happened later a few times as well. What do I do in this case? I edit my existing Komoot maps, by doing a "save as" and I resave the existing route with a different name and then edit that accordingly. For example, my first iteration was Grass Valley to Klamath Falls via mountain, then the next was GV to KF via road, then the next one was GV to Redding via road! Every time I get into service and have a room, I double check the routes and the weather and update the route accordingly and re-export it to my Garmin.

Sometimes I can find a route someone else has already made on Ride With GPS and then I just use their map. For example, in BC I was going to do the BC Epic 1000 route, which goes over Gray Creek Pass. When I was in Vancouver, I posted on the BC Epic1000 FB group to see if people thought I would be able to get through and/or to get any intel on snow conditions, and I was told that I likely would not get through, so I searched on RWGPS for Gray Creek alternate, and found a map going around on a lower route. I downloaded that, exported it to my Garmin and I was ready to go. 

(3) Daily/Last Minute Updates. This does not happen a lot, but sometimes there is construction, or snow where I did not know there would be snow, or a road is closed and/or private. In this case, if I have service, I can make a new map and it will sync with my Garmin. If I am out of service, I just have to keep looking at the map, which is saved offline on my phone, in order to figure out where I may be able to go. I also always download all of my Google Maps to be offline in case this happens and even though I cannot use the biking directions when I am offline, I can at least see which route a car would take and how many miles/km it is to my destination. 

I also have to check the route every few days depending on what the accommodation options are. If I am in a national forest, this is easy, as I can generally camp wherever I want. If I am in civilization, often my daily mileage is decided by where the next place to stay is. I try to figure this out every few days so I am not doing back to back long days with no services in between. I also like to have a room at least once per week; otherwise I get cranky and hungry and stinky, so I may prepare my route to do a long day today so that I can have a short day of riding and a long day in town tomorrow. 

I know that is a lot, so here is the TLDR (at the end!) 

Bikepacking.com: tried and true pre-made routes (usually multi-day & more off road)
Ride with GPS: GPS routes that anyone can put online (may need verification) / can make own route 

Komoot: GPS routes that anyone can put online (may need verification) / can make own route

Google Maps: best for towns/roads/use offline for general area

Alternative tried and true sites: Great Northern Bikepacking, Bikepacking Roots, Adventure Cycling Association (fee required). 

Alternative mapping tool: Gaia GPS

What route planning tools do you use for your hikes/runs/bike rides/road trips? If you are going for multiple days, do you always plan out every day beforehand or do you have some days that are ad hoc? 

If you haven't already, you can fill out this form with any questions you want answered for my upcoming ask me anything post!!

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. P.S. This is a draft I started in September 2024! I am clearing off the dust here! 

Emigrant Wilderness: Logistics, Gear & Planning

At the end of last month, my friend Dr. G (trail name Bugsy) and I decided to try to get one more trip to the Sierra before the snow flurries started to fly. And boy did we get lucky, as it started snowing the Tuesday after we got back and there have been several storms since.

The Emigrant Wilderness is a pretty small wilderness and is only about 25 miles long and 15 miles wide. However, don't let the size fool you! It is full of granite outcroppings and glacier scoured landscapes. It is also a great place to cut your teeth on cross country travel, as it is not too brushy in most places, so your "bushwhacking" is more like rock climbing than anything else.

The Plan/Logistics: When it had not snowed yet and Bugsy and I realized that we both had the weekend free, we kind of made a last minute decision to take a couple of days and get out one last time. Therefore, this was not the most well thought out or the most complicated plan; Emigrant Wilderness is about 2.5 hours away from the Bay Area if there is no traffic, so we decide that instead of sitting in the horror that is Friday traffic, we would start bright and early on Saturday. We left around 5 am and after two coffee/bathroom stops and a stop to get the (self issued) permit, we were on the trail by 7:50 am. Please note that if the ranger station is open (8:30 am - 4 pm on Saturday, 9 am - 4 pm all other days), you will have to get a permit from the ranger. They do not issue permits online. Permit info here.

The Route: we had a few options, but one of the things I wanted to try was a cross country route between Buck Creek and Huckleberry Lake, so we decided to give it a shot. I mapped it out on Gaia, but of course if there is no trail, you have to just estimate where you will go and it ended up being about 4 more miles than we had expected. That made what was planned to be about a 35 mile loop into about a 39 mile loop. Oops! We started from the Crabtree Trailhead, which is about 8 miles outside of Pinecrest Lake, and did a counter clockwise "loop" towards Huckleberry Lake. We ended up camping at Cherry Creek instead.

The Big Three: I have been using the same big three for a while and am loving them (Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2 (46 oz. with footprint), Western Mountaineering Ultralite 20 degree sleeping bag (29 oz.), Hyperlite 2400 Southwest Backpack (28.6 oz.), and the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xlite regular size (12 oz.). However, on this trip, Bugsy brought his tent because it has a bigger floor plan than mine (Big Agnes Copper Spur 2), so my big three was only two! I also carried a silk liner, since we had gotten reports that it could get down into the mid twenties at night and my sleeping bag is not warm under about 30 degrees, despite the 20 degree rating. My big "two" weighed about 4.5 pounds.

Base Pack Weight: I did not weigh my base pack for the trip, but based on my LighterPack list and experience from other trips, I would say it was about 17 lbs.

Clothing: I brought everything from my normal list and did not bring any of the heavier winter gear or traction. My normal kit includes a beanie, gloves, extra socks & underwear, rain jacket and pants and a puffy, and the forecast was clear skies, so I did not feel that I would need the extra heavy gear for this trip. However, I did bring an older REI rain jacket rather than my ultralight Montbell, so I probably added a pound of extra weight by carrying that.

Food: This was a huge difference from our normal trips. Firstly, we usually share dinner duties; if we are going for 6 days, we will each make and carry three meals for two people. However, this time we each did our own thing since we didn't have to skimp to save weight. We brought lots of heavy stuff! For dinner, I brought noodles, salmon packets, fresh mushrooms, hard boiled eggs and miso paste. For snacks I brought a whole salami, cheese, cucumbers, nuts and blueberries! For breakfast I had hard boiled eggs and coffee. Not only could we afford to carry heavier food, but I didn't mind if I didn't use it, and we had built in refrigeration so we could carry whatever we wanted. It was divine.

Water: I used my new BeFree 1 liter filter bottle and carried an extra Platypus 1 liter bottle with a 2 liter Platypus for extreme emergencies/backup. I am glad I had the backup bottles as we went through some really dry stretches and crossed dry creeks that I had never seen dry before. However, we did camp near a lake so we really did not need to carry more than 1 - 2 liters at a time in the end.

Total Pack Weight: Including two liters of water, the bear can, one day of food and one fuel cannister (and the heavy rain jacket!), my pack weighed 25 lbs.

The Verdict: I really liked just going for one overnight as it really provides a lot of flexibility with food, which tends to be one of my most heavy items. It also is a great chance to test out items that you would not normally want to lug around for a week.  I could have lived without my rain pants and I am very glad that I added the silk liner, as I slept warm but not so warm that I would have been happy without it.

More Information: You can find information about the wilderness at the Stanislaus National Forest website. Stay tuned for the Trip Report!

For fun...here is what the same area looks like now! 

Highway 108 (source)

Have you been to the Emigrant Wilderness? What is your one backpacking item you cannot live without?