This year, the bums are blazing their way across the American West, from BumHQ in Oakland, California to beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico! We’ll begin by following Adventure Cycling’s Western Express, and then peel off in Utah to find our own path to adventure!
As usual, we have a diverse roster of peddlers – listed, in order of appearance: Greg, Nick, Jim, Andrew, Alice, Anton, Zach!
Here’s the prospective itinerary:
- Take off from Oakland on 6/2
- Head up to Sacramento via the delta, then catch the venerable American River trail up to Folsom
- Slog our way up through the foothills eventually making our way over Carson + Luther Passes (pies at Hope Valley are on me), and down to Lake Tahoe
- Leave the pristine waters behind as we race off eastward across Nevada along US-50 – the loneliest highway
- We’ll have a big ol’ climb out of Cedar City, UT along the Cedar Breaks, and then we’ll find ourselves in Utah Canyon country!
- We’ll tool through Bryce Canyon, Grand Escalante, and Capitol Reef National Parks and all the gorgeous country in between, including a side quest along the Burr Trail!
- We’ll cross some more open country then onto Moab, UT, home of Arches National Park!
- Take some backcountry roads through Even More canyonland, eventually following the Delores River as it flows into the Colorado at Grand Junction.
- Next, we climb our way over Colorado’s Grand Mesa, then sail down along the rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison
- Enjoy the scenic roller coaster ride of the Million Dollar Highway between Montrose and Durango
- We’ll break south into New Mexico, heading through Abiquiu (home of Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch) and then up through Los Alamos to the Valles Caldera
- Finally, we’ll shoot down through Jimez Springs and across the New Mexican desert to Albuquerque and into the awaiting arms of Dan Pribble, Patron Saint of Lost Bums