Continental Divide Ride

Picture a route two and a half thousand miles long, stretching from Mexico to Canada, traversing New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, with elevations from 4,000 feet to a cloud-scraping 13,000 feet. The path criss-crosses a single geologic feature that rules over most of the North American continent, influencing weather, determining which oceans receive the outflows of thousands of watercourses, creating and dividing habitats—and offering spectacular views to those who challenge its heights. This is the legendary Continental Divide, also known as the Great Divide!

Remote and inspiring riding the Great Divide is truly a bucket list trip. For ten days you’ll experience the most stunning landscapes our country has to offer, enjoying nights out under crisp starry skies or in fine lodges. You’ll be challenged by the terrain and amazed by the scenery. The route is only passable in summer, and even then storms can render many passages difficult but it’s an amazing trip, one you’ll talk about for years to come.

Background:

Our first trip on the Continental divide was during the summer of 2009 where we spent 12 days exploring the "Divide" with a diverse group of riders. Our party was comprised of 13 guys and three ladies. We rode just over 2500 miles through the back country of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. In those 2500 miles we witnessed the incredible vastness and unspoiled beauty of the USA in a way that very few motorcyclists ever see. It is hard to fathom that you can ride such distances and yet stay in wildly remote yet pristine areas while doing it, but its possible. Our start point was Douglas, Arizona (on the Mexican border) and we wrapped it up at Roosville, Montana (on the Canadian border).

We rode among the Saguaro cactus of the Arizona desert, we scaled the 14,000 foot peaks of Colorado and in Wyoming we thundered over the western edge of the Great Plains on narrow dirt tracks with cattle grazing in the distance and we negotiated tight single tracks high in the Montana wilderness. This was American back country at its finest; an incredible journey through an amazing tapestry of landscapes; the harsh deserts of Arizona to the lush alpine settings of Colorado. The "hundred mile views" over the plains in eastern Wyoming and the "Big Sky" of Montana.

Now – 8 years after that first great journey of exploration we are calling this trip experience "America's Ultimate Adventure!" Why? Well - there are three reasons that stand out.

First is diversity of terrain and trails. The western US is an utterly amazing place to go Adventure Riding; from the flat and arid vastness of the deserts with its wide graded roads, to the rugged passes of the Rocky Mountains and the magnificence of the Grand Prairie and the single tracks of Montana. Honestly–where else in the world can you find such rapid changes in geography in such short distances?

The second reason is the awesome lack of population along this route. As you ride you’ll see very few signs of civilization. You almost feel that your are riding somewhere other than the United States.

And third (and most exciting) is the unpredictably of the route. You can only ride the divide in summer time because of snow in the northern sections. However, that is when the monsoon storms are prevalent in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Each afternoon the storm clouds built and unleash torrents of water for an hour or two. Flash floods can erase the road... we know... we found out the hard way! The good news is that things dry out quickly and we’re usually not inconvenienced for long.

It's really hard to adequately describe this journey! Incredible, Awesome, Stupendous and words like that just don't seem to do it justice. Perhaps you should just see for yourself?