Adventure Cycling Association

We’ll start our journey in Washington, D.C., where we’ll enjoy a quick tour of the historic monuments and dip our wheels in the tidal waters of the Potomac River before rolling through sun-dappled woods. You won’t need to worry about traffic as we ride some 330 miles on the hard-packed gravel and dirt of the C&O Canal Trail and Great Allegheny Passage north to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With stellar car-free riding and gentle grades, this is a great way to start the TransAm Express.

The week will start with our first layover day. Our basecamp for the day will be the cycling-oriented Traveler’s Rest Hotel in Pittsburgh. There will be plenty of time to take in the city’s many museums or even a baseball game. After leaving Pittsburgh, we’ll head west through a sliver of West Virginia and then into Ohio. Our legs will be tested as we ride through the rolling hills of southeastern Ohio, a rural region known for coal mining and charming rolling farmland.

After Ohio, we’ll cross into Indiana where we’ll have a day off in the small town of Franklin. Within a couple of days, we’ll ford the Ohio River into southern Illinois. The ridges and valleys of the Illinois Ozarks will be an interesting section as we pass through Vandalia and Casey before we hit the historic river town of Alton, the birthplace of jazz legend Miles Davis and a former stop on the Underground Railroad.

We’ll kick off Week Four by crossing the mighty Mississippi River and hopping on the famous Katy Trail. The country’s longest continuous rail-trail conversion will then transport us through the heartland of America beside the Missouri River, along a corridor that’s also part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and coast-to-coast American Discovery Trail. We’ll have a day off in beautiful Boonville, Missouri, an old river-side railroad town, before leaving the Katy Trail behind and working our way to our next state.

In Kansas, we’ll both curse and praise the ever-present wind — depending on whether it’s blowing in our faces or at our backs — as we pedal among endless fields of grain and sunflowers. We’ll also find that Kansas is not completely flat, though its tallest feature will be the grain elevators which dot the landscape every 10 to 20 miles. After a few days in Kansas, we will dip into Nebraska for some similar scenery while keeping our eyes on the horizon for our first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains. The week will end with a day off in McCook.

We’ll be sure to get a picture next to the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” sign as we enter the Centennial State. But after a little more time in the Great Plains, that slogan will make more sense as we climb into the largest mountain range in North America. Our gateway to the Rockies will be Fort Collins, home to Colorado State University and more breweries than can be listed here. It’s a wonderful place to put our feet up before we gain some serious elevation and cross the Rockies.

This week, we link up with the original TransAm Trail in the northern Colorado town of Walden. The next day, we’ll ride into wild and windy Wyoming. In the little mountain town of Saratoga, we’ll soak our tired muscles in the free, community-owned Hobo Hot Pool. From there, we’ll begin the high and dry ride through the sagebrush- and pronghorn-filled Great Divide Basin. From Lander to Dubois, home to the National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center, we’ll alternate between mountains and broad valleys. After climbing up and over Togwotee Pass, we’ll descend into Grand Teton National Park with a view of its iconic Teton Range.

The next several days will be spent in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, both of which will be major highlights of the trip. We’ll have layover days in both parks to take in all they have to offer. Kayak on Jackson Lake? Watch Old Faithful erupt? It’s your choice. We’ll then ride alongside the trout-filled waters of the Madison River to Ennis, Montana. From there, we’ll climb up and over the big hill to Virginia City, a well-preserved Victorian frontier town that was the site of a major 1860s’ gold strike and, for a short time, the capital of the Montana Territory. Then, it’s on to the high lonesome of the Big Hole Valley, over Chief Joseph and Lost Trail passes, and into the bustling Bitterroot Valley.

This week, we’ll reach Missoula, hometown of Adventure Cycling and an oasis of culture, entertainment, and outdoor activities. After a well-deserved layover day, we’ll continue tracing the tracks of Lewis and Clark as we cross over Lolo Pass and re-enter Idaho, pedaling beside the sparkling waters of the Lochsa River as it cuts through an immense wilderness expanse. At Riggins, we might take a half-day commercial whitewater rafting trip down the rapids of the Salmon River.

After crossing the Snake River into Oregon near Hells Canyon, the deepest river gorge in North America, we’ll climb all the way to the charming little town of Halfway. We’ll enjoy a layover day in Baker City, a town rich with gold-mining lore. The classic 1969 musical comedy Paint Your Wagon was filmed in this area. Soon after crossing a series of relatively minor mountain ranges and passing through towns like Mitchell (with a stop at the famous Spoke’n Hostel), Prineville, and Sisters, we’ll have the last big climb in our sights: McKenzie Pass.

Our last week begins by crossing the Cascade Range amid the volcanic surroundings of McKenzie Pass, knowing that the Pacific Ocean (and the end of our adventure) is only a few days away. After pedaling from Coburg to Florence, we’ll dip our wheels in the Pacific Ocean at Beachside State Park. After a celebration dinner in Florence, we’ll ride or shuttle to the relative metropolis of Eugene to say our farewells the following day, formally wrapping up our crossing of North American by bicycle.