Great Divide Mountain Bike Route | Working Hard for the Great Divide
April 20, 2018
While Spring tries to take hold here in the Rocky Mountain West, the Adventure Cycling Routes & Mapping staff is busily working away on rebuilding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) for all of you bikepackers.
This year, 2018, marks the 20th anniversary of the completion of our inaugural, mostly off-pavement/gravel route. To celebrate, we’re giving the maps a total refresh in design and features. Here are a few tidbits to whet your whistle, along with photos of our cartographers hard at work to meet our mid-June publication deadline.
We are extending the route northward to Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, plotting a spur route to Missoula, and adding much-asked-for south to north narratives. Narratives will be brought together so users can cut them off the map and stuff them in a jersey or pack pocket, similar to how our Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route maps are designed.
While we are excited to see all the new elements come together in the paper maps, Bicycle Route Navigator users will gain the ability to purchase map sections within the app too. GPX data will also be ready for users who wish to navigate via their Garmin device or app that accepts GPX data files.
If you’ll excuse us now, we need to get back to the business of making maps for your bikepacking adventure on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route!
Photos by Saara Snow
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GEOPOINTS BULLETIN is written by Jennifer ‘Jenn’ Hamelman, Routes & Mapping Assistant Director, and appears once a month, highlighting curious facts, figures, and persons from the Adventure Cycling Route Network with tips and hints for personal route creation thrown in for good measure. She also wants to remind you that map corrections and comments are always welcome via the online Map Correction Form.
Comments
I am planning to ride the Great Divide. Leaving June 22 for Calgary. Purchased maps March 2018. Have new maps been published?
Hi Denny,
Yes, the 20th Anniversary GDMBR maps were published in May 2018. If you bought the older maps and took advantage of the limited time offer to buy the new maps at half price, you have the most current maps available.
Jennifer
Have you considered adding UTM co-ordinates to the GDMBR?? It could vastly simplify navigation..
Hi Tim,
You're in luck! We have added a UTM grid and lat/long coordinates to the maps with this redesign.
Jennifer
Hello Charlie,
The maps will not be available until mid-June.
Where are you starting? Do you happen to have the older maps? You can email me directly at cartography@adventurecycling.org.
Jennifer
Our tour begins June 22nd from Butte, North Bound, (where we had to abandon last year) and headed to Jasper. Are you on track for the June 15th debut/shipping of the new maps?
Thanks!
Lori
Lorie,
We are still on track to have maps available mid-June. We don't have a specific date as yet.
Best,
Jennifer
I am in need of the new updated Great Divide Map(s). My trip begins on June 7th. We can I order a set of maps?
Thank you,
Charlie Farrow
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