Hi there,
Wondering if anybody has done this route or could advise on it? My friend and I live in New Zealand and we're looking at doing a bikepacking mission to North America in August or September. I've done some backcountry hiking through west coast USA in the past so know about bear spray and camp food etiquette etc.
We're tossing up between the BC trail (which has a good write up on bikepacking.com) and the great northern bikepacking route (https://www.greatnorthernbikepacking.com/route-info.html) from Calgary to Vancouver which has less available info. It's hard to work out how long this will take from the website. We are both fit, ex road cyclists and we're doing some longer local trips in the meantime. We do a fair amount of trail riding and mountain biking these days. I basically have a month of annual leave so might need to trim the route a bit to make sure I get back to New Zealand on time.
In terms of scenery, is one or the other route likely to be more rewarding? Any intel appreciated.
All else fails we're looking at the Oregon timber trail, but think the grandeur of BC will sway us
by yobro48
1 Comment
I can’t speak to the route differences and viability however living just off the BC Trail route I would suggest that September for both routes. Between heat and possible closures and smoke from fire season here in BC August might not be as fun of a time to make the trip. In August we regularly have 35-40C days in August and from talking to others from New Zealand that would likely be a bit of a tough adjustment. I personally prefer doing all my long trips in this area before June 15 or after September into October or even early November some years for shorter lower elevation trips.
If you pushed it a bit later you would maybe get some dusting of snow higher up but would start to get the larch trees turning yellow in late September to early October in the Kootenays (Nelson to Fernie). Larch trees turning is one of my favourite times to go on overnighters and longer hikes out here – warmish days and crisp nights. And deciduous conifer trees still blows my mind 8 years after moving to the area and they add some incredible colour to an already stunning part of the world for views.