Bikepacking Trips and Routes
Here are a few bike routes we've ridden and mapped out using RideWithGPS. Further down the page, you'll find a list of longer tours. To see all of my rides, check out my Strava Profile.
Gravel Bikepacking Loops
We've mostly used our Salsa Fargos with 2.2 inch Terraval Sparwood tires for these routes — some with full rear panniers, others with smaller mini panniers on my bike and the usual ass rocket, rackless setup for Rachel's. I try to put together loop routes to keep logistics simple.
Del Norte/Great Divide, 4 Days Gravel Loop, Southern Colorado
We rode this loop in southern Colorado as one of our first self-supported bikepacking/gravel rides, in preparation for heading to Chile and Argentina in January 2020. Salsa Vaya for me, Specialized AWOL for Rachel.
Sky Island Loop, 6 Days, Southern Arizona
In March 2021, we escaped the snows of Durango for a 6-day loop in southern Arizona: the Sky Island Loop.
Here's Sarah Swallow's detailed route:
Circle the Zirkel plus California Park, 4–5 Days, Northern Colorado
This one was in June 2021 on our Fargos around the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness near Steamboat, Colorado.
Cloud Peaks Wilderness Loop, 6–7 Days, Northeastern Wyoming
Another Salsa Fargo ramble, this one in late July 2021 circling the Big Horn Wilderness near Big Horn, Wyoming. This route is a bit more rigorous given the amount of climbing — you ascend and descend three times from sagebrush country up to the ponderosa and meadows of the Big Horn Range.
Black Hills Ramble with Mickelson Rail Trail, 4–5 Days, South Dakota
July 2023, we took the Salsas for a tour of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Kettle Valley Rail Trail Loop via Osoyoos, 4–5 Days, Southern British Columbia
July 2024, we put Rachel's new knee hardware to work on this mellow loop via mostly railroad grade. A few sections are bumpy but never for too long. Nice mix of wild camping and campgrounds in towns. The last day is on Rt. 3 with a pretty big climb but with decent bike lanes and lots of nice viewpoints to catch your breath.
Our Longer Rides
Below are our tracks from some of our longer tours.
Chile and Argentina: Carretera Austral and the Lakes District, Jan–Feb 2020
In January–February 2020, we spent 8 weeks in Chile and Argentina. For the first half of the trip, we rode south on the Carretera Austral from Puerto Montt, Chile to El Calafate, Argentina. Here's the collection of routes we followed.
The second half was spent riding through the Lakes District of Argentina and over to Temuco, Chile. Here's that collection.
Great Divide Mountain Bike Route: Nederland CO to Helena MT, July 2020
In July 2020, we packed up our Salsa Fargos, rode the RTD bus from Boulder up to Nederland, then started riding west over Rollins Pass to hook up with the GDMBR near Kremmling, Colorado. We spent 4 weeks enjoying the amazing Forest Service and BLM gravel roads that magically connect to make up this route. Here's that collection.
Switzerland, Italy, and Austria Alps Tour, June–July 2022
June–July 2022, we took the Salsa Fargos on a 5-week trip to see the Alps and visit family and friends. Here's the collection.
Japan: Hokkaido and Honshu Touring, Aug–Sept 2023
We met some world-traveling cycling friends in Sapporo, Japan in August 2023 and spent 6 weeks touring Hokkaido and the northern parts of Honshu. Here's the Hokkaido route and here's the Honshu route.
Korea and Japan, Sept–Oct 2024
September 12–October 12, 2024. Another spur-of-the-moment decision to pack up the bikes and head overseas. We were looking for something easy, and Korea's Cross Country trail seemed perfect — and it was! A relatively flat route, easy to follow, with a mix of camping and cheap hotels.
From Busan, the southern end of the route, we took an overnight ferry to Fukuoka, Japan, where we strung together a fun, mostly flat route with several ferries that took us to Nara and Kyoto, the cultural centers of Japan.
New Zealand and Tasmania, Jan–March 2025
We flew out of Denver on December 31, 2024 and arrived in Auckland early on January 1, 2025. We built up our bikes at the airport and started riding the Tour Aotearoa on dirt roads, trails, and singletrack.
By early March, we arrived in Queenstown on the South Island and packed up our bikes for the flight across the Tasman Sea to Melbourne, Australia. After visiting good friends there, we ferried to Tasmania for a couple of weeks of chasing kangaroos in the gum trees.
Nice to Amsterdam, July-Aug 2025
Another somewhat spur of the moment trip. We flew to Nice (in the midst of a heat wave) and for 6 weeks we meandered our way north to Amsterdam visiting family, friends and colleagues along the way.
Baja Divide Cape Loop, Jan 2026
We spent January and February boondocking up and down Baja in our van with the Cape Loop as one our primary objectives for the trip. This is a bit more rugged a ride than most of our trips. Given the amount of sand and rocky tracks, I converted my Fargo to ‘beast mode’ by swapping the rigid fork with a 100mm suspension fork and our usual 2.2” tires with beefier 2.6”. Rachel used her full suspension mountain bike.
