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**stevestout** · #1 18 Jul 2014

Hi All

Two of us just finished the TAT trail in the US, we've done a day by day blog for those looking for info & a hints & tips page for information we've picked up as we've travelled... hope it's useful... Go to: TAT Trail 2014 for pictures & info.

Here are the Tips from the blog:

TAT Tips
I thought I'd add this page as a one stop shop for some of the information we found out as we travelled... It's listed by State for the trail & by some kind of header for the rest...

General Stuff -
If your a member of the AA etc, then you can get free state maps at any AAA office.
It's hot & humid upto New Mexico & there are mosquitos, you need good bug spray if you camp.
Average motel room prices run at $70 for a twin bedded room but vary from $50 to $110 on the route we found.
Ticks are a big issue upto Colorado, Check yourself daily, it cost me $200 for a medical & the antibiotics to treat a bite gone funny.
You don't need to carry more than a 1 litre spare fuel bottle for any part of the trip we found, but you do need to plan your days reasonably well, I've tried to put fuel info below. We had a 160 mile fuel range on our bikes.
Fuel for us started at $3.25 & went up the further west we got to around $4.30 per gallon. Compared to the UK it's still cheap!! We spent around $455 in total for one bike from Tellico to Port Orford.

Virginia -
Great roads, also around Blue Ridge Parkway there is loads of off road biking.
Camping is good, just off the Parkway with two biker only campsites, look at the Blue Ridge website for details.There are bears in certain parts so follow the bear rules or stay in a log cabin/motel. Ticks & Mosquitoes are a problem here too, cover up & check yourself over daily.

North Carolina - We only rode on roads here, seems a pretty place with loads of potential for good biking. Never found any camp sites

Tennessee - We camped twice here, it's about $20 for two tents, once just off the Parkway & the second just as we crossed into Mississippi.

At Deals Gap & the Cherohala, we never stopped overnight but its a beautiful area with loads of great biking roads, well worth a couple of days visiting. There is loads of accommodation & camping in Cherokee, along with casinos & loads of touristy stuff. Check for bear situation, I'm not sure

The mud on the trails is very gloopy, it sticks to everything!!

Mississippi - Don't camp, the mosqitos/ticks alone are hell, there are very few camp sites anyway but check the bug times of year before you decide to camp - The mud is very slippy & the mud holes can be thigh deep with ruts in them, check them out before you going plowing into one!

Arkansas - Same as Mississippi for the camping, there are some lovely camp sites in the Ozarks, but you need good bug spray as they are next to a river & very hot at night. Also there are black bears in the Ozarks, so follow the bear rules or just get a motel.

Visit the Oark store & have food, it's great. We drove past the TAT SHAK around 1pm after leaving from Beebe, so too early to stop for us, its on the road though rather than on the trail & has a huge TAT trail logo outside the house.

Just before Mountainburg there is a great single track offroad section, just after the White Mountain section.

Arkansas is a dry state so you'll find it hard to get

in most of the places the TAT goes through. There is a liqour shop in Cabot.

Oklahoma - Watch out for the sand, wet its slippy as bugger, dry its full of sand traps, the bits before & after Alva are the worst.
Great Chinese buffet in Liberal, Kansas, 4 miles north on HW 83 (526.46 mile marker on TAT map),
The trail between Liberal & Trinidad, CO has lots of long straight bits with a few sections that would be very tiring if the sand was wet, take care here. There is a bunkhouse a few mile down the trail from Liberal, it's right on the TAT, I;ll try to find some information out & post it here when I can.
Beer available in a lot of places.

Oklahoma is at the epicentre of the country's infamous "tornado alley". During the spring and summer seasons, this region is often the hub of very violent thunderstorms which can quickly become life threatening to anyone who is unprepared and in the path of a storm. If you are traveling through the state during the spring/summer months, it is crucial to be vigilant of the weather conditions because they can change rapidly. It is a good idea for the independent traveler to purchase a weather radio that receives the NOAA weather broadcasts to keep yourself regularly informed.

Oklahoma red mud sets like concrete on your bike & weighs a tonne, its also very slippy have fun with that!!

New Mexico - Short but beautiful, loads of wildlife.

Colorado -
Trinidad is a big place, you can top up stuff here. Biker friendly motel, Trails End turn left into town where the TAT turns right, it's about a mile down on the left, a little grubby but quite cool. Haggle for the room fees too..

Silverton is pretty cool, most accommodation is on the main highway not in the town. There are loads of passes around this area too.

The bit of trail marked Mud/Rocks on one of Sam's maps of the San Juan National Forest, if its dry this is ace, the downhill is really good... if its wet at all, don't do it, it'll be a hell of a fight through the mud holes.

Utah -
This is a great state, with loads of good riding,

I would suggest you have a couple of days in Moab, go do the White Rim Trail, its very very good... you can get a GPX file from here which is good enough to do the trail with. We det off at 7am & were back in Moab drinking a

by 3pm, it was approx 150 mile round trip.

The section from Moab to Green River has a great section of offroad that winds up through the scrub, the GPS line form Sam is a bit vague, so we followed a marked trail on the Utah Topo map that I downloaded from GPS File Depot, the riding was ace, with some rock steps & some sand... leading to a tarmac road, if you don't fancy some easy technical riding stick to the graded gravel road, it goes to the same place.

The day that goes to Richfield is a technical riding day, Black Dragon Canyon is ace fun, then there is a bit we missed out because of a warning from Sam about deep soft sand & big boulders, we opted for the road for once as our bikes were 200kg +.

Richfield has a good ish bike shop & is a big busy town where you can resupply with most things

The last day we found fairly straight forward, the navigation through the Fish Lake park was interesting as the GPS line is approximate again, but the trails are limited so scroll out on the GPS & you'll be fine.

The Border Inn was about $70 for a twin bedded room, the food id good & they serve

in the bar!!

Totally loved Utah!!

Nevada -
Lots of great riding, look out for fires though, check out the Links page for websites to check up at for this issue... It's very hot, so take plenty of water & food, there are no decent bike shops anywhere near the trail, so either make sure your bike is well set up with tyres, chains, lube etc or you can arrange internet orders & get them delivered to motels somewhere. Check out Rocky Mountain ATV, Utah, Motorcycle Superstore or Dennis Kirk in Reno, all of these deliver around the US in about 3 days, depending upon distances.
Passing from Nevada to Oregon, there is no fuel or food in Fort Bidwell, the nearest is either Cedarville, 23 miles to the south & on GPS Kevin's route or in Lakeview, 40 miles to the north, this day is over 200 miles when you take into consideration the journey upto Fields from Denio Junction which is 25 miles each way.
Pay attention when navigating as the trails are much smaller than in other States on the TAT.
If it rains, the trails will be harder than when dry as there are lots of sandy/ fine powder dirt sections. The morning from Denio Junction, after the descent from the first pass drops you into a potential bog if it is in the rain.

Oregon -
Passing from Nevada to Oregon, there is no fuel or food in Fort Bidwell, the nearest is either Cedarville, 23 miles to the south & on GPS Kevin's route or in Lakeview, 40 miles to the north, this day is over 200 miles when you take into consideration the journey upto Fields from Denio Junction which is 25 miles each way.
Some of the trail near Silverlake is different on the rollmaps than the GPS, we think it's due to the rain/storm damage, so the GPS takes you around the road into Silverlake, which is cool with some nice views.
Silverlake has fuel, a motel & a fab cafe, the breakfasts are excellent & the blonde is quite cute to add to the ambiance!!
Be wary of thunder storms in the hills, they are violent & the fine sand & soil becomes a nightmare to ride.
At Gilchrist the Gilchrist Inn is a fab place to stay & the Mohawk in Crescent serves great food. The fuel stop is in Crescent.
At Tiller there is no accommodation or fuel, so ignore Sam's info on this & the number for the lass he suggests to talk to is now no longer in service. Nearest fuel & accommodation is Canyonville (25 miles from Tiller) or Glendale (Another 50 miles on the trail from Tiller but quicker by tarmac road) & either depends upon which route your doing.
Sunny Valley motel is a total shithole, don't waste your money or your health going there, apparently the RV park in Sunny Valley has cabins to rent, failing this it is a few more junctions south where there are motels & restaurants on the I5.
There is a closed section of the trail before Tiller, you'll need to take the road (29) into Tiller rather than the sharp left at Elk River. All the other forest trails seem to dead end, hence the road route.

Happy biking all...

**birddogvet** · #2 3 Aug 2014

Thank-you very much for your insight into covering a much neglected US cross country trail.
There are too many of us who fail to experience this wilder side of the States.
Do you have a daily ride report, pics??