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Are there any resources out there with details for specific backcountry/primitive tours, such as water sources, itineraries, camping spots, route difficulty, etc?

I'm a hiker/camper who just bought an "offroad touring" bike a few months ago, and I've been dying to take it out on a long-term trail ride. Problem is, so many of the trails that I find don't allow bikes at all. The ones that do are frequently very short and catered to technical mountain biking.

I've found a couple sparse sources, but not much. Most sources for tour info seem to cater to supported road tours, or road tours in general. This is the best example of what I'm looking for, but I get the feeling that there are many more options out there than this site lists. I notice that the entire Ozark trail is missing, for example.

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    I've used national forest service maps before, they are very helpful if you are going through a national forest, but the scope is limited. Generally they list fire roads, unimproved dirt roads, and some trails. You can buy paper maps at fs.fed.us/maps
    – Benzo
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 16:58
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    Become a member of Adventure Cycling. I'm not sure how many direct resources they have, but the magazine is good and they have forums that should be pretty active (though I've not been on the forums in a decade).
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 17:28
  • National Park versus National Forest is a whole different set of rules. Nation Park is not going to open up many trails to bicycle.
    – paparazzo
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 18:03
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    We really need a set of continent tags if not country ones for questions like this. Everything so far is useless if the OP is in New Zealand or China, for example.
    – Móż
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 22:42
  • @Mσᶎ But the link is to US stuff and Ozark trail is in the US.
    – paparazzo
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 23:01

1 Answer 1

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Are there ever!

I'm totally evangelizing for the adventure cycling association in my answer here, but check this out: Adventure Cycling Route Network. They have a lot of road tours but they do mountain tours as well.

You want the extreme of extreme backcountry mountain bike tours? How does 4418km of trail riding along the continental divide sound? Check out the Tour Divide, It follows the ACA's Great Divide Route.

Other than that take a closer look at the trail systems in National Parks, there are trails that permit cycling, and some that are long enough to bikepack on for a couple days. At least there are lots where I'm from, which is near Glacier National Park.

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    bikepacking.net is also a good resource.
    – Fred the Magic Wonder Dog
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 19:07
  • Actually, I'm looking for the opposite (sort of). The reason I want more resources is that I actually want an easy tour somewhere in the Rockies that I, as a novice, can't screw up. Also, since I'm on a rigid frame/fork, I'd like to avoid super technical routes as well. This is, however, a good answer.
    – bgutt3r
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 19:09
  • Most people ride the tour divide with rigid forks, I'm building my 2016 tour divide bike with a rigid carbon fork. You don't have to do the whole route, you can just hop on a section of it. I would recommend narrowing your scope a bit if you're looking for something local to where you are, I could give you tonnes of trail suggestions for the Southern Canadian Rockies, but I'm sure you could find something closer to home. You could also consider asking your question on outdoors.stackexchange.com and ask what bikepacking routes there are in your area.
    – ShemSeger
    Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 19:23

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