200+ mile tours completely off road?
 

Want to do a tour with two tweens. Both can ride 40+ miles a day and have for years easily.

But I do not want them on the roads.

Bikes can handle 32mm tires so a bit of gravel is ok.

Suggestions?

Bonus if its driving distance from NoCA!

My suggestion would be two-fold:
1. Look at some of the longer rail trails - https://www.railstotrails.org/our-wo...e-trail-stats/
2. Consider more remote gravel roads in the deserts, e.g. Joshua tree. You might need to go wider than those 32mm tires and be prepared to carry more (or use support vehicle).

There was a recent topic:
https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...ike-paths.html

If you can find a 100 mile course one-way, then it becomes a 200 mile course out and back.

The Katy Trail is fine packed limestone, and can be done on just about anything from a pure road bike to a MTB.

The John Wayne Trail and Columbia Trail in Washington are much rougher, and would require at least a MTB.

Does your route have to be entirely off road? We have quite a few back country logging roads that get relatively low traffic, although they can also have some crazy drivers.

The McKenzie Pass is typically closed until June, I think. It is only about 30 miles from Sisters to McKenzie Bridge, I think. Riding to/from Springfield, it should be closer to a Century ride. I've found a route that takes one about 70% on back roads, and 30% on main roads. The Aufderheide is a beautiful low-traffic road that would be an alternate approach to the McKenzie Pass. And, if you include gravel, back roads from at least Lowell to Sisters (in the late spring).

C&O and GAP between DC and Pittsburgh is 335 miles off-road and fairly flat, unless you consider the RR grade of the GAP and locks on the C&O climbing/descending.

Got a chuckle out of that.. The only time I ever broke a chain was on one of those small climbs, go figure. To be fair, it was not the chain, it was the quick link that fell off but still.

There is an immense network of trails from Sanra Cruz up thru the bay and into Santa Rosa.
It would be a blast to connect trails together with campsites. There would be some roads along the way though to connect trail to trail.

I have a 12 and 9 yo, totally get the hesitation to ride roads.

Washington has a few really long rail to trail segments, but parts may be too difficult for kids with 32s. No idea the perseverance as that's really important.

212 miles. gravel. just signed up. Bit of a drive from ca. though. :)

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31456...CZszvFpzZZLw9Y

And 18,000 feet of climbing

Well, 18,090 feet...
It's the last 90 feet that get you~ :lol:

Ditto on the Katy Trail. It's around 240 miles total and 95% trail. There's a few short sections on low mileage roads especially around Sedalia plus some places where there's detours from last-year's flooding damage. I've done it end-to-end 8 times on 700x32s and I'm not a lightweight.

If you'd like to do a supported tour in June, there's this one: https://mostateparks.com/2020ktride

Mickelson Trail "out and back."

Deadwood to Hill City.
Hill City to Custer (Short day on the trail, but you could add miles on the spur out to Stockade Lake or take the tourist train to Keystone and possibly visit Mt. Rushmore).
Custer to Edgemont.

Reverse.

Bitterroot 300K. Not 200 miles, but close.

https://friendsofcdatrails.org/route...oot-300k-loop/

I was going to suggest that, but it's not entirely off road. Just did Avery to the Route of the Hiawatha in June. That stretch of the old Milwaukee Road right of way is open to cars. So two or three on my way up. East Portal down to Taft and the NorPac Trail up to Lookout Pass are also open to vehicles. Didn't see encounter any on the NorPac last year but I did see one car and a couple of ATVs in 2017. That side of the NorPac is also is in bad shape in places. I had to walk a couple of short stretches where water cascading off the hillside had washed off the top layer, leaving a lot of large rocks exposed. 32c might be cutting it close if loaded. (Never been on the NorPac between Lookout and Mullan.) You are also on road west of Avery until you pick up the Milwaukee Road right of way again, albeit on the quite side of the river. The old right of way from there to St. Marie is open to traffic, as the web site notes, but it's supposedly very light. (Various sections of the Milwaukee Road in MT and ID were converted to community roads. Some of them are actually private roads.) From St. Marie to Plummer you are on ID-3.

With that said, if the OP is flexible and willing to add some light traffic roads, I think it's a great option. The Hiawatha and the right of way between Pearson and Avery, with it's many tunnels and trestles, is a great ride.

These are all great options. Some on road riding with light traffic is fine, just not more than 10-15%.

Are there any closer to San Francisco? I prefer not to fly and instead invest the money in upgrading their bikes, maybe even buy new bikes.

Thanks again.

It might not be completely off-road, but the Lost Coast might be an interesting challenge.

One other thought, do a hub and spoke tour. Set up a a base camp with a car. Do day trips out and back.

You could ride on the sidewalks in San Francisco if it weren’t for the homeless encampments, so that’s out. Other than that, you could ride south to Pigeon Point Lighthouse on the roads. My recollection is the traffic wasn’t that bad, or I would’ve remembered it better.

Northern Idaho - kinda driving distance.
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes - paved, excellent for inexperienced riders.
Then Trail of the Hiawathas - packed gravel - to make a loop.

That's what was suggested in posts #12-13. Not completely off road, but a good option.

I hoped you fill in some details on the route. I wasn't sure how strict the "off road thing" was and figured it was at least worth a look. This does look like a wonderful ride.

OP, here's a link to a young family that did the ride. From my research(a year ago), the only portion that REALLY isn't suggested for biking is the St. Marie to Plummer segment, ID 5 I think. The family in the link below got a shuttle to cover that part.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/...id=554537&v=5f

The Oregon Outback is an Amtrak train ride away from Nor Cal. At the end you may need to ride roads to get into Portland. There might be a bus to get you to the Portland Amtrak.

After a few thousand miles on a mostly crushed gravel trail network I would not even consider riding "off-road" on 32mm tires. My bike stock came with 38mm's and I upgraded to 42mm's. I'm not a big guy, 150lbs if wet. The tires just don't have the flotation on softer ground - as in wet dirt, and the worst - coarse gravel (like that used on construction sites for temporary equipment paths) and pea gravel - its akin to trying to ride over marbles.

If the ground you are going to ride is "hard" (actually hard and if it rains you aren't victim to dirt going soft) then you can get by. It just would not be my choice. If I were riding like that routinely I'd have something in the 51mm/2" wide range. It will make for a smoother ride, also, with more sidewall to absorb the terrain.

Here is a map with many gravel roads around the country. Just link them up in the area you want to ride. Surprisingly quite a few roads.
https://gravelmap.com/#@39.048504793...2268,9,roadmap

Mr used to be (funny name btw and so true for most of us), as a parent who has done stuff with kids and who has ridden in trails and whatnot, do keep in mind how gravel riding generally will be slower and more tiring (bumpy, having to watch surface etc) than what we are used to on pavement.
So do keep this in mind and be more conservative for distances and time, and don't forget to carry more food\snacks and water if unsure of distances between towns or whatever.
And with gravel etc, chances are more of a little tumble and scrapes, so a basic first aid kit to at least clean and cover up a bo-bo is always good to have.
Have fun planning and hope this works out.

And yes, watch for overly high tire pressures that are fine on pavement, lower will be more comfortable and more sure footed.

Is it surprising?
Iowa alone has over 70,000 miles of gravel roads. And we are hardly a large state in geographic size.