BikeTouringRook

But I don't know where.
1) Somewhere that is not in Florida (my present location)
2) Not ridiculously hilly (like Milford, OH to Erie, PA, my last tour)

I will be pulling a doggie trailer with a 65 pound dog and two rear panniers of about 25 to 30 pounds. My plans are for the month of April 2015. I will be in no hurry, I have at least a month to be out there. This will be my 5th tour and 3rd solo, loaded. Where can I go?

JoeyBike

The Katy Trail in Missouri is pretty sweet. I could do an out-and-back with some side trips and waste about three weeks on or near the Katy leaving 7 days for logistics getting there and back home again. Missouri is in Tornado Alley and April can be a fairly active time for severe weather across the Midwest. But with a month you could easily hunker down when the storm fronts blow through. Good excuse for a night in a motel now and then anyway. Round trip would be 475 miles without the side trips. The old railroad grade never has more than a 2% grade. Car free all the way.

I would like to do that trail again. Very relaxing. Crushed limestone surface hard enough for narrow tires although I used 26x2" on my Long Haul Trucker. This allowed me to take some fairly rough side trips.

Machka 

Are you limited to the US or can you travel further afield?

JoeyBike

He has a 65 lb dog as a travel companion. Not sure the hassles of getting out of the country with a pet.

Machka 

It would depend where he's thinking of going. He wouldn't get into Australia ... but he might get into Canada.


However, if he is limited to the US for one reason or another, I'd recommend the red rock country of the Utah area ... maybe including Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Arches National Park and Colorado Monument. You could include Grand Canyon if you wanted ... and the Canyonlands National Park ... lots of places in that area.

That area would be very different from Florida!!


Another option might be Montana ... or Idaho. There's apparently a bicycle trail in the Coeur d'Alene area ... and there are paved bicycles paths in the Whitefish to Missoula, Montana areas. You could probably do a little trip into the Columbia Falls and West Glacier areas, near the Glacier National Park. You wouldn't want to do the Going to the Sun road with dog in tow, but even if you give that a miss, it is a beautiful area. And quite different from Florida.

jamawani 

Canada? In April??
Also, with the big dog and the panniers, a wet Katy Trail would be no fun.

Here's an April precipitation map:


April high temps:


April low temps:


<<<>>>

Precipitation-wise - much of the Southeast is soggy - except the Georgia / South Carolina coast
But the best area is the Southwest - from central Texas west to California

Temperature-wise - the Southeast is fine, the lower elevation Southwest is fine, too -
But the desert Southwest will have colder temps at night, even possible snow at higher elevations.

This winter is supposed to be an El Nino year in the Southwest - which means a lot of rain -
The desert parks may - repeat "may" - have fabulous wildflowers.
Anyhoo, April is a lovely month to do the parks.

You could start in San Diego, hit Anza Borrego, Joshua Tree, Mojave, and Death Valley -
Then cross over Walker Pass and to the Sierra foothills up to San Francisco.
If you have enough time left, you could then ride the Pacific Coast Hwy -
Maybe as far as San Luis Obispo - - and it will be at its greenest.

Machka 

Most years, BC in April is beautiful ... lower mainland BC, Vancouver Island. The trees are coming out in leaves, the flowers are blooming ...

BikeTouringRook

Hi, thanks everyone for the wealth of information! I know the name does not give any indication, but I am a she. I love the canyon areas, which was my original plan, but don't think I can make the hill grade with a 65 pound dog and the distance of isolation is nothing to take lightly according to Adventure Cycling maps. I researched cycling into Canada, and it seems to be a headache with a dog, plus I would not be able to take dog food in. Does anyone know if this research info holds any truth?
I would love to complete this last leg of the Underground Railroad, although, the hills would probably kill us both in the end. If not, perhaps I will consider the Katy Trail.

Machka 

One of my aunts takes her dog to the US and back to Canada.

And Canada has dog food. You wouldn't need to bring any.

Here are the requirements ... from the Canadian Government site ...
Bringing Your Pet to Canada - Travel.gc.ca

imi

Getting out of Death Valley would be quite a climb with a dog that size, or can the dog walk? Or pull?

BikeTouringRook

I guess I will have look deeper into Canada. He's on a special dog food due to allergies. Should I take this route I'd have to dump any remaining food before entering.

I have a bike leash for him, so he will be doing some walking.

Thank you all!

BikeTouringRook

Hm........pulling.....now that's a thought, without me on it, of course. He is a pulling breed (AmStaff.....Pit-bull family).

Machka 

Read the link again.

However, if you are considering venturing into BC, it would be good to read all the information first, especially since yours may be a banned breed. I'm not sure.

BikeTouringRook

Right, I'm reading it now. I guess I responded before I read.. This might be doable.

djb

I must ask this, have you ridden before pulling this much weight? The trailer we used to pull our kids in must have weighed at least 15lbs, maybe more. The dog and your panniers are getting close to 100lbs, so even if we go conservative the total weight will be in the 115lbs minimum (throw in water, dog food etc and it will be more)

The most I have ever toured with on my bike is maybe 50lbs and that was a real chore with any hills, so I am rather skeptical about how you and your knees will be able to do this. I guess pushing it is doable because Mr Doggy can walk beside you, but then there are safety issues of him or her being beside potential closely rushing by traffic etc.

Just seems like there are some real logistical issues to be aware of, specifically how just plain bloody hard it is to pull 100 and whatever pounds along by bike. As somewhere here wisely noted once, no where you ride is going to be ever be really "flat" and this weight will be a real challenge. If your gearing isnt super low, you could easily end up with knee issues or whatever.

good luck with the plan though.

Machka 

If you are considering Canada, the Vancouver area should be decent in April, and all the way inland to about Kamloops should be all right. The Rocky Mountains will likely be snowy still, possibly with closed roads. Alberta could go either way. Some years it is cold and snowy, some years it is quite nice. Saskatchewan will likely be chilly. Manitoba could go either way. I've experienced some really nice Aprils there, and some really cold and snowy Aprils. I'm not sure about east of that.


If you are considering the Vancouver area, you might also consider starting in the Pacific Northwest ... maybe Oregon or Washington ... and working your way up. That area can be hilly, but if you get into river valleys it's not bad.

Lower mainland BC follows the Fraser River and there are some very flat areas. Vancouver Island can be very hilly, but Rowan and I did a tour from Victoria to Nanaimo, mainly along the coast. I'm not a climber, and it wasn't flat, but the hills in that part of Vancouver Island were manageable.


If you are interested in that part of the world, get in touch with Seattle International Randonneurs. Their members cycle all over that area and someone should be able to advise routes.
Seattle International Randonneurs

In Canada, the BC Randonneurs should be able to give you advice about Vancouver Island and lower mainland BC.
BC Randonneurs Cycling Club

Randonneurs do long distance rides, but many of them also tour.

fietsbob

You got the rest of the Gulf Coast , to Brownsville Texas , to check out ..


Perhaps if you use a big Pet transport box , you can get a Bus, like Greyhound.

to get to another start than your front door..

[logistically] may have to box the Bike to get it on the bus (or Plane) and have a cargo trailer,
to take the transport box on the road , towed behind you..

jamawani 

Vancouver's April weather is tolerable - but hardly ideal for cycling.
Avg Hi - 56F; Avg Lo - 42F; Avg Prec - 3.5 inches; Days with Rain - 15

And that's probably the best weather in BC in April, when the OP wants to ride for a month.
For a Canadian, that may be the banana belt, but for a Floridian it would be tough.

<<<>>>

The OP seems to have quite a few conditions - some of which may be mutually exclusive.
She has never made clear how she is going to get to her starting point - with a 65-pound dog.

Shifty

Hummmmm....maybe you should take a hiking trip.

alan s 

Consider kenneling the dog or having a friend take care of it. Don't think a pet would get the same thing out of a tour as you would, and hauling around an extra 65 pounds for a month would be a pain.

djb

and its just not an extra 65 pounds, there will be the weight of the trailer (I think realistically it is probably 20lbs+) and the dogs special food (throw in at least 10lbs or more for a month trip, even if you take a small amount at first, its probably a 10lbs bag for a bunch of days) plus some extra water so the dog has enough water also.

we're talking quite possibly 100lbs of weight BEFORE her own gear, so could be 120-130lbs of gear to haul up every small, medium and large hill.

I strongly suspect that no one here in the touring forum has ever toured with so much weight.

Even if you have the lowest mountain bike gearing, hauling this load could very easily lead to knee issues or whatever that could end your trip.

not trying to be a naysayer here, but rather (I believe) being just realistic about what you are considering getting yourself into.

staehpj1

Good advice, IMO. That said folks have successfully toured with large dogs in trailers. On the ST, I met a guy touring with a large greyhound in a trailer. He had been many months on the road and was doing fine. He said the dog got out and trotted alongside on some of the long climbs. It wouldn't be for me though. I love my dog and miss her when on tour, but I wouldn't be willing to pull her and her stuff. I even hate to carry more of my own gear than absolutely necessary.

My dog would probably be fine on tour trotting along in some mountain biking locales if I took it easy on the mileage and pace especially on the downhills. I trail run with her daily at home and she goes on single track and fire road rides of a few hours trotting along. She is faster than me on the climbs and I wait for her on the descents. If it is hot she stays home when I ride the MTB. If it is hot I run where there is plenty of water and shade and go early in the morning to miss the worst of the heat. This might be harder to do on tour, but dogs typically don't handle the heat as well as we do. Mine runs when it is pretty hot, but I take precautions and don't push her hard. She does acclimate as the season goes on but acclimates slower than I do. If you do have your dog run along be sure not to push it too hard in the heat. Mine would run until she dropped if I asked her to. You have to be careful to not ask too much of your dog they want to please. You could injure or even kill them by pushing them too hard in the heat.

BikeTouringRook

All so interesting and very informative!
Photo of my last loaded tour, with more than what I needed. It seems that I did more pushing than ridding.
Photo of the doggie trailer.
If this is going to be my destination, I have to somehow make this work.

BikeTouringRook

Also, my thoughts are to do the last leg of the Adventure Cycling "Underground Railroad" from Erie, PA to Owen Sound, ON

Machka 

OK, about 500 km over a month. Even if you just ride 20 days in April, that's 25 km/day. You could walk that if you had to.

Just check the weather in that part of the world in April.