Imagine riding across the United States from Canada to Mexico, all on dirt roads. Imagine crossing the Continental Divide twenty-eight times, winding between some of the highest peaks in the continental United States and passing though five states and through some of the most ruggedly beautiful and remote places in the country. This is the Great Divide Ride.
Referred to as the “Backbone of America” and loosely following the Continental Divide, the Great Divide Ride, or GDR, begins at the Canadian border in Montana’s Glacier National Park. From there the GDR passes through Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and ultimately New Mexico, right at the Mexican border.
The motorcycle route as a rule is quite easy through Montana. Wide, unpaved county roads and Forest Service roads make up most of the trail. Here the ride is through some of the most remote back-country America offers. Traversing the Gallatin National Forest, the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the Scapegoat Wilderness, the Centennial Mountains and the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
In Idaho, there is nearly 300 miles of riding through both the Targhee and Salmon National Forests. Much of the ride in Idaho is on Forest Service Roads, dodging high the large towns. In most places there are more cows than people, and some riding is done in open range. It’s through Idaho that the verdant mountains give way to drier landscapes, although much of it is still at elevation.
After Idaho the GDR then enters Wyoming. For roughly five hundred and fifty miles the landscapes are incredibly diverse – everything from high rock walls to open meadows and desert plains. South of the Tetons, the GDR passes through the Wind River Range and then down into the huge emptiness of the Great Basin Desert.
In Colorado, the GDR reaches its highest altitude of 14,270 feet at Grays Peak. Inside the Rocky Mountain National Park there's alpine tundra, abandoned gold and silver mines, and ghost towns galore. The GDR runs for about eight hundred miles in Colorado, impressively at or above eleven thousand feet for nearly seventy miles.
The last state along the GDR is New Mexico, and here the scenery and the trail change abruptly. There’s quite a bit of single track through the Carson National Forest. There are roughly seven hundred and seventy miles through this beautiful, severe terrain. New Mexico offers very diverse riding, everything from lava fields to grasslands.
Antelope Wells, New Mexico is a sleepy border town and it’s here that the GDR ends. The border guards are mildly amused at the riders that come here and take pictures because for them it’s just another day’s work. But for those who traverse the three thousand miles of back country to get there it’s a testament to their endurance and commitment to the ride.
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