This premium service -- which uses the GPS navigation system for accurate guidance -- facilitates customizable overland journeys that can extend from Canada to Mexico, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Do it your way!
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Heart of the West Adventure Route: USA's convenient multistate wildland journey
This premium service -- which uses the GPS navigation system for accurate guidance -- facilitates customizable overland journeys that can extend from Canada to Mexico, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Do it your way!
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
adventure travel,
backroads,
BDR,
Colorado,
dirt roads,
Heart of the West,
idaho,
montana,
motorcycle travel,
Nevada,
overland,
overlanding,
Pony Express,
Rocky Mountains,
SUV,
transcontinental,
utah,
wyoming
Six-state 'Heart of the West Adventure Route' is even better for 2021 wildland travel
Heart of the West Adventure Route maintains its "always something new" reputation for 2021, with substantial new routing in the Rocky Mountains ... and a "Plan B" network of world-class routes in case weather or wild fires force a change of plans.
Have a look ...
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Sierra to the Sea Adventure Route: Motoring through the wildlands of Northern California
S2S is focused on Northern California's most scenic, historic and remote unpaved backroads. The objective: To guide select overlanders, adventure motorcycle riders and other wildland travelers through some of California's wildest vehicle-accessible backcountry with data that is accurate, useful and current.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
adventure motorcycling,
adventure travel,
backcountry roads,
backroads,
BDR,
California,
California byways,
California travel,
dirt roads,
GPS,
Lost Coast,
overland,
Sierra,
trip planning,
wildland
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Rare GPS-equipped cameras, data loggers can precisely I.D. wildland photo locations
In the days when we shot photographic film for our wildland-travel guidebooks and magazine features, it could be difficult months or years later to match an image with a dirt road or other feature we needed to depict.
GPS-equipped cameras and accessories |
That’s because photographs of deserts, mountains, plains, forests and such often lack features that make exact location unclear.
So, since adopting digital imaging many years ago, we’ve put considerable effort into acquiring cameras and accessories that can embed GPS (global positioning system) data into our photographs.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
Global Positioning System,
GPS,
GPS cameras,
landscape photography,
travel photography
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Tow strap, folding hand saw can keep forest deadfall from ending your wildland journey
Now and then we encounter forest roads blocked by deadfall ... trees felled by fire, age, drought, insects or wind. Often they can be cut away with the folding hand saw we keep in our moto and SUV tool kits.
Sometimes, however, they need to be pulled off the road using a tow or recovery strap.
We've never used our 30-foot-long recovery strap for its intended purpose: hitching to a second vehicle to be extracted from a hole of some sort. We find that good judgment, used preventively, is the better tool.
We have used the strap a number of times to pull deadfall either completely out of the roadway, or far enough to make room to pass. (Why 30 feet instead of, say, 20? We find that a longer strap can probably be made shorter with wrap-arounds; but a shorter strap cannot by itself be lengthened if necessary.)
Tow strap being used to move deadfall |
We've never used our 30-foot-long recovery strap for its intended purpose: hitching to a second vehicle to be extracted from a hole of some sort. We find that good judgment, used preventively, is the better tool.
We have used the strap a number of times to pull deadfall either completely out of the roadway, or far enough to make room to pass. (Why 30 feet instead of, say, 20? We find that a longer strap can probably be made shorter with wrap-arounds; but a shorter strap cannot by itself be lengthened if necessary.)
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
4Runner,
4WD,
adventure travel,
backroads,
dirt roads,
overland travel,
overlanding,
wildland travel
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
There is a nail waiting for a tire along every wildland road, so be ready for the inevitable
"Flat tire!" adventure-motorcycling videographer Sterling Noren called out from his BMW F800 as we rode from our campsite along the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route. He was there to film the Touratech USA- and Butler Motorcycle Maps-sponsored inaugural ride of the border-to-border route. I was there to write about it for RoadRUNNER, the motorcycle-travel magazine.
Sterling's words are among those that every ADV-style motorcyclist dreads, for they proclaim the inevitable along America's wildest roads.
It was the second flat of the trip.
COBDR campsite where Sterling Noren's BMW got a flat tire. |
It was the second flat of the trip.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
adventure motorcycling,
backroads,
BDR,
BDRs,
COBDR,
Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route,
dirt roads,
flat tires,
overland travel,
overlanding,
wildland travel
Monday, January 28, 2019
Southeastern Idaho site memorializes worst massacre of Native Americans in West
Interpretive site overlooking area of massacre |
Thursday, January 3, 2019
More than 80 years later, a byways journey reveals remnants of '30s 'Dust Bowl' country
After decades spent documenting wildland roads of the American West, we opted in 2018 to focus on historical backroad travel through what once was the Dust Bowl.
Dust Bowl region of southeastern Colorado |
For several days, we traveled in our 4Runner along the often unpaved and remote county roads in the Great Plains where the states of Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma meet.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
backroads,
Colorado,
Colorado backroads,
Dust Bowl,
Great Plains,
historic travel,
Oklahoma,
Oklahoma backroads,
rural tourism,
travel
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Backcountry Byways LLC's web address changes to 'www.backcountrybyways.com'
Backcountry Byways LLC's web address has been changed to www.backcountrybyways.com.
The change enables us to better reflect the range of premium, personalized services we've provided to wildland and overland travelers since 1993. The URL previously directed web visitors to our ground-breaking Backcountry Byways guidebook series.
The change enables us to better reflect the range of premium, personalized services we've provided to wildland and overland travelers since 1993. The URL previously directed web visitors to our ground-breaking Backcountry Byways guidebook series.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
ADV,
adventure,
adventure motorcycles,
adventure riding,
backcountry,
BDR,
camping,
dirt roads,
Heart of the West,
HoW,
overland,
overlanding,
SUV,
tent life,
tenting,
travel,
travel planning,
wildland
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Utah's Comb Ridge, Bears Ears shelter America's ancestral-Puebloan heritage
It is a privilege to experience the homeland of America's ancestral Puebloan people, whose centuries-old cliff-dwelling culture mysteriously vanished centuries ago, yet reaches out to us today at places like Utah's Comb Ridge.
The dramatic sandstone uplift barely survived the Republican Trump administration's downsizing of Bears Ears National Monument -- authorized by Democratic President Barack Obama -- by 85 percent in December 2017.
Utah Hwy. 95 ascends the west face of Comb Ridge. |
The dramatic sandstone uplift barely survived the Republican Trump administration's downsizing of Bears Ears National Monument -- authorized by Democratic President Barack Obama -- by 85 percent in December 2017.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
adventure travel,
backcountry roads,
Comb Ridge,
dirt roads,
Grand Staircase,
GSENM,
overland,
utah,
utah byways,
Utah travel,
wildland
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Wilco Off-Road's Hitchgate solves spare-tire issue, but poses installation, support hurdles
There is no law of physics, nature or probability that assures only one flat tire will occur when traveling wildland roads.
That's why we carry two all-terrain spare tires, and recommend that our clients do so as well.
However, the problem of where to carry a large, 70-lb. (32 kg.) or heavier second spare wheel is difficult to resolve.
We had hoped that Wilco Offroad's Hitchgate Solo spare-tire carrier was the solution. Unfortunately, two years' experience with Wilco and the Hitchgate Solo on our 4Runner leads us to recommend against the California firm's products.
Problems with Wilco and their Hitchgate include:
Wilco's Hitchgate Solo mounted on our 4Runner. |
However, the problem of where to carry a large, 70-lb. (32 kg.) or heavier second spare wheel is difficult to resolve.
We had hoped that Wilco Offroad's Hitchgate Solo spare-tire carrier was the solution. Unfortunately, two years' experience with Wilco and the Hitchgate Solo on our 4Runner leads us to recommend against the California firm's products.
Problems with Wilco and their Hitchgate include:
- the cost (upwards of $1,000 USD);
- installation and fitment problems;
- a defect in a key component of the Hitchgate;
- lack of support in overcoming that defect;
- long fulfilment times; and
- Wilco's failure to fill our order for small replacement parts (two pivot arm washers) after multiple contacts, and repeated assurances that they would promptly do so.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
4Runner,
backcountry roads,
dirt roads,
flat tires,
Hitchgate,
idaho backroads,
off-road,
overland,
overlanding,
Wilco,
wildland travel
Monday, December 11, 2017
For SUV adventures, your smart phone or tablet can replace a dedicated GPS unit
For easy backcountry navigation using our plug-and-play GPS data, many of our wildland-travel clients are switching from dedicated GPS units to smartphones and tablets, both Android and iOS.
Detailed GPX tracks make backcountry navigation easy. |
These devices are equipped with GPS sensors, which is why Google Maps can provide directions and routing. This does not require an internet connection or cell service; it relies on GPS satellites. That makes is easy to follow the plug-and-play "tracks" we provide.
But sunlight screen readability can be a problem. (See our post on that issue.)
But sunlight screen readability can be a problem. (See our post on that issue.)
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
backcountry,
backroads,
dirt roads,
Garmin,
GPS,
GPS navigation,
Heart of the West,
navigation
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Smartphones can work for adventure motorcycling, but know the pitfalls
Many adventure motorcylists who come to us for routing services see no point to loading our detailed, GPS-based navigational tracks onto expensive and bulky dedicated GPS units.
Instead, they want to use the device they already have and use all day long: their phones, both iPhones and Android phones.
While our GPS data files work well on smartphones, especially when traveling in the shaded interior of an SUV, those devices can have important shortcomings when used in the daylight and the demanding conditions of adventure motorcycling.
Instead, they want to use the device they already have and use all day long: their phones, both iPhones and Android phones.
Garmin Montana (left), Samsung S5, iPhone 5 |
While our GPS data files work well on smartphones, especially when traveling in the shaded interior of an SUV, those devices can have important shortcomings when used in the daylight and the demanding conditions of adventure motorcycling.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
backcountry,
backroads,
BDR,
dirt roads,
Garmin,
GPS,
navigation
Thursday, April 20, 2017
'Asphalt & Dirt: Life on Two Wheels'
We've just received a copy of the new book Asphalt & Dirt: Life on Two Wheels, by Aaron Heinrich.
The book is packed with engaging profiles of individuals who've been engaged in advancing various genres of motorcycling ... including yours truly, of Backcountry Byways LLC.
The 365-page paperback ($22.95) is published by Florida's Road Dog Publications (roaddogpub.com).
Kindle versions are available from Amazon, and Nook versions are available from Barnes & Noble.
Give it a look!
Kindle versions are available from Amazon, and Nook versions are available from Barnes & Noble.
Give it a look!
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
Aaron Heinrich,
backcountry,
tony huegel,
trip planning
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Want to plot your own adventure route? First, navigate the world of maps
At Backcountry Byways LLC, we are often asked what maps we rely on to develop personalized travel routes for clients who prefer to explore the wilds of the American West on their own -- without the expense and limitations of a hand-holding guided tour.
Without divulging too many secrets, here are some tools we use and recommend.
Benchmark Road & Receation atlases: This series, focused on Western states, is an indispensable tool and the best of the atlas genre. Each page of shaded-relief cartography illustrates primitive two-track roads (faint red hairlines), primitive high-clearance or 4x4 roads (orange-hued dashed lines), and unpaved roads (dark red dashed lines). Landmarks abound, both natural and man-made, as do place names and countless other details. We have found that the faint hairline roads often are better than their designation suggests, and thus often are suitable for adventure motoring.
Without divulging too many secrets, here are some tools we use and recommend.
****

Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
backcountry,
backroads,
BDR,
Benchmark Maps,
byways,
dirt roads,
GPS,
maps,
navigation,
routing,
trip planning
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Olympic Park's Obstruction Point Road provides travelers a gold-medal drive
The following tour description is from my guidebook Washington Byways. The 56-route guide details non-technical backcountry roads for adventure motorcyclists and SUV-borne travelers. The book is available as a convenient PDF download ... for just USD$14! To get your copy, contact us at: backcountrybyways at gmail dot com. It's a 25mb-plus file, so you will need either Dropbox or Google Drive -- both free to download -- to transfer it.
***
![]() |
Obstruction Point Road |
HIGHLIGHTS With its wildflowers and views of the Olympic Mountains, particularly glacier-capped 7,965-foot Mt. Olympus and the park’s deep river valleys, this short, narrow and winding ridgeline road packs a powerful scenic punch as it climbs to 6,150 feet. It runs both just below and on top of Hurricane Ridge (named for the winds that blow in winter), and ends above tree line at the base of 6,450-foot Obstruction Peak. The parking area at the end of the road is the trailhead for a number of day hikes, including the steep, 7.6-mile (one way) Grand Ridge Trail to Deer Park (Tour 3 in Washington Byways).
DIFFICULTY Easy, on a good high-clearance, native-surface road. The park tries to have the road open by July 4, depending on weather and the previous winter’s snowpack. It is generally closed to overnight parking in early October. It is closed altogether by the end of October. It is also closed whenever snow, which can occur anytime, makes driving hazardous. This is a busy road on sunny summer weekends, and the parking area at the end fills up fast. So consider going on a weekday if you can, or going early in the day.
DIFFICULTY Easy, on a good high-clearance, native-surface road. The park tries to have the road open by July 4, depending on weather and the previous winter’s snowpack. It is generally closed to overnight parking in early October. It is closed altogether by the end of October. It is also closed whenever snow, which can occur anytime, makes driving hazardous. This is a busy road on sunny summer weekends, and the parking area at the end fills up fast. So consider going on a weekday if you can, or going early in the day.
TIME & DISTANCE 1 hour; 15.6 miles round-trip. But this is a great day-hiking and sightseeing destination, so plan on spending considerably more time.
MAPS The map you’ll receive upon entering the park (and paying the $10 fee) is adequate. It is also shown in Benchmark Maps' Washington Road & Recreation Atlas, p. 54 (E-G, 3-4).
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
dual sport motorcycles,
motorcycle trails,
Obstruction Point Road,
Olympic National Park,
Washington 4x4
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Utah's anti-Moab: Green River, and the nearby San Rafael Swell and Book Cliffs
![]() |
Book Cliffs, near Green River, Utah |
With all of its warts and woes, Green River appeals to me. It is authentic Utah, and there are reasons -- access to gorgeous backcountry roads, spectacular sandstone canyons and ancient rock art -- to make Green River a destination, and to stay for a while.
Labels:4WD, dual sport,Huegel,backroads
Book Cliffs,
Green River,
Green River State Park,
Ray's Tavern,
San Rafael Swell,
Touratech USA,
Utah Backcountry Discovery Route
Friday, May 4, 2012
Utah's Escalante country seems overlooked by Moab-bound masses -- and we're glad!
Note: To learn more about adventure driving in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, as well as Capitol Reef National Park, pick up a copy of our guidebook, Utah Byways. This post includes videos and a Google map.
Escalante, Utah -- We may not be done with touristy Moab, but more and more we are drawn to Utah's remote, often overlooked (and underappreciated) portals to canyon country -- humble hamlets like Green River, Hanksville, Boulder and Escalante.
To my traveled eye, these hamlets remain authentically Utah: rooted in the lore of Mormon pioneers; minimally or not at all commercialized; unwaypointed by auto navigation systems; away from it all. (State route 12 wasn't paved until 1985.)
Escalante, Utah -- We may not be done with touristy Moab, but more and more we are drawn to Utah's remote, often overlooked (and underappreciated) portals to canyon country -- humble hamlets like Green River, Hanksville, Boulder and Escalante.
![]() |
Table with a view at Kiva Koffeehouse & Kottage |
Saturday, March 10, 2012
'Backcountry Discovery Route' maps for Washington, Utah rich in planning info
![]() |
Utah BDR |
![]() |
Wash. BDR |
And they're available now, in time to plan this season's backcountry ride or drive.
Butler Motorcycle Maps' information-packed Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR; 575 miles; 925 km) and Utah Backcountry Discovery Route (UTBDR; 871 miles; 1,402 km) ($14.95 ea.) can help travelers more efficiently plan full or partial trips on these two off-highway road systems.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Butler Maps, Touratech-USA chronicle new 'Utah Backcountry Discovery Route'
The recently developed, 871-mile Utah Backcountry Discovery Route (UTBDR) is the third trans-state adventure-motoring route in an anticipated network of linked routes through each Western state.
![]() |
The new UTBDR includes portions of famous Kokopelli's Trail. |
The UTBDR crosses eastern Utah from the Arizona line southwest of Bluff to Bear Lake on the Idaho-Utah line, just west of the Wyoming line. Portions of the route are chronicled in my guide to Utah's adventure roads, Utah Byways.
Butler Motorcycle Maps has just added a map of the UTBDR to its expanding catalog of references available to backroad explorers. Like its other durable, detailed and plastic-coated maps, it retails for $14.95. With a focus on the needs of adventure riders and drivers, I will review this and other Butler MC maps in an upcoming post.
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