A new way on old ground.We’re building the longest mountain bike trail in the world. It’s called Orogenesis, and it stretches from Canada to Cabo. Baja to British Columbia. Pericú to Syilx land.
Orogenesis is the geologic process of mountain forming. This process has shaped the western flanks of North America for millions of years—creating the majestic peaks, bubbling streams, and solemn forest groves that we love and cherish. The Orogenesis route winds through these landscapes, painting its story in front of your two wheels whether you’re riding all 5,000 miles or just 5. 
As you may imagine, there are a few rough spots in the middle (to put it lightly!) and we need your help. For every dollar you donate, we get ten more. Until the end of the month, a group of our generous Mountain Builder Circle donors are matching every dollar tenfold. If you help us raise $20,000 we get $220,000.
Donate today—where else can you turn $50 into $500?Tackling the development of a mountain bike route on the scale of Orogenesis is an overwhelming undertaking. We understood this limitation early on in the process and created the Orogenesis Collective—a loose conglomeration of ultra athletes, trail builders, event promoters, bikepackers, and ghost trail whisperers up and down the west coast. These scouts' knowledge, ambition, and nose for sniffing out overgrown singletrack is what has enabled us to develop a more or less uninterrupted line for 5,000 miles along the western lip of the North American Tectonic Plate.
That being said, it’s hard to not focus on the few interruptions in this line: when you hit wilderness boundaries, a rocky chasm, a private gate, or a roaring river and are begrudgingly forced to retreat onto unexpected miles of pavement. Over the past several years we’ve attempted to refine the many alignment iterations and turn them into our preferred alignment. We found about 206 miles of ‘gaps’ where we’ve deemed there to be no current suitable option for riders. That may seem like a lot, but it’s less than 5% of the entire route—all of a sudden we realized just how close to blooming this entire juicy ribbon of trail was. The seed has germinated. Could we fast track it for a soft launch in 2023?
Now; about those pesky gaps, the highway riding, and no-bikes-allowed signs. 206 miles of new trail construction will cost $5-6 million dollars. Even then we’re still only at about 55% singletrack overall—getting that percentage to 75% will be another $20 million. Trail maintenance costs are about $1,000 per mile—or $1.5 million annually. Advocacy, outreach, and education are all important components of our mission as well, and pile on additional cost.
We’ve developed a near-term and long-term strategy to execute our vision. In the next 12 months our goal is to build a community of advocates and believers in the project through strategic partnerships, events, and an extensive online resource for the sections of trail that are rideable today. With your financial support from this campaign, Orogenesis will:
By 2033 we envision a robust nonprofit organization fostering an engaged group of trail users, coordinating seasonal maintenance crews, managing trail construction projects, helping our regional partners build trails, and hosting an event series that travels up and down our continent’s western ranges. Trails have the power to change people's lives. Be that change, DONATE TODAY. |
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7,300 kilometers. Poking holes in two international borders. Over 30% singletrack, less than 10% pavement. Thus far Orogenesis is an ambitious pipe dream. A collective murmur that's getting louder. What if we could travel across the north american continent on singletrack trails? It turns out there are a lot of trails out there. Or there were—but they're slowly being forgotten. We want your help to find them again. It won't be easy. At all. Our only requirements are humility and fortitude.
Most of this route is more theoretical than literal at this time, but we're working toward building some of the critical connections that are currently missing. It's inspiring, but often times non-existent. Or it's really steep and hot or cold and raining or full of dead ends and no water or ice cream anywhere in sight. The only guarantees we can make is that you will get lost, turned around, hungry, chased by wild boars, grilled by border patrol, and angry at us. But that doesn't matter—you signed up for this. And you'll be helping create the longest mountain bike trail in the world for future generations.
Most of this route is more theoretical than literal at this time, but we're working toward building some of the critical connections that are currently missing. It's inspiring, but often times non-existent. Or it's really steep and hot or cold and raining or full of dead ends and no water or ice cream anywhere in sight. The only guarantees we can make is that you will get lost, turned around, hungry, chased by wild boars, grilled by border patrol, and angry at us. But that doesn't matter—you signed up for this. And you'll be helping create the longest mountain bike trail in the world for future generations.
El Baja Divide es una 2,735 km routa de tierra escabroso de bikepacking. Lo va todo la distancia de la peninsula Baja California desde San Diego, CA, USA a San Jose del Cabo, BCS, MX. Lo va investigado y desarrollado de Nicholas Carman y Lael Wilcox en el invierno de 2015.
An conspicuously wild mountain and desert journey threading through one of the most densely populated areas of the country. Anillo de Los Angeles travels 1,000km and crests 3,000m while offering a glimpse at the Anza Borrego Desert, climbing through Idyllwild to Big Bear Lake, and traversing the San Gabriels before crossing the Antelope Valley and Tehachapi Range to Kernville.
The Sierra Trail jogs west to explore the many valleys and watersheds of the vast Sierra Range. Wend slowly north through giant Sequoia stands, Martian fields of granite, and Yosemite's grandeur before tackling the Tahoe Rim Trail on your quest north.
Aptly named, the Mojave Trail dips east through the desolate and beautiful reaches of Death Valley National Park, Owen's Valley, the Mono Basin, and ascends to the highest point of Orogenesis: 3,557 meters.
Circling Lake Tahoe, old gold mining claims, endless granite domes, and alpine lakes the Jefferson Trail links four of northern California's premiere mountain biking destinations—Truckee, Downieville, Quincy, and Susanville—to Modoc country; and eventually north to Oregon.
The Oregon Timber Trail is an iconic 670 mile backcountry mountain bike route spanning Oregon's diverse landscapes from California to the Columbia River Gorge. It is a world class bikepacking destination and travels through a variety of landscapes, communities, ecosystems, terrain, and, most importantly, mountain bike trails.
Diving deep into the mountains the Cascade Trail stitches together the iconic volcanic peaks of Oregon and Washington on some of the most rugged and steep trails of the whole 7,300km route.
