When Adventure Cycling's Executive Director Jim Sayer visited Santa Cruz in April, I was again impressed by the fantastic work this organization is doing. Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, Adventure Cycling Association came across my radar when I registered for one of their supported bicycle road tours, Cycle Montana, in 2008. Since then, I have joined their association and tracked exciting developments like the release of the map for this epic Sierra Cascades Route!
Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route maps are now available! This 2,389-mile road-based route runs from Sumas, Washington, to Tecate, California, and brings the Adventure Cycling Route Network to 40,633 miles, the equivalent of riding around the planet more than one-and-a-half times!
This extraordinary new route guides traveling cyclists through terrain as varied as thick evergreen forests, apple orchards, wide and narrow river canyons, grasslands, glaciated high Sierra canyons, volcanic cones, and high desert.
Roughly paralleling the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, the Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route passes around and through many of North America's mountain gems, including the North Cascades National Park, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, Mount Hood, Mount Bachelor and Diamond Peak Wilderness, Crater Lake National Park, Mount Shasta and Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, Yosemite National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia National Park, San Gorgonio Peak and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
The route also intersects many other Adventure Cycling routes, creating fabulous new loop options in combination with the very popular Pacific Coast Route.
And here's the scoop on ACA:
Adventure Cycling is the largest bicycling association in North America with 44,500 members. A nonprofit organization, our mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle for fitness, fun, and self-discovery. We depend on dedicated cyclists to continue programs such as expanding our bicycle route network, keeping our website resources up-to-date, maintaing our education & outreach efforts, and building an official U.S. Bicycle Route System. Members are the heart of our organization.