Ever wanted to do the Trans America Trail?

[Jim Oaks]

Ever wanted to do the Trans America Trail (TAT)?

In 2017 I traveled well over 7,000 miles through 13 states. This year I'm thinking about running the TAT in June.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Ive never heard of it till now.

 

[Jim Oaks]

It's basically a cross country route that is made up of a lot off back roads, and trails with some paved sections in between. This video should give you an idea.

Whoever made the video deviated off of the original route. The original route goes from Tellico Plains Tennessee to Port Orford Oregon.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

That just officially made my bucket list.

Id dont have a vehicle capable of it at the minute though.

 

[Curious Hound]

I have a buddy at work that started looking into it. He was going to do it on motorcycle. I think that was before his son came into the picture.

I think it would be fun if I had the time. A good Ranger overlanding trip.

 

[Ranger850]

Likable a baby Dakar rally/gumball 2000 race?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I didn't know it went that far north.

TransAm Trail – with Homer Smith

Receiving and Delivery Times for Maps & Roll Charts Receiving and Delivery Times for GPS Tracks YOUR ADVENTURE STARTS HERE The TransAmerica Trail is the cross-country adventure ride

www.transamtrail.com

It would be fun to go down to Oklahoma and go up thru SD and kinda make a loop out of it.

 

[Jim Oaks]

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1xExD_AbNrggD7TlAnYmKeXGbUPM&ll=35.340094174239724%2C-84.35486152244619&z=10

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That isn't the "official" one though

Is the real one the one that only goes coast to coast?

 

[Jim Oaks]

It's actually in that map.

I updated the link to a better map.

The original TAT goes from Tellico Plains, Tennessee to Port Orford, Oregon.

Zoom in to Tellico Plains Tennessee. The pink looking line is the original TAT created by Sam Correro. It's now mostly covered by the blue line. The dark green line is Sam's current TAT route. Everything north / east of Tellico Plains was added later. Only the dark green line east of there was created by Sam Correro.

Now start following the route west. I don't know why Sam changed up the start of the TAT so much. But you can see the original and new routes.

The red sections are more difficult. The light green sections are easier. I will follow the blue route to the Oregon coast. I'm considering going to Cape Hatteras to make this an epic coast to coast trip. I think very few people will ever do something like this. A trip like this can literally take weeks. I don't expect anyone to tag along for the whole trip, but I'd love to at least get people to join up along the way.

You and the staff have a bit more information than everyone else reading this. You know what I'll be driving. They don't. That's still a secret for probably another week.

I've been looking at the map for days planning out a route.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Gonna have to try to figure that map out tonight, there is a lot going on there.

I did think if we go see my wife's family in Philly after the roundup I will have driven my Ranger pretty much halfway across the country and that I should plan a trip out west to say I drove it across the country.

All the fun haters on the west coast would have a conniption fit about my truck though.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I really don't think the TAT get's that interesting until you hit New Mexico / Colorado.

Another trip that interests me is driving the Continental Divide from the Mexico border to the Canada border.

Upshift November 2017-CDR.pdf

drive.google.com

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=16d53Fpc-ubhhfA797ohHbSeY1rg&ll=42.04179151334805%2C-110.65473650000001&z=5

That may actually be a better trip than the TAT.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Its hard to say, a lot of times if you get off the beaten path (getting off interstates help) you can find a lot of neat scenery just about anywhere.

Interstates and to a lesser degree highways are built where they are cheapest where it is flat... and usually nothing to really look at.

Appalachians and Ozarks would be neat. And a big draw for me is there would be lots of road farming to do between there and NM too.

The rig you have lined up would be great for that trip.

The divide trail would be neat too, does that get kinda technical?

 

[Jim Oaks]

I don't know that it's overly technical.

My 7,000+ mile trip in 2017 was mostly on the old US highway systems with some back roads added in. A lot of cool scenery.

I had considered picking on US highway, and following it from coast to coast.

I think US Route 6 could be an epic road trip:

US Route 20:

Or US Route 30:

 

[gw33gp]

Another trip that interests me is driving the Continental Divide from the Mexico border to the Canada border.
That may actually be a better trip than the TAT.

A friend that I have gone on a few trips with did that trip by herself and her two small dogs. She had a very well equipped off-road trailer and took about a month to do it, maybe a little longer. She said it was great but had some pretty difficult sections. I think she was drivinging a Jeep when she did it. I would love to take that on sometime but I would want to have at least one other vehicle along just incase of any problems.