New: Arizona Backcountry Discovery Route
Monday, March 31st, 2014
A video worth watching on the Butler site.
Those folks at Butler Maps just keep on going. The latest offering they’ve come out with is the Arizona Backcountry Discovery Route. This one is looking even more ambitious than most.
First let’s lay some groundwork. Butler produces and sells maps that highlight the best motorcycle roads in whatever state the map is for. They’re waterproof, rugged, beautiful maps that cater to what we’re interested in. And they’re good maps. Judy and I have traveled with a slew of maps and with her doing the navigating, and she says the best are definitely the Butler maps.
Then Butler took another step, introducing the Backcountry Discovery Route series. In these they map out a mostly off-pavement route from one side of the state to the other. Bill Eakins at Butler tells me they are very specifically routes that are good enough that you can ride them with a big adventure bike; no little dirt bikes necessary.
But that doesn’t mean it’s all easy riding. No way!
That’s what I was saying at first. You may want to take a couple minutes to go watch this video from their ride of the Arizona BDR. It’s not just beautiful scenery or cool riding. There are several scenes where these guys on these big adventure bikes wipe out.
And the map this time has more alternate routes than I recall on other maps. In some cases they say “Difficult Alternate. Damage possible.” Or “Roads are impassable when wet.” And this one I love: “Expert only. Damage to bike is possible due to rocky sections! No bailouts 16.8 miles.” And then, “Deep sand 3.3 miles.”
Yeah, this is why it’s called adventure riding. I’ve ridden in deep sand for a tenth of a mile a few times and that was more than plenty for me. And then there was the time I got in really deep sand and ended up going end over end after about 10 feet.
It all comes down to how you like your riding. Some folks never leave the pavement. Others like things a little spicier. If you’re the latter sort, these Backcountry Discovery Routes are right up your alley.
Biker Quote for Today
Sometimes I get off the bike before it has come to a complete stop….
