Messages

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Mid-Atlantic / Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail -- Nat'l Park Service public consultation

« on: May 22, 2026, 01:56:55 pm »

The National Park Service is creating the first Comprehensive Plan for the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. The plan will guide how NPS and partners connect trail sections, protect natural and cultural resources, strengthen relationships with communities, and support long-term partnerships across Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The trail includes the southern portion of the Great Allegheny Passage, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath, and most of what is essentially the ACA's Tidewater Potomac Heritage bicycle route <https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/tidewater-potomac/>.

As part of the planning process, NPS is holding a virtual public meeting at 6:00 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, May 28, 2026, to present the plan and gather public input. (See <https://parkplanning.nps.gov/MeetingNotices.cfm?projectID=136142>)

The link to the May 28 video meeting is:
<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NjMyZGExYTYtNjkzOC00ODg2LTgxYWQtM2QxZmQ4YWIwNzZl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22Tid%22%3A%220693b5ba-4b18-4d7b-9341-f32f400a5494%22%2C%22Oid%22%3A%2238352ccb-62e8-45c3-9572-b8c7633f3f7a%22%2C%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3Atrue%2C%22role%22%3A%22a%22%7D&btype=a&role=a>

A slide deck describing the plan is at <https://parkplanning.nps.gov/showFile.cfm?sfid=847176&projectID=136142>

NPS will accept written comments on the plan between May 28 and June 29, 2026.

NPS expects to complete the plan sometime in 2027. (This is just a plan, by the way, not construction of any infrastructure.)

The home page for the Comprehensive Plan for Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail is <https://parkplanning.nps.gov/pohecompplan>.

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Southwest / Texas DOT traffic counts map--potentially useful for planning touring routes

« on: February 16, 2026, 08:52:54 pm »

For those planning tours through Texas, TxDOT collects traffic flow data on major roads (highways as well as urban arteries). This could be useful when planning tours in/through the state.

https://www.txdot.gov/data-maps/traffic-count-maps.html

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Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Re: Southern Tier Section 5 map 77 road closure/construction 2025/26

« on: December 04, 2025, 10:47:14 pm »

Chicot State Park brings back bad memories. The Fall 2024 ACA Southern Tier tour group stayed there on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The mosquitos were so bad that we had to hold our nightly map briefing in the john. It was election night, and you could gauge the developments in the vote tally by the expletives from folks’ tents during the night, as people woke up and checked the news on their phones.  And to add insult to injury, it was pouring rain as we rode out of the park in the morning. Stopping in Bunkie for begneits and coffee lifted everyone’s spirits, though.

Good times…

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General Discussion / Re: Fears for the Future of Adventure Cycling

« on: August 24, 2025, 09:03:12 pm »

It would be interesting to know whether the decline of canonical on-road cycle tourism (a la BikeCentennial) over the past decade or so is a uniquely U.S. phenomenon.

I rode the Southern Tier as part of an ACA tour in Fall 2024. I encountered fewer than ten other cycle tourists along the entire route. In contrast, there were hordes of cycle tourists on the Danube River Trail in Spring 2025. (Okay, the food and wine is much better in the Wachau than anywhere on the Souther Tier, other than BBQ in Texas, but still….), and I see plenty of posts on Reddit asking for feedback and guidance on various Eurovelo and other European routes but very little on touring in the U.S.

Leaving aside management/personnel issues folks have mentioned(I concede that these are important but suspect that bigger forces are in play), does ACA’s existential crisis stem from changes in cycling generally or changes in *American* cycling?

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Routes / Re: Submit your reroute suggestions for a new update of Southern Tier Section 1

« on: December 10, 2024, 05:51:18 pm »

I finished riding the Southern Tier a few weeks ago (west-to-east, riding with ACA).

Reroute #2: The proposed re-route seems like only a minor deviation from the established route. If traffic on Highway 111 is the problem, consider taking one of the several north-south roads to the east of Calexico that connect Highway 98 to El Centro. The Fall 2024 ACA van-supported tour took S. Clark Rd between CA-98 and El Centro rather than entering Calexico and taking CA-111 north to Brawley). The road was fine, with minimal traffic. The downside with this deviation from the printed map route is that we missed whatever opportunities for food/drink/retail commerce that might exist in Calexico.

Reroute #3 The proposed re-route is essentially the route that we followed on October 1 between Palo Verde and Blythe. There was no farm vehicle traffic to speak of, and we had the roads to ourselves that morning. (The real problems that day came after Quartzsite).


I agree with several others commenting that the Southern Tier route as a whole has become riskier for cyclists than when the route was first developed and needs a more thorough revision than what’s on the table here. There is now far more motor vehicle traffic on the highways. Despite increased traffic, commerce has dried up on U.S. highways and state highways in the west (say, between Ocotillo and Austin). And climate change has made scheduling a coast-to-coast tour more challenging, at a minimum, and at certain times and places life-threateningly hot in summer and fall. High temperatures as reported by weather services exceeded 100F every day between Ocotillo and Globe (Sept. 28 through Oct. 6). Except for the day in Silver City, my bike computer recorded 100F or more every day from San Diego to El Paso (Sept. 27 through Oct. 15). Nobody died only because the ACA tour leaders parked the van and trailer to provide water to the group during the day on the lonelier stretches of road and provided a safety net for riders who could not continue. (Everyone ended up in the van on the day between Palo Verde and Salome.)

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Routes / Re: Southern Tier (El Paso - Las Cruces)

« on: November 27, 2024, 08:50:46 am »

I rode Las Cruces to El Paso in October 2024. NM 28 was not at all problematic. One rides through various types of irrigated agriculture (cotton, pecan, alfalfa).

Close to El Paso there is a trail that runs alongside the Rio Grande. I rode the stretch of this trail that runs between the La Union-Vinton Rd (north) to Borderland (south).