route from MN to CA mostly on bike paths

[treadways8]

Hello! I would love to hear if there are people who have done research on a route that would travel from MN to CA using bike paths wherever possible. Have you seen books that discuss this? Thanks!

[John Nelson]

I doubt that it's feasible to do this "mostly" on bike paths. If you ask Google for bicycling directions, it tries pretty hard to find bike paths for you, but the route will be pretty confusing. Your best bet might be to find rails-to-trails segments and piece them together, but I'm guessing that it will create a pretty convoluted route. If you can create a route that is 10% bike paths, that would be doing well.

Personally, I find the lonely backroads of America to be sufficiently traffic-free for safe and enjoyable cycling.

Good luck.

[litespeed]

Minnesota and Wisconsin are loaded with bicycle trails - much more than most states. Your most direct route to California would be through South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah (or southern Idaho) and Nevada (or southern Oregon). There are few bicycle trails in these states. You might join Rails-to-trails to find out where the trails are.

I would suggest heading west on US14 and doing a somewhat northerly route. This would hit such scenic hotspots/parks as the Rapid City area and Jackson/Yellowstone.

[treadways8]

Thank you both for your comments. Yes, MN and WI do have amazing bike paths!  Beautiful country.
Lyman