Recapping 3,130 miles (~5,000 km) and 413,000 ft (~126,000 m) of elevation gain across three states on mostly singletrack and dirt roads.
Cycling from Canada to Mexico entirely on singletrack isn’t possible yet. But the new 3,100-mile Orogenesis route is nearly 50% trail, and Kurt Refsnider just completed the first through-ride. In this follow-up to Refsnider’s Orogenesis primer – published before his departure and concurrent to a series of Escape podcasts from the trail – he shares highlights (including bite-sized recommended sections), his fully detailed bike setup, and what he carried along the way.
When I departed the quiet Canadian border near Oroville, Washington, in early August, my mind was filled with a mix of excitement, uncertainty, and relief to simply be getting rolling on the new Orogenesis route.
I’d been following its development over the past seven years, inspired by the vision and the amount of energy a few dozen dedicated volunteer scouts had been putting into linking together the most singletrack possible for this new 3,100-mile-long across-the-country route, a sort of Pacific Crest Trail, but specifically for mountain bikers rather than hikers.
I took a gamble volunteering to ground-truth the entire route on its first through-ride before the route is officially launched. How well would it all link together? How thorough was all the scouting? How much of the trail needed extensive restoration work, brushing, and clearing of deadfall? And most importantly, just how fun would all that trail be, and would I be able to recommend it to others?
Eighty-odd days later on a toasty morning in late October, I rolled up to the Mexican border at a bustling Tecate, California, overflowing with relief. The route goes. Most of the singletrack along the way is fantastic, albeit tough (as most backcountry trails tend to be).
Orogenesis: The first attempt at the world’s longest mountain bike trail
The 3,500-mile trail traverses North America from the Canadian-US border to the tip of Baja California, but it’s brand new and has never been ridden in its entirety.
The massive 410,000+ feet of descending (125,000 m) is certainly worth all the effort. I thoroughly enjoyed nearly the entirety of the adventure. My body, bike, and gear all held together. And I am eager to see other folks get after it as soon as the route is released publicly in the near future. Just two weeks after I finished my ride, Jacob Ashton also completed the U.S. part of the route, making for two through-rides in 2025!
My ride continues on into Mexico for the final section of Orogenesis down the Baja Peninsula, but that’s following the well-established Baja Divide route.
While I was out on trail, our “Orogenesis Dispatches” special episodes on the Spin Cycle Podcast delved into all aspects of the experience out there. In this article, I’ll share my synopsis of just what kind of rider will love this route, highlight the sections of the route I most enthusiastically recommend for shorter trips. I will also detail how I set up my bike, the gear I carried, and how it all worked out.
If you’re curious to see the exact route I pedaled, you can view that on this Trackleaders map, and more backstory about the creation of Orogenesis and my desire to ride was the subject of a previous article here on Escape Collective.
What kind of rider will love this route?
Do you love multi-day trail rides? Big descents? Raw and technically challenging backcountry trails? Are you willing to pedal (and push) up countless 4,000-foot (1,200-m) climbs on a loaded bike for the promise of expansive views and incredible descents? Do you enjoy the techy challenge of chunky moto trails? What about solitude, trails less traveled, layover days in small rural communities, and maybe a bit of deadfall bike-hucking along the way?
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