Favorite Motorcycle Adventure Routes... So Far.. Big Bike Friendly

After more than 40,000 miles on two adventure bikes, I wanted to share some of my favorite dirt and gravel routes that I've found so far, starting right now on MotoTravel USA. When I purchased my first F850GS, I had no idea what was in store for me. As mentioned in previous videos, I had very rarely ventured off pavement, and I had zero experience doing so. I took that as a challenge, which I gladly accepted. While I got a little ahead of myself and ventured into sand and other areas I probably shouldn't have right after getting the bike, I quickly realized I needed training. So I booked a two-day adventure course at the BMW Performance Academy, and since then, I've ventured on many different off-pavement routes that have challenged and pushed me to get better. So I wanted to share some of my favorite locations that I've taken the bike as I've improved upon my skills over the last two years. One really fun place that I found with what seems like endless gravel, dirt, and clay roads is the Macon, Georgia area. Located just north of the city of Macon is the Piedmont National Wildlife Preserve. This area has a great mix of beginner to advanced intermediate riding opportunities. If you're looking to start off fairly easy, take a ride along the Little Rock Wildlife Drive. It can get steep and curvy at times, but the many times that I've ridden the Wildlife Drive, I've found it to be very well maintained and free of anything too dangerous, even in the rain, and I've never found it to be too overly muddy. It's also a smooth gravel road that doesn't have any rocky sections or water crossings, so it's a great place to start out. There are also numerous places to pull off and explore on foot with the pond you pass soon after entering the Wildlife Drive. Wildlife Drive is a quick four mile ride. After riding that, you have endless opportunities throughout the Wildlife Preserve. I've based some of my routes off a popular gravel bike route, the Fried Green 50, and it's a great mix of riding services. For the most part, it's solid, but there can be some loose sections, heavy gravel, and steep water crossings. Within this area, you can also venture on local gravel roads that string together more than a full day of riding. Just be careful, if it rains, the clay roads turn to mush if you get a downpour. For camping, there's also a really nice campsite right near the Wildlife Refuge. It's a great place to explore and close to Florida, which works awesome for me. If you're planning on heading there, just make sure to check the hunting and closing schedule before you head out. The second area is around Fante Gap and Floyd up in Virginia. I found this area after staying at Wheelville Motorcycle Campground many times, and will help point me to these great grinds. Most of these gravel and dirt roads are fun and fast, but there were a handful of steep sections, thin roadways, and deep rutted roads, but not many. This is a very scenic and fun ride through Virginia's countryside, and some of it parallels passes under and on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so if you've ridden that, you know what kind of beautiful scenery to expect. This is a really fun adventure, taking you along mountainsides, through farmland, and many other areas that you have to experience to believe. As already mentioned, you can stay at Wheelville Motorcycle Campground, or there's a nice KOA campground close to these routes too. I highly recommend this experience if you're in the area or riding the Blue Ridge. The next route was an amazing and tiring surprise, the Smoky Mountain 500. While I've only completed about a third of this, mostly in the southern part of the route, it still was a really fun route and could possibly move up this list once I complete the entire thing. While there were some beginner-friendly areas, a lot of this was more challenging. I encountered mud, the deepest ruts I've seen so far, and large rocky sections. There are also multiple water crossings on the full route that I didn't partake in on this first taste of the route. In addition to those other challenges, I also encountered a number of road blockages and actually got stuck on one. Luckily I got out unscathed and with a big smile on my face. This was an extremely fun route that encompasses everything that's great about adventure riding. For camping, there's multiple motorcycle campgrounds along the route. I personally use Two Wheels of Suches as a home base for the bit of route that I did, and it's a really nice campground, especially the cabin. Some of the Smoky Mountain 500 is also part of the Transamerica Trail, so if you want to get a taste of that too, I ran into multiple people riding the TAP when I was riding and got to talk to them about their experiences so far. I'd highly recommend the Smoky Mountain 500 if you're looking for a sometimes challenging route with multiple motorcycle camping opportunities. For the next area, I've always enjoyed riding in Asheville and along the Blue Ridge Parkway, so it's only natural my next area is the Pisa National Forest. There are just so many opportunities and places to explore and ride here. This forest has everything from well-maintained forest roads to challenging roads that will most definitely get the blood pumping. Some of the fun areas are located near the Blue Ridge Parkway, and you just have to take some fun twisty paved roads to get to them. One of my favorites has always been Avery Road. It's curvy, has nice views in the fall and spring, it's twisty, and it's well-maintained. It's also a popular mountain bike riding area, so be on the lookout for bikes and jeeps. If you're looking for something more challenging, get on Wolf Mountain Road, which is even more challenging since the floods in 2021. This road will test your skills, but you'll be rewarded with a fun ride and some awesome views. While I've stayed at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground for years, they have been rebuilding ever since the floods, so a great alternative is at the Ridge Campground. They have cabins right on a stream for rental that have air conditioning, coffee machine, and a microwave. I didn't really see any areas for tents as they are rebuilding after the floods as well. The Pisa National Forest has so much to offer with its great forest roads and proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Asheville, so if you're looking for some amazing views and riding, this is a great place to go. And my list wouldn't be complete without the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route. Just read people's comments about it, and you'll see what an amazing adventure this 1,100-mile journey is. I've ridden it in the spring, summer, and fall, and each time it seems like a totally different route with different challenges and views. While it's considered one of the easiest BDRs, there are some challenging sections, especially Section 3, so be aware of that. This amazing route offers a little bit of high elevation, water crossings, rocky areas, small towns, great local restaurants, fast and fun gravel roads, and so much more. If it seems a little daunting to you, you can take it on a section or two at a time to start with, and that's actually how I approached it until I ran the entire route. I've run the complete route from both south to north and north to south, and as mentioned earlier, it seemed different each time. There are numerous camping and hotel options along the route that are all at the ridebdr.com website. And there it is, some of my favorite adventure routes so far. I'm looking forward to finishing the Smoky Mountain 500 and heading out west to start exploring some of the routes they have out there. If you found this video helpful, please give it a thumbs up and make sure to subscribe to see more videos like this. If you have any questions, put them in the comments, I'll be happy to try to answer them. Thanks for watching, now let's go explore!