A New Mexico-To-Canada Adventure Route Runs Right Through Oklahoma

If you're the type of adventurer who enjoys getting off the beaten path, there's a new American travel route that stretches from Mexico to Canada and cuts right through Oklahoma.

The Great Plains Gravel Route

While the title is a dead giveaway, the route meanders up through the Great Plains, and much of the excitement around it online is the fact that it is mostly gravel roads.

That may not seem like a prime road trip to you, but it's already drawing thousands to take on the challenge.

Originally drawn up as a hiking and biking trail from border to border, it is slowly gaining popularity as a motorcycle adventure trip across the central US.

Of course, being gravel, you'd be hard-pressed to find your average Goldwing or Harley Brother out on the route, but the most adventurous motorcyclists are taking it all in.

Goodbye Pavement

While it's not a particularly fast-growing segment of motorcyclists across America at the moment, adventure riding has been picking up steam in recent years.

The AlCan Highway from the Lower 48 up to Alaska has always been popular. Interest in the Pan-American Route has waned because of security concerns in parts of Mexico, so the trend over the last few years has been Backroad Discovery Routes, known as BDR's.

Several states, mainly those out West, have them already. Someone decided to take the concept to the extreme and connect the southern and northern borders.

The Oklahoma Route

The Sooner State's portion of the Great Plains Gravel Route enters way out west a few miles north of Texola... Think I-40 at the Texas border.

It pretty much parallels I-40 over to the Hinton area, then bypasses the OKC metro on a long arc up to Guthrie. Back into the country, a little pavement in Stillwater, then a county road gauntlet all the way up to the Kansas border through the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve north of Pawnee.

The preserve should keep anyone on their toes. There are thousands of bison roaming free on some of the last untouched natural prairie in America.

As summer is coming on strong across Oklahoma, now is probably not the best time to go moto-camping in the heat, but it does give you all summer to prep a cool fall trip.

Details are here.