Anyone know of any absolutely fantastic, long, scenic trails?  Anywhere on the North American continent?

http://www.4x4now.com/31jsgs.htm  - Nice one.  Looks like a challenging trail.

Did I find the right one?  This one is in Moab.

Panamint Valley in CA. Never been there, its on my short list.

http://www.dirtopia.com/wiki/Panamint_Valley

FS road 87 on the Carson/Rio Grande NF, NM/CO. We worked a ranch off this road- the first run in May was always a challenge (one year it took 4 days to complete the 47 mile trip in from Tres Piedras, NM- 18 hrs to cross one 600 yard section) In the summer its a nice day drive from Taos to Chama with a taste of Colorado's Million $ Highway. To me, this is the most beautiful country in the world, the yard stick I compare everything else to.

This is unfortunately one of the only surviving pictures I have of my time in the area (Map linked on Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayofunshine/2199393558/in/set-72157603568930026  )

Poison Spider / Golden Spike / Gold Bar Rim is a nice set of trails in Moab.  While its really beautiful, it is a pretty grueling day.  There are countless ledges where you have to come down really gently or else you'll slam your rear end.  D2s would just love this trail. :)

Moab Rim on the other hand is a high pucker factor trail.  A lot of the trail is run within 10 feet or so of the rock face and almost the entire trail is off-camber, of course leaning towards the drop off.  When I drove to Moab from Chicago, my brother and I drove to the trail head to check it out.  We walked the trail.  That was enough for me to not want to run it.

I really think the Alexander Mackenzie Trail should be added to your list of inspiring trails, although its hard to maintain that inspired smile after 6 or 7 days of slogging through muck...

Here's a link to a Quicktime movie of the Mackenzie Trail for anyone interested in a big download. It's about 320 MB and 70 minutes in length. You'll have to download Quicktime or a VNC player to view it on a PC.

http://roverlanders.bc.ca/videos/AMT2002.mov

Just publicizing the trip the RoverLanders are doing this summer is making me itch to go again myself, so it's not entirely out of the question for us to go again this year. It was a great trip the last two times, with varying terrain and difficulty. I wouldn't go in there without a winch. What makes it a challenge is primarily its length but that's what makes it fun as well.

cheers, Dave

OK.. that video was inspiring. I was thinking, "pretty, but kinda ho-hum.  Then the "Last petrol/diesel for 5 days title came up.  From then on out I was sold.  :-)".  I've had the Alexander Mackenzie Trail on my list of trails "todo" for a couple of years now. I can't believe they might close it to vehicles.  It's not like there is a lot of resource damage happening because of vehicles now.

I need to figure out how to take another week off work so I can do that trip and the Steens/Alvord Desert trip.

Craig