If you, like me, are looking for inspirational bikepacking journey stories to vicariously get you through these dark dangerous covid times, then I highly recommend Mark Watson’s Highlux Photography Blogs, especially Alaska to Pantagonia, which follows Mark Watson and Hanna Black’s transcontinental cycling journey, following the length of the Americas: from Deadhorse, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina. Mostly along the spine of the mountainous divide. A distance of over 46,000 kilometres.
Starting in 2016 they were on the road for nearly four years, stitching together a route that stayed off paved highways and in the back country and mountains as much as possible, generally following the American Cordillera, linking together the classic bikepacking routes, and researching their own routes for the vast sections between. Some of these routes (and their stories) have been published on Bikepacking.com.
In March 2020 they had reached Coyhaique, southern Chile, and were close to finishing their journey. But with Covid threatening health and closure of airports they wisely decided to return home to New Zealand. They are lucky that NZ is almost Covid free and so they have been able to continue doing some amazing NZ bikepacking and blogging about it. Having myself bikepacked the length of New Zealand in the Aotearoa bikepacking race (my blog and photos) I’m surprised they ever left NZ.
Mark’s bikepacking blogs inspired me to bikepack a section of their route through the Peru Andes in 2017.
I hope that Mark and Hanna’s epic bikepacking journey blogs inspire and help you get through these Covid dark dangerous times, and that we can latter this summer be out enjoying our own epic bikepacking trips.
Cheers…Greg
https://gregbikingwithoutborders.blog/
GregRidingWithoutBorders 