Not counting governmental restrictions, passport issues, etc, would it be physically possible to drive from the northern tip of Alaska to the southern end of Chile? Most of South America is not included on Google Maps, so I have no idea how the roads are down there.

8/22/2007 7:14:36 PM

try google earth

and yes, with diplomatic connections you could do it.

8/22/2007 7:18:00 PM

yes, it's possible but tough going in spots. at the least, you need a well prepared 4 wheel drive and someone with a lot of off road/expedition type experience.

8/22/2007 7:18:34 PM

BigBlueRam has volunteered.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:20 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2007 7:20:34 PM

haha. honestly, i wouldn't be near qualified for leading such a trip. well, maybe the driving/off road part but definitely not all the planning, expedition experience, etc. i've done a lot of cross country (as in long distance off road) driving in the u.s. and other countries, but nothing to the extent/neccesity that would be involved here.

while both are very challenging, driving 20 miles on a two track through the jungle scattered with mud bogs, river crossings, etc. is a whole other ball game than some wild rock garden in an orv park.

that said, i would sign up for such a trip in a minute.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:32 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2007 7:27:11 PM

^^^sounds to me like you are volunteering optmusprimer.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:50 PM. Reason : -]

8/22/2007 7:50:00 PM

yeah, i mean he's got the roof rack and lights.

8/22/2007 7:54:15 PM

So you mention off-roading... are you saying that there aren't roads all the way down? Surely there has to be a road system in most of these countries, they're not all 3rd-world right?

8/22/2007 8:07:04 PM

it has been done, a couple guys form advrider forums are trying to plan a run on bikes from Alaska to the tip of South america for the Fall of 08, would be the ride of a lifetime, and there is some really bad rds in south america

8/22/2007 8:15:40 PM

no, there are roads... just not roads passable by a car in some places. the majority of central american countries and anywhere outside of the bigger cities in south america isn't going to have much of a "system".

8/22/2007 8:16:41 PM

no its not possible. I looked into this.

You will have to take a ferry from one section of Panama to Columbia. There is a HUGE tract of land completely closed to vehicluar travel because it's an ecological preserve.

Other than that little bit, if you get yourself a serious security escort through columbia, you can do it.

8/22/2007 8:55:36 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-American_Highway

The ferry crossing is around the Darien Gap. Take a look at the people who have crossed it. Its only a handful, and they all either had a TON of support help, or still took ferries in parts, or spent hundreds of days making it across.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 9:03 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2007 8:58:58 PM

So, drive to that point and then take charter a boat across?

8/22/2007 10:09:16 PM

no drive across.

8/22/2007 10:17:02 PM

hm.

I guess doing this all with a motorcycle is out of the question then...

8/22/2007 10:17:42 PM

unless you are wearing a jetpack...

8/22/2007 10:19:33 PM

Quote :

"yeah, i mean he's got the roof rack and lights. "

he is missing the tree saver wires though.

8/22/2007 10:41:29 PM

LIMB RISERS

8/22/2007 10:53:12 PM

Couldn't you potentially take an offroad vehicle down the beach the entire way, almost?

8/22/2007 10:55:12 PM

until you get to the cliffs of dover, just on the other side of maui.

8/22/2007 10:58:17 PM

Quote :

"LIMB RISERS "

He wouldnt want to damage his bonnet or windscreen.

8/22/2007 11:21:05 PM

yeah thats why i dont have those 'fitted' lol

8/22/2007 11:29:31 PM

so assuming this is possible (aside from the ferry part), which 4x4 is best suited for the job?

land cruiser?
cayenne?
cayenne transsyberia? (/message_topic.aspx?topic=469181&page=2#10243640)
hummer 1?
range rover?
land rover?
land rover defender?
G-class?
touareg V10 TDi?
Q7 V12 TDi?

(has to be stock engine and tyres)

8/23/2007 2:53:24 AM

uh, except for the Darien Gap (which you just take a ferry around), you could easily do this on a motorcycle.

Hell, it's been done on a bicycle two or three times. And on foot. And with stock jeeps, and plenty of other stock 4x4's.

[Edited on August 23, 2007 at 8:41 AM. Reason : .]

8/23/2007 8:41:24 AM

If you are seriously thinking about it, I wouldn't take too new of a car/truck/suv into many of the parts south of the border. depending on the budget this could be really fun.

8/23/2007 8:59:49 AM

most people heavy into the expedition scene are using solid axle, coil sprung, locked landcruisers- fj80's and the like.

8/23/2007 10:22:01 AM

get the vehicle dependent expedition guide by Tom Sheppard. its out of print and a copy will run you about $200 on amazon, but is hands down the best resource for expedition travel by 4x4. also IH8mud.com has some good info on expedition travel. my next big trip is a baja run tho it may be a few years off.

8/23/2007 10:38:06 AM

land cruiser - what I'd take
cayenne - you'll get shot
cayenne transsyberia? - you'll get shot
hummer 1 - called an american pig and shot
range rover - shot
land rover - prob shot, or it will break down
land rover defender - make sure it's an old one
G-class - make sure it's an old one but you'll still get shot
touareg V10 TDi - shot
Q7 V12 TDi- shot and will prob get stuck in wet grass

I read an article a long time ago about a guy who did it in a G wagon with a SLK body grafted on. He drove all over every continent and he didn't get shot, so who knows. He's got everything documented http://www.jimrogers.com/

8/23/2007 11:48:01 AM

^

Quote :

"I couldn't drive through because the border was closed. Besides there is still no road through the Darien Gap to Panama so I had to ship my car ahead and fly to Bogota."

Almost no one goes through the darien gap. It's the everest of expedition driving.

8/23/2007 12:28:46 PM

i think a lot of you are overlooking the obvious...getting through the middle of alaska would be just as difficult as most of south america...

8/23/2007 12:46:20 PM

^definitely not. alaska is very passable, at least in the warmer months.

as far as vehicles, my first pick would be a toyota of some sort, land cruiser or 4 door hi lux. followed by any other jdm utility vehicle (nissan patrol, isuzu trooper td, etc.) followed by a land rover discovery or defender 109/110. not a 90, too small.

8/23/2007 1:19:22 PM

Just a rough calculation, the PanAmerican highway is listed on Wikipedia as being 29800 miles. If you drove at a rate of 60mph for 18 hours a day, it would take around 28 days to drive the entire highway.

8/23/2007 2:27:02 PM

yeah, there is no way you could average 60mph though. MAYBE half of that, but probably not.

also, anyone that can do 18 hour days back to back for that long even with a co driver is a machine.


[Edited on August 23, 2007 at 2:49 PM. Reason : .]

8/23/2007 2:48:10 PM

Well I'd imagine you'd be able to pretty much fly through the United States, especially the midwest.

If you lower it down to 60 mph and 10 hours of driving a day, that's 50 days of travelling, jeez....

8/23/2007 4:19:10 PM

you all should watch the top gear where they drive a hilux to the north pole

8/23/2007 4:20:49 PM

^yeah, i've seen it. pretty cool.

^^even if you're hauling ass (as much ass as a fully outfitted/loaded suv can haul) through canada/u.s./mexico where there are actual "real" highways you'd be hard pressed to keep a 60mph average in even just those countries. consider fuel and rest stops. factor in the slow going in other countries, and a 60mph average is out the window easily.

i mean, there are places where you'll be lucky to do a few miles in a whole day, especially if it's rained any time soon.

i don't see how it could be done in any less than 3 months, and you'd be doing pretty damn good at that.

google the camel trophy events. that's the kind of stuff you'd be encountering in central/south america.

[Edited on August 23, 2007 at 5:04 PM. Reason : .]

8/23/2007 5:03:06 PM

^not really. almost the entire south american route is paved and well traveled. There are only small sections that get washed out/closed for flooding and weather issues. The only "offroad" portion is the Darien Gap.

8/23/2007 7:40:55 PM

i wish youd shut the fuck up, posting like youve driven south of mexico before.

8/23/2007 8:45:56 PM

How much south american driving have you done? Yea thought so. I've read a LOT about what it would take to do this, since I actually planned it for a while a few years ago. And I have had friends from Bolivia, Columbia, Brazil and Ecuador who have all been on parts of the Pan-American Highway. It's definitely no 4 lane 70mph freeway, but it's not a damn camel trophy tour in the slightest.

8/23/2007 8:48:33 PM

Obviously noen knows all

8/23/2007 10:26:44 PM

^ Hey I mean, he had that shit planned

8/23/2007 10:34:34 PM

^^Definitely don't. Feel free to correct me. But seeing as I have read a LITTLE, as opposed to most of the people in this thread who apparently just assume everything in south america is a giant rainforest, I felt the need to respond.

8/23/2007 10:45:13 PM

i've driven through mexico and a lot of central america. i only mentioned the camel trophy as a comparison because there are parts that are certainly just like the terrain they encounter, especially if it's rained much recently. you definitely won't be doing terrain that difficult for the long expanses that the camel trophy does though.

the biggest thing imo is how quickly things can change, so you need to be prepared for anything. a road that's dry and paved one week might be a washed out muddy mess the next. as you can imagine, they don't exactly have a speedy DOT jumping on repairs.

i can't speak from experience on south america. from what i've read and heard from other people first hand, is that Noen is correct in that the main route is decently maintained. stray from that route or go anywhere outside of the bigger cities, and it's a whole other thing. i dated a girl for a while that was from peru. she had some pretty wild driving stories from travels around rural south america.


[Edited on August 23, 2007 at 11:21 PM. Reason : .]

8/23/2007 11:17:11 PM

Hmm, well I am just trying to figure out if it's possible to take a street bike and basically "backpack" down the pan american. It would be a fun thing to do for the summer.

8/24/2007 10:55:48 AM

For the summer only eh?

8/24/2007 11:06:52 AM

why not?

8/24/2007 11:13:00 AM

http://www.loisontheloose.com/america/index.html
http://www.longwayround.com/html/longwayround.html

These are starter sites for ideas on long bike rides. Not sure if you wouldn't want to start in NC and head to Mexico, vs Driving up to Alaska to start...

As far as Ecuador, the roads are a bit rough, it is a toll road, and it zig-zags most of the route through the mountains. That makes it a lot longer trip than it might appear. On a bike you will have to be careful of debris, much more so then in Raleigh.

I was interested in something of this nature. I am not sure if a year long trip would be more fun, or if a quick trip would be good. A quick trip (3 months) would probably be good enough and possibly more fun.

8/24/2007 11:17:47 AM

Yeah if anything I'd want to cannonball run it, I'd say at most like 3 days to cross the entire US.

8/24/2007 12:48:27 PM

are you an experienced rider?

8/24/2007 12:54:16 PM

hahaha

Never been on a motorcycle in my life

8/24/2007 1:01:15 PM