Trans America Trail - COMPLETE East Half Guide

Follow along as we complete the full eastern half of the Trans America Trail. We had a few different personal vehicles, passengers and follow vehicles over the years and would highly recommend this trail to anyone. Do the whole thing, one state at a time or just a small section of a state. The best of small town Americana!
3,100+ Total miles from NC Coast to the AR/OK state line.
We started doing a state at a time back in 2018. We assembled this video to show the proper order that the trail should be done if you were to do it east to west.
01:03 West Virginia & Atlantic Spur Trail to Virginia
12:11 Virgina
21:30 North Carolina
30:49 Tennessee
41:05 Mississippi
48:16 Arkansas
Disclaimer: We did not know at the time but the national forest service and tread lightly principals do not want you to camp within 100 feet of a water source. We are only human and we learn as we go.
#overland #overlanding #transamericatrail #americana #travel #overlandtrailer #gladiator #xventure #campertrailer #camper #campcooking #camping #campfire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The TransAmerica Trail or TAT is a 4,253-mile (6,845 km) transcontinental vehicular route, intended as a recreational pathway across the United States using a minimum of paved roads, traveled by dual-sport motorcycles, off-road vehicle, or touring bicycle.
The trail was scouted by Sam Correro in 1984 who spent 12 years assembling the route using only publicly accessible roads and trails. To legally travel on the TAT, vehicles and drivers must be appropriately licensed for their type and class.
Route
The original route starts in Eastern Tennessee (Tellico Plains) and makes its way through Mississippi, Arkansas including the Ozarks, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and finishes on the Oregon Coast at Battle Rock in Port Orford. This route has since been unofficially supplemented by an open source community with additional eastern starting points on the New York and North Carolina coasts, and end points in Oregon and California.
The eastern portion of the route mainly consists of farm roads and forestry tracks which become more severe toward the Southern Rocky Mountains where it covers several high passes. The desert of Utah follows, then Sawtooth National Forest of Idaho and the Deschutes National Forest of Oregon, to name a few.
Types of travelers and vehicles.
The trail is traveled mainly by riders of motorcycles who can choose to be self sufficient by camping, often rough (or wild camping), motel supported or vehicle supported. Others choose to travel by ATV or 4x4 vehicle, often in overlander configuration. Bicyclists also utilize the route, often long-distance touring cyclists. Skill sets of riders on the trail vary from veteran riders with decades of off-road experience, to well-prepared and educated beginners.
Motorcycle types are usually dual-sport or adventure style motorcycles, such as the Kawasaki KLR 650 or the BMW R1200GS, due to their higher ground clearance, suspension travel, and tires being better suited for the various terrain on the TAT. The trail has also been completed by less conventional motorcycles, such as the Honda Grom and CT series trail bikes.
Vehicles with 4 or more wheels are largely body-on-frame trucks, commonly outfitted with raised suspension, recovery equipment, and other off-road oriented modifications. Due to the challenging obstacles on the trail, these are less common. Side-by-sides, or SXSs. are only street legal in the state of Montana, and therefore cannot legally travel on the public roads of the TAT.

[@NorthologyAdventures]

That was fun. Beautifully shot footage (as usual!) and I liked being able to watch the trail segments in sequence. Any time you want to go back to Tennessee or NC, let us know (we will bring extra coffee and leave the inflatable mattress at home.)

[@OverlandPioneers]

That’s the place to start experiencing the TAT on the East side!

[@boomerts]

Great video craft! Awesome editing with drone shots. And just the right amount of voice overs, information and music selection . Keep it up!

[@OverlandPioneers]

Thank you!

[@mechcavandy986]

I love living / riding my adventure bike in the Ozarks! 🤠❤️

[@DocWrangler]

Beautiful video...those drone shots!

[@jamesmathews243]

Incredible adventure!

[@robmullins5305]

Great video, great adventure, awesome job 👍look forward to the next one

[@shannonmurphy5137]

Thank you for sharing .

[@BuccaneerOverland]

Just came across your channel what an excellent video! Greetings from Florida.

[@jasonmedford5913]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

[@papatravels61]

another awsome video, thank you.

[@Krystof.Veritae]

😂❤that PUMP action made me throw a drink out 😅….. facial expression timeless:)))) love it

[@OverlandPioneers]

“Vigorous thank you”!!!

[@papatravels61]

love these videos i spend alot of time in colorado and wyoming. thanks for sharing

[@DirtTravelAdventures]

Awesome video once again! Thoroughly enjoyed that! 😎🤘💯

[@OverlandPioneers]

Thank ya!

[@AllThingsOverlanding]

Great, as always homie.

[@OverlandPioneers]

Well thank ya sir!

[@kreitz3]

I’ll have to be honest… I’m only 5:36 into the video but I had to stop and comment. The vigorous air mattress pumping made me laugh out loud 😂

[@OverlandPioneers]

He definitely makes trip fun lol

[@woolengrappler]

A swag tent that just unrolls quickly under the awning would be great.

[@filthyoffroadadventures]

wow amazing places so different from over here in Aussie

[@OverlandPioneers]

Can’t wait to get there some day!

[@filthyoffroadadventures]

@@OverlandPioneers you will love it. Just like over there so much space to explore

[@Go_Play_Outside]

♥️...new sub!

[@pmurphy12667]

vigorous air mattress pumping..that was funny

[@j.t.slaughter6379]

Loved your East Half Guide of the TAT. When do you expect to start the Western Half? Can wait to see that one!

[@OverlandPioneers]

In a week! ish…

[@es-qc7lw]

Another great vid just wish i could do it my defender but i live in the uk but one da y i will do a us road trip

[@OverlandPioneers]

Ship it over!

[@cenkaetaya]

I want to do this in my 2014 Nissan Armada, its at 200k miles currently.

[@johnsnyder751]

Hi, myself and a friend are planning to run the TAT from Nags Head, NC up to Burnsville, WV toward the end of May this year. Do you have a list of camp sites on this section of the TAT that you can recommend. I know most of these were closed when you ran this section 2 months ago, but thought you might have notices some good spots will travelling that are at least worth checking out. Keep going with the videos! I am really enjoying them.

[@OverlandPioneers]

To be honest I wouldn’t remember where they are. If I didn’t mark them on the map I wouldn’t know.

[@Bluto4r]

Great video! What are your thoughts on doing the Atlantic coast spur solo?

[@OverlandPioneers]

Absolutely ZERO hesitations telling you go for it! It’s a bit boring between the mountains and the coast.

[@Bluto4r]

@@OverlandPioneers I'm in WV, the tat here is pretty good, I hear. I stumbled upon a little section of it when I was out scouting some forest roads.

[@OverlandPioneers]

@@Bluto4r WV was decent! With some good mountain pass areas!

[@edwardfrench3952]

I'd be interested in doing this in a couple of weeks. Should I bring tire chains? I'm getting cabin fever in northern NY.

[@OverlandPioneers]

We never used them. A bit slick at times but we just took it slow. I can’t speak for what others should do

[@MotocrossmMitch]

What application do you run on your iPad as a GPS system? Where did you get GPS coordinates from?

[@OverlandPioneers]

GAIA GPS is the app. You can lay out your route on their website online and then automatically updates to the app. And Vice versa. You downloaded the routes off of the Transamerica Trail website.

[@ericg6306]

@1:05:22 So you're saying it's true that some of the "dead end" and/or "road closed" signs are bogus? Likely put up by local Karens who don't like outsiders driving by?

[@OverlandPioneers]

Yea. I’d go with that

[@timothyfreeman8660]

Why did you air down the tires on the trailer? I understand on the Jeep but the trailer doesn’t have pulling wheels. I would have aired them up honestly.

[@OverlandPioneers]

It makes for a softer ride. If you air up the trailer would have bounced all over the trail. A proper load and air pressure on bumpy roads makes the ride buttery smooth

[@Thomas-mf6du]

What drone are you using?

[@OverlandPioneers]

Over the 5 years went from Phantom 4 Pro to the Mavic 3 Pro

[@Thomas-mf6du]

@@OverlandPioneers thank you for the response. I was looking at the mini 4 pro.

[@OverlandPioneers]

@@Thomas-mf6du that’s a great drone too!

[@mkwy8782]

Kind of cheezy.

[@OverlandPioneers]

Your face is cheezy.

[@patrickcobb4483]

Ugh, the music is simply punishing. Great video though

[@OverlandPioneers]

Well without it would be just empty car noise and no sound over the drone. But thanks! its been a great trail!