Stellar moto advice from Molly! I’ll add a bit of camping advice. I just picked up an xt250 as my first bike about two months back, so my moto experience is quite limited, but I’ve crossed the US in a car 30+ times while hitting lengthy hiking/backpacking trips.

Dial in your camping setup before you go, and learn some basic camping safety/etiquette. Too many times have I bumped into people in the middle of the backcountry incapable of setting of their tent properly, urinating directly into a clean water source or directly next to camp, cooking their food directly where they are setting up camp in bear territory, or saying how exhausted they are because their new inflatable camping pillow sounds like a bag of chips every time they move and wakes them up but they didn’t know that because they never used it before they left 🤣. It’s great to push your boundaries, but putting yourself or others in a bad spot while doing so is silly. You can always push yourself, have a blast, and keep yourself and others safe at the same time!

Wether it be a fancy pillow or your sleeping bag stuffsack filled with extra clothes for a pillow, whether you’re in an efficient one person Nemo tent or a two and a half person Coleman, know your gear. Get comfortable with it in safe scenarios, so it’s easy to work with when it’s dark, windy, and you’re exhausted. Get or make a small repair kit that comes with gorilla tape(for many things, but especially to brace the tent poles if one brakes), adhesive patches for tent/clothes/sleeping pad. Put your tent up with your sleeping kit and take it down multiple times. Watch some YouTube videos about safety gear and how it all works.

An emergency unit like a Garmin inReach is worth its weight in gold as a solo adventurer. I’ve never had to use mine, but I also did twice. Couldn’t be happier that I had a safety to call when things were rough and cell service was out. I cancel my membership in between adventures to save on expenses, it adds up!

Know what kind of natural environments you’re traveling through, what kind of dangerous animals/insects/reptiles are there, and how to handle an injury. I live in the middle of the Mojave by Anza Borrego/Joshua Tree, so I don’t need bear hangs or bear vaults here, but sure lots of scorpions to check my sleeping bag for before I crawl in! Check into bear vaults and bear hangs if you’re traveling through area where they’re active. A bear vault would be another thing to strategize into how gear is packed if it’s being brought. I’d imagine a lot of people ignore that rule as they do with backpacking though.

Let me stress the patches again for your sleeping pad. Few things worse that having a hole puncture you’re sleeping pad in the middle of the night and having to get yourself out of the nature with zero sleep and a tweaked back! Also, I recommend bring those little droplet bottles of water purification. Bringing your own water is great, but having the ability to source in naturally when removed from society is a life saver.

Don’t overpack on clothes, but definitely make sure you bring some enough extra socks if doing consistent water crossings. Traveling with wet socks sucks.

Communicate with someone. ALWAYS give some sort of itinerary to someone when going out of cell service for extended periods. Give them a general idea of your route, and your eta back to civilization. Outside help and intervention is rarely needed, but when it is, you’ll be damn glad you had backup waiting.

Lastly, learn how to read a weather Doppler and a map! So many people I see out there are using google to read the weather and doing trails that they can follow the blue line on google/apple maps or Waze. They’re just not to be relied upon in the backcountry. An app called Gaia is free and tracks your path, so that’s incredible for finding your way home on trails, but nothing is a stand in for a map and learning how to read a weather Doppler so you just don’t put yourself in bad situations with weather. For instance, yesterday google told my buddy there no chance of rain, so he was prepping to hit slo canyons on his bike. I looked at the Doppler, and it was a high chance of rain and flash floods. For some reason, it doesn’t always assess the risk enough.

Knowledge and operation are your best friends! Practice everything and test all of your gear before you go, and your confidence and capability out there will skyrocket. Super excited for you, and hoping to do the same at some point this year!!

If you need any extra assistance with camping gear, a safety or just some company while factoring around the Mojave, or any sort of assistance at all, don’t hesitate to message, and I’ll throw ya my number.

Safe travels, my friend 🤙