The Year of the Overnighter (Video)

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how I wanted to end the year. For 2024, I did a pretty basic rundown of the year’s best- and worst-performing videos. It was fun enough, but it didn’t make for a great video. This time, I decided to reflect on my year as a whole. In a nutshell, it was hectic. Between traveling, raising a very young family, creating videos for the YouTube channel, and trying to make time for friends and family, it was jam-packed. To balance all the busyness, I leaned heavily into one thing this year: the overnighter! In this video, I run through some of the overnighters I got out on and what made them so special.

What Is an Overnighter?

An overnighter is the shortest bikepacking trip you can do. It’s a quick way to experience backcountry travel with minimal time, a great way to test your gear, and an excuse to get outdoors close to home. It lets you enjoy the rewards of bikepacking without being away for days at a time, making it ideal for folks with busy schedules or limited time.

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What’s harder to explain is just how rewarding being out for such a short period of time really is. Pedaling familiar terrain, rolling into a camp spot, setting up a tent, making a meal, and spending an evening under the stars, then waking up and riding home—all usually in under 24 hours—is incredibly refreshing. You can do it on a weeknight, as part of a weekend, or as a low-key way to introduce bikepacking to friends or even your kids. Overnighters also help you dial in your kit without the pressure of committing to something larger. They’re a great way to test gear, a solid proving ground for longer routes, and something I will always suggest before tackling bikepacking for the first time or on a long trip.

A Year of Overnighters

As simple as overnighters can be, this year made me realize that they’re also surprisingly complex. Packing for just one night can actually be extremely frustrating and time-consuming, but in reality, it makes them an excellent tool for someone like me, who tests a lot of bikes and gear. Like many people, my schedule in 2025 didn’t leave much room for long trips. After all, I need to publish at least one video every week.

Still, each overnighter brought something different. Different terrain, weather, friends, bikes, and gear. All told, I did eight overnighters in 2025. Some were quick missions, leaving around 5 p.m. and back by 10 the next morning. Others were full two-day epics, leaving early in the morning and returning late the next day.

Some Highlights

I haven’t done this many overnights in one year before, so it’s been officially dubbed the year of the overnighter. While some of these trips often get pushed out of the memory bank or aren’t highlighted much, many of them are deeply impactful. So much so that they defined part of my year, and I just wanted to share a few clips and highlights.

My overnight season kicked off in early May, after the chaos of Sea Otter. A group of local folks from Gunnison headed out for an overnight on what’s typically a day ride for us. The beauty of day routes as overnighters is familiarity, relative ease, and an excellent potential camp spot I had in mind. The real highlight of this trip was the start of bikepacking season in the high country after a brutally cold winter. Great company was also a highlight, and the massive herd of elk we spotted made it extra special. We got to camp, set up tents, and it rained all night. Some of us took that as an opportunity to get in their tents and sleep early that night, while others threw on rain jackets, got a fire going, and stayed up just chatting. It was a great night with good people. And the next morning was beautiful and sunny, with a very enjoyable ride back home.

The next trip was a solo mission and one of the hardest ones of the year. Like most solo trips, at least for me, it offers a meaningful moment of self-reflection. The route started right from my door in Gunnison, totaling 50-plus miles and more than 7,000 feet of climbing, mostly on dirt roads and two-tracks that don’t see much traffic, especially in late May to early June. The highlight was the solitude. Just me, lots of wildlife, plenty of time to think, and the reminder of how lucky I am to be able to ride from home and willingly push a loaded bike up steep sections in remote areas. These are the trips of my past life, so to speak, where all I wanted was challenging training missions for big races. I’m glad I still do them, but I’m also happy I don’t do them all the time.

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I also did three shorter overnighters down at Hartman Rocks this summer, which is just a stone’s throw from downtown Gunnison. Hartman Rocks Recreation Area is one of my favorite close-to-home spots, with gravel roads, singletrack, great camping, and big views. Overnighters here are perfect for last-minute trips or when I’m really crunched on time. I can get to camp in under an hour or stretch it out, depending on the route. I’m usually home by mid-morning, reset and ready for the day. One of the particular overnighters was on a Gunnion Trails work day, which made it even better. I rode my loaded rig out to a trail damaged by rain, worked on it, and camped out with a good friend after we enjoyed some libations and food with a bunch of great humans.

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I took a couple of enjoyable overnights outside of Crested Butte with my buddy Eric, who many of you have seen in my footage over the years. The first was up Paradise Divide to Schofield Park. This trip was hands-down the wildflower trip of the year. Between stopping constantly to admire them and riding through trails lined with them, it was absolutely incredible. As a bonus, we got to camp around 2 p.m. in the middle of July, so we had a long, warm, relaxed afternoon and evening, talking about gear, enjoying some good food, and taking in the views. The next morning was an easy pedal up to Schofield Pass and eventually Trail 401, which is always a treat, especially on a rigid bike.

The second Crested Butte trip was the Tilton Traverse, a route I published here on the site years ago. It’s roughly 60 miles with about 7,000 feet of climbing, including a solid chunk of high-altitude singletrack. It’s a challenging route, but such a good one. The trip showcased quiet roads, big views, an afternoon rainshower, some tough singletrack climbs, and one delightful singletrack descent. It was fun to revisit a route I rode a decade ago. Two full days of riding and easily one of the highlights of my summer.

My final overnighter was the only one outside Gunnison County. This one crossed the Continental Divide in Chaffee County, from Buena Vista to Salida, on a gravel route I’ve done in some form four times now. I wanted to ride it again while testing a gravel bike, and the fall colors were peaking, so it was the perfect time. Nate, Eric, and I scored amazingly, with fantastic weather and an excellent campsite overlooking the Collegiate Range. We watched the moon rise, enjoyed unusually warm October night temps, and had a tremendous day two riding up Aspen Ridge during peak fall foliage. It was a perfect way to wrap up the season of overnighters.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, these trips are also work. Testing bikes, bags, tents, and gear isn’t always easy. It can be annoying to wake up and shoot bikes in good light instead of enjoying coffee, or to stop mid-ride for photos, drone shots, or to take notes on how a bike rides or a piece of cargo feels, all while friends keep pedaling or are waiting for me. But I’ve really honed these skills, and overnighters are ideal for gear testing.

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But when I’m lying in my tent at night, that’s not what I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about how good it feels to be out there, pedaling a loaded bike on dirt roads and trails, sleeping outside, and doing it all again the next day. Whether solo or with friends, it lets me reset, reenergize, and recalibrate. And it’s wild that just one night can do that.

Overnighters capture the essence of bikepacking. Long trips are great, and epic routes are cool, but you don’t need to cross a country to have a meaningful experience. A handful of overnighters in a year can add up to something just as rewarding, if not more.

If you had an overnighter this year that stood out, a reason you love them, or a route suggestion, let us know in the Conversation below…

Further Reading

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