Based in Seattle and founded in 2010 after the development of its first route — Washington — the nonprofit Backcountry Discovery Routes has since gone on to develop routes across every Western state, except Montana, and the Eastern regions of the mid-Atlantic and New England. There are even two routes in California: a southern route and a new northern route released earlier this year.

The routes, often more than 1,000 miles long and commonly abbreviated as BDRs, are renowned among adventure riders for their scenic value, off-the-beaten-path routing, advice on pacing, and detailed maps of gas, lodging, food and other attractions along the way. But Montana has long been a blank spot on the BDR map, devoid of such a curated adventure route.