Remember the days of paper maps? Scenic roads were shown in green, dirt roads as parallel lines and single dotted lines were trails. We’d highlight away, having no idea what we’d actually find when we got there. Pull those paper maps in and out of your tank bag window too many times, or even once in the rain, and they’d fall to pieces. 

Then along came Butler Motorcycle Maps in 2010, with their weatherproof, tear-proof maps showing all the best motorcycle roads, including restaurants, lodging and other points of interests in different states or regions. What a godsend they were, only becoming more valuable as they were supplemented with printed GPS coordinates for start and end points. Though updated regularly, these original, paved road maps still exist as the G1 Series. Today there are 21 G1 maps available for the states and regions.  

From the very start Butler maps has also worked in coordination with the creators of Backcountry Discovery Routes and today Butler offers physical maps for all 13 main BDR routes.

Better still? Butler is now producing an Adventure Series created specifically for ADV and dual sport riders, showcasing the state’s premier dirt roads, hand-selected to provide the best off-road riding experience. Each map includes valuable features like  elevation profiles, key points of interest, detailed inset maps, and written descriptions of each recommended ride. To date, there are four Adventure Series maps: Arizona and Colorado, and now available for preorder, New Mexico and Utah. 

The Adventure Series maps come with GPS coordinates for marked trails, and like the Butler G1 guides, each recommended dirt road is coded — one of the things that makes these maps so useful. So in the Adventure series, gold-coded A1-rated dirt roads are top shelf with additional suggestions colored in red (A2) for ‘better’ and orange (A3) for ‘good’ roads to help riders form the perfect adventure loop.

These aren’t just alternative versions of the BDR Maps, nor do they show only bucket list roads we can easily find on our own. For example, Butler promises the forthcoming Utah Adventure Series map isn’t all about Moab and St. George. A team of scouts has been exploring Utah’s backcountry for years and was able to come up with an Adventure map featuring more than 20 “iconic” gold A1 rides as well as hundreds of red A2 and orange A3 dirt adventure segments to connect those thrill rides. 

The fresh New Mexico map, as well as the existing Arizona and Colorado versions are also chock full of primary and secondary dirt roads, all handpicked specifically for adventure bike and dual sport riders. For the fullest experience, the Adventure maps can be paired with the corresponding BDR maps and/or G1 paved road maps in order to get the best of all worlds.

The research that goes into making these maps is profound. Butler hires scouts and trains them how to judge roads on a scale of excitement. These scouts get a proprietary app in which they can drop waypoints along any section of road, mapping the level of entertainment each road provides. Tens of thousands of hours of riding research have gone into mapping out each state or region.

The quality of Butler maps carries all the way through to the physical product. The tear- and weatherproof maps feel slick and substantial yet aren’t heavy at all and each folds down to just 4.25 x 9 inches to easily fit in tank bags or backpacks. 

There are 40 Butler Motorcycle Maps available in all, and each sells for $19.95, with bundling options available. For example the current price for the existing Colorado and Arizona Adventure Series maps is $19.95, but if you add the corresponding BDR map for that state you’ll pay $36, saving 4 bucks. 

The brand new New Mexico and Utah Adventure Series maps are $2 off through August 15th. For more information go to butlermaps.com.

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.