As I mentioned before, I plan to submit my 10 Mile Continuous Hikes Without Transit data to the Buckeye Trail Association (BTA). While I was routing through the Mogadore Section - Buckeye Trail (BT), I discovered I came along a camping/ lodging amenity gap in the Mantua of Portage County area. The problem was that I had never done a mock hiking route on this scale and without transit before, so taking into account where the last campsite/ lodging amenity was, how do I restart??? There's no rule for this and I have to be contentious of my criticism as this document may be scrutinized someday.
The other 10 mile document uses transit, so it's parameters are a little different. With the non-transit data, I'm going to re-start routing at the nearest public parking area prior to the first campsite if the mock hiker travels in the clockwise (CW) direction. The problem is that my parking area data still doesn't account for any road right-of-way widths yet. More precise parking areas could make a difference in determining the amenity gap's exact parameters.
These areas drive me crazy.
2015/11/29
2015/11/28
Log 2015112801
It took about 4 1/2 hours to map 191 placemarks for intersection mileages, as well as the whole mileages for the Burton Section - Buckeye Trail, which according to my records is 51.8 total miles. If I kept this up, it would take at least another 100 man hours to complete just the Buckeye Trail. North Country Trail's independent arms and by-pass would still need to be done after. But in order to save time, I'm going to forgo the whole miles and stick to the intersections only.
That's because they're the only ones that are practical to the 10 Mile Continuous Days document that I'm revising from the 2013 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR) for the 2016. There's going to be two documents, one with transit and the other without. The one without is for a report to the Buckeye Trail Association (BTA). And the 20 mile continuous days without transit has already been routed.
That's because they're the only ones that are practical to the 10 Mile Continuous Days document that I'm revising from the 2013 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR) for the 2016. There's going to be two documents, one with transit and the other without. The one without is for a report to the Buckeye Trail Association (BTA). And the 20 mile continuous days without transit has already been routed.
2015/11/26
Log 2015112601
I'm still working with Google Earth on a Trail Promotion map, which is a part of my so called "playbook." This past week, a Buckeye Trail Association (BTA) volunteer sent me a list of newspapers, college newspapers and magazines across the state. The newspapers also includes all of the smaller community papers, too. Everything is in alphabetical order according to location and for a while, I was stuck on the C's feeling like I was going no where fast. But I just now realized that Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Canton were all C's ;-)), with Akron occurring before that. That's an audience of roughly that is about one half of the state.
2015/11/24
Log 2015112401
8 - 120mm computer chassis fans for The Robot were purchased from Micro Center in Mayfield Heights of Cuyahoga County. That's about 1 shy from the total number of 120mm fans that it has installed. Between all of fans and six mounted drives, I have to use zip ties to route all the wires away from the fans. It's quite complicated in there and I might have to re-route everything again?
Right now, one or two of the fans is making a lot of noise when the computer starts, but it eventually subsides if the computer stays powered on long enough. It's a matter of time before it fails. And I can't tell which one it is without unplugging all of them, then replugging them in one by one and powering up the computer each time. But I am pretty sure that the CPU and power supply unit (PCU) fans are OK.
Right now, one or two of the fans is making a lot of noise when the computer starts, but it eventually subsides if the computer stays powered on long enough. It's a matter of time before it fails. And I can't tell which one it is without unplugging all of them, then replugging them in one by one and powering up the computer each time. But I am pretty sure that the CPU and power supply unit (PCU) fans are OK.
2015/11/22
Log 2015112201
I just concluded my recent hiking and scouting trip. I ended up scouting Ashland, Kentucky, Huntington and Charleston, West Virginia. I think that I'll be back on the Scioto Trail Section - BT/ NCT/ ADT in about two weeks or so.
2015/11/20
Log 2015112001
I'm staying overnight in Chillicothe of Ross County tonight. I hiked Points 20 - 22 of the Scioto Trail Section - Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail (02/2012 map & guide) in the Scioto Trail State Forest. And I checked the Buckeye Trail Association's website for any trail alerts, or map updates and there wasn't anything that was pertaining to this area. But when I got a little bit past Pt. 22 in the clockwise direction, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources - Division of Forestry had closed a portion of the BT/ NCT/ ADT. When I got back to my motel, I opened the webpage for the forest and it states that they're closing it for logging and that there were maps posted on sight.
I converted the state forest map to a image file and hosted it on my Facebook profile set to public for the purpose of using it as an image overlay in my Google Earth application. And I did this because I saw that this map was drawn to scale. After adjusting it's proportions, I found that it's roads and the route of the BT/NCT/ADT conformed well.
After noting its consistancy with the Scioto Trail Section track and getting the forestry map's proportions right, I used a "path" measure in Google Earth to measure the distance from the shortest point from the section to the nearest portion of the unincorporated community of Massieville in Ross County. Because it comes in at 3.68 miles, it is 0.68 miles too long at the thru hike rate for the Chillicothe Transit Service's (CTS) dial-a-ride program to be considered in the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR) at this time.
However, Massieville is unincorporated (it doesn't have any municipal lines), so the area might be vague. To be continued... But I know for sure that the most direct route from the BT/NCT/ADT in the forest to Massieville is too far. There may still be another option. In the meantime, I don't need to hike those state forest bridle trails since I already know that they won't work.
I converted the state forest map to a image file and hosted it on my Facebook profile set to public for the purpose of using it as an image overlay in my Google Earth application. And I did this because I saw that this map was drawn to scale. After adjusting it's proportions, I found that it's roads and the route of the BT/NCT/ADT conformed well.
After noting its consistancy with the Scioto Trail Section track and getting the forestry map's proportions right, I used a "path" measure in Google Earth to measure the distance from the shortest point from the section to the nearest portion of the unincorporated community of Massieville in Ross County. Because it comes in at 3.68 miles, it is 0.68 miles too long at the thru hike rate for the Chillicothe Transit Service's (CTS) dial-a-ride program to be considered in the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR) at this time.
However, Massieville is unincorporated (it doesn't have any municipal lines), so the area might be vague. To be continued... But I know for sure that the most direct route from the BT/NCT/ADT in the forest to Massieville is too far. There may still be another option. In the meantime, I don't need to hike those state forest bridle trails since I already know that they won't work.
2015/11/16
Log 2015111601
The low point for the North Country Trail in Ohio is definitely not on the Loveland Section - Buckeye Trail. The lowest point on Loveland from Milford to the farm bridge is 529ft above sea level.
2015/11/15
Log 2015111502
The highest point on the North Country Trail in Ohio is on Buffalo Road, NW of Hanover of Columbiana County. At 1,308ft above sea level, it is the 2nd highest point on trails covered by the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource and is on the NCT Ohio's east independent arm according to the NCTA's 2003 edition of the OH-101 map. I don't know it's low point yet, but I can say that it's has to be Buckeye Trail concurrent. Right now, the low point for the West Union Section (August 2012 edition map & guide) of the Buckeye Trail at 503ft above sea level is the likely candidate.
The highest point for the American Discovery Trail in Ohio & Kentucky occurs when it is concurrent with the Shawnee Section (December 2012 edition map & guide) of the Buckeye Trail near Point 25, 1,264ft above sea level. Their lowest point is at 456ft above sea level and it occurs on it's west independent arm.
ADT's mapping is based on their GPX data for Ohio & Kentucky and does not come with an edition date at this time.
The highest point for the American Discovery Trail in Ohio & Kentucky occurs when it is concurrent with the Shawnee Section (December 2012 edition map & guide) of the Buckeye Trail near Point 25, 1,264ft above sea level. Their lowest point is at 456ft above sea level and it occurs on it's west independent arm.
ADT's mapping is based on their GPX data for Ohio & Kentucky and does not come with an edition date at this time.
Log 2015111501
Sometimes I do a Ctrl + V (paste) in the name field of a placemark menu in Google Earth v7.1.5.1557, but as I often forget what's in there, it pastes a long string from something I was doing before (like it might come out as an XML code). So when I would go to delete it, I would press Ctrl + A, which is a standard Windows hotkey for select (highlight) all. But when I make this keystroke, it crashes the application.
Log 2015111401
Today, I charted the location of the high and low points of the Buckeye Trail's 26 sections. Afterwards, I started making placemarks of intersections, whole miles and the high and low points on the Road Fork Section only. The goal is to have them done for the entire circuit so that when I go route my mock thru and 10 miler hikers, I can have an easy mileage reference. This is a lot of work. There are times when I easily loose track of what mileage I'm going for. This happens every time I go to produce a new edition to the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR). I guess it's just a lot of detail and information.
When going for whole miles, I have to delete a copy of the section's master track from it's terminator with the "Properties" menu up and set to the "Measurements" tab in Google Earth. The track has little squares that are like anchors. They pertain to the global coordinates in the track's XML (an Internet programming language) for every place the track turns, no matter how insignificant. And if I'm not careful when doing as it gets close, the desired mileage might be between these anchors and I could overshoot it. My Road Fork track has 60 of these markers. One section down, 25 more to go.
Naming the low and high points could be useful for OTHR's guide. But I plan on writing a page here on Blogger highlighting them in the future. Since I've completed the successful merging of the BTA GIS/ GPS Data Depository into 26 sections, I can confirm that nothing on the circuit is higher than 50ft north of the oval in Burton of Geauga County on the west sidewalk of North Cheshire Street. At 1,332 feet above sea level, I am certain that this is the highest point on the Buckeye Trail as of the date of this log. Also verified it's elevation with a USGS topo map.
When going for whole miles, I have to delete a copy of the section's master track from it's terminator with the "Properties" menu up and set to the "Measurements" tab in Google Earth. The track has little squares that are like anchors. They pertain to the global coordinates in the track's XML (an Internet programming language) for every place the track turns, no matter how insignificant. And if I'm not careful when doing as it gets close, the desired mileage might be between these anchors and I could overshoot it. My Road Fork track has 60 of these markers. One section down, 25 more to go.
Naming the low and high points could be useful for OTHR's guide. But I plan on writing a page here on Blogger highlighting them in the future. Since I've completed the successful merging of the BTA GIS/ GPS Data Depository into 26 sections, I can confirm that nothing on the circuit is higher than 50ft north of the oval in Burton of Geauga County on the west sidewalk of North Cheshire Street. At 1,332 feet above sea level, I am certain that this is the highest point on the Buckeye Trail as of the date of this log. Also verified it's elevation with a USGS topo map.
2015/11/14
Log 2015111401
I just got done merging the BTA's GIS/ GPS Depository tracks into 26, one for each section. While they're may be inaccuracies with some of them, I added their total lengths up on a spreadsheet and that equated to an unofficial circuit length of 1441.2. I think it's safe to say that the margin of error could be about +/- 0.8 miles.
2015/11/10
Log 2015111001
The "green blob" that represents the Wayne National Forest on maps like Google Maps and Rand McNally Road Atlases is known as "Proclamation Boundary." As of the date of this log, NFS only owns 28%.
Today, I worked on a promotion map that I'll submit to the Buckeye Trail Association at some point. I was working on television viewing areas in the state and surrounding areas. I also finished up the listing of colleges and universities.
Today, I worked on a promotion map that I'll submit to the Buckeye Trail Association at some point. I was working on television viewing areas in the state and surrounding areas. I also finished up the listing of colleges and universities.
2015/11/07
Log 2015110702
Scioto Trail Section's original BTA GIS/ GPS Depository tracks are not merging. So far, I've got every track touching each other, they're all in order and I've noted the direction that they're going in. My guess is that I'm going to have to trace over every off-road segment. As far as I can tell, the original track segments are healthy. But sometimes in mapping, things just don't make sense no matter how hard that I try.
Log 2015110701
As accessed today, the Chillicothe Transit Service (CTS) states that they have demand responsive transit in the unincorporated community of Massieville, which is just W of Scioto Trail State Forest. But in regards to the Buckeye Trail as it's covered in the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR), this is an 18 mile per day maximum area. And getting to Massieville in under 3 miles will require the use of state forest bridle trails and determining how far CTS will deviate from the main populated area to pick up, or drop off transit hikers?
Transit to Chillicothe would open up another regional transit point on the OTHR between Logan and Peebles. Not to mention that it would be a good city to resupply in. In the past, I've been trying to find transit in Ross County to no avail. Everything outside of the city is for medical transport only. Chillicothe's fixed routes are just too far from the Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail (BT/ NCT/ ADT).
Transit to Chillicothe would open up another regional transit point on the OTHR between Logan and Peebles. Not to mention that it would be a good city to resupply in. In the past, I've been trying to find transit in Ross County to no avail. Everything outside of the city is for medical transport only. Chillicothe's fixed routes are just too far from the Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail (BT/ NCT/ ADT).
2015/11/04
Log 2015110401
Whipple Section - Buckeye Trail/ North Country Temporary Connector, Pts. 06 - 08 measured in at 2.9mi. I can confirm that Google Maps is correct for all of the on-road.
I measured every part of the section myself with my car's trip tick, or the trip computer on my hand GPS. I confirmed the GIS to be right on Pts. 01 - 02, the map team on 02 - 06 and Google Maps on 06 - 24. All that I have to do is put all that together to get the section's actual mileage.
2015/11/02
Continuous Short Hikes 2016 Document
I just started working on the Continuous Short Hikes 2016 document. And for the second time in two years or so, I am unable to route the unassisted 10 mile per day hikers around the Northern Terminus in Lake County. According to my methodology, the 10 milers have a 2.5 mile additional reserve. And the spurs to and from transit count towards that. The distance on the Buckeye Trail (some portions on-road) between Bedford Section, Transit Point 28 - N (based on it's 02/2012 map & guide) and the Burton Section, Point 03 (based on it's 11/2011 map & guide) is 12.9 miles, thus exceeding the 10 milers abilities by 0.4 miles with no way to alleviate that on the map.
With that being said, there are some places where it could be beneficial to have a new camping [including private camp hosts (residential)]/ lodging amenity in Lake County and they are:
City of Mentor-on-the-Lake
Mentor Headlands
Village of Grand River
This page is a log entry and is not maintained. But this situation has remained so for more than the 5 years that I've been monitoring the Buckeye Trail.
With that being said, there are some places where it could be beneficial to have a new camping [including private camp hosts (residential)]/ lodging amenity in Lake County and they are:
City of Mentor-on-the-Lake
Mentor Headlands
Village of Grand River
This page is a log entry and is not maintained. But this situation has remained so for more than the 5 years that I've been monitoring the Buckeye Trail.
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