Log 2015121001

Errors were discovered in my modified Scioto Trail (North Country & American Discovery Trails concurrent), Caesar Creek (North Country Trail concurrent), and Akron Section - Buckeye Trail tracks.  Their solution will simply be a matter of using copies of 3 tracks each, deleting one to a point just before the error and the second one to a point just after.  Then using the 3rd as a basis to trace from the first track to the second and merging them together.

I now have mileages for needed points on all tracks that don't conform to the BTA Map Team official section lengths.  Most of these are off by about 0.4 miles, so I won't give this data out to somebody to rely upon.  But for OTHR's 10 Mile Continuous Hikes and routing 20/ 15 mile per day thru hikers, it should be fine.  Other than that, I have 8 remaining sections tracks that do conform and their map & guide points already to go.  They're just waiting to be converted into their stated mileages.  Once done, I'll plot a few more points for likely intersections, get their mileages and these can be relied on.  One section that remains is the West Union Section.  But since it's almost entirely on road and I used Google Maps for those portions, I'm sure that it's correct and I intend on making it's digital mile markers based on it.

Unofficially, the Buckeye Trail is 1,440 miles long and is about 50% off-road.  I've heard that the North Country Trail's off-road footprint higher.  And the American Discovery Trail's is unknown to me at the moment.  They all add up to be about 1,732 miles total in Ohio.  With the exception of the Wayne National Forest, all other camping and lodging amenities are in fixed locations.

So, the hard part is over and the rest should be a breeze.  This is going to make expediting the 10 Mile Continuous Hikes Without Transit document easier now.  The difference between the with and without is that with transit, it's easier to use Buckeye's stated mileages on the paper maps in comparison with OTHR's digital data because transit tends to yield more options.  Without transit, camping and lodging amenities are much more fixed, so I have to get (or squeeze) every 10th of a mile that I possibly can in some places to route a mock hiker from one amenity to another and help make the consecutive day count longer.  When it comes to different audiences, such as easy going, nature lovers, elder, entry level hikers, or people who just like a shorter day, it's these streaks that matter.  This document is a question of how well can these distance trail agencies in Ohio do it?