I just got a mountain bike that I found in the trash up and running. It's in perfect condition. Even with the old cables, it's still shifting right.
Today, I want to write about "multi-mode hiking." It pertains to solo and multiple hikers with only one car. If their intent is to eventually complete a distance hiking trail, using only one car, the hiker would have to either hike out and back, or loop on an off agency trails and roads.
The bicycle has a drive train. And here in Ohio, it's more efficient by 3 or 4 times. Off-road trails can have some prohibitions, so bicycles aren't always permitted. But you can drop one off at the end of a route and chain it to a tree. But with those prohibitions, just make sure that the wheels never come in contact with that trail (pick it up to lock it somewhere off that trail).
When I mentioned three or four times, it's as if the hike to bike has a ratio. Here in Ohio, it's generally 1:3 or 1:4 in stamina. I don't pedal up some hills to conserve it. Here's how that works for me... Based on those ratios, if I was hiking the Buckeye Trail in NE Ohio, it would be a 1:4 area. That means that if I was 20 mile per day hiker, in most circumstances, I could hike 16 miles down trail. The route back on road would probably only be about 12 miles. By this ratio, 12 miles on bike equals 3 miles hiking. 3 + 16 = 19, so it's within the 20. If the loop back's mileage ends up being more, then the distance down trail hiking would need to be shortened.
With the out and back, that 10 miles out and 10 miles back. Here on the Buckeye Trail, the Circuit Hike Patch is somewhat based on it's total mileage. That means that the 10 miles back doesn't can't count towards that because that portion of the trail was already covered. And looping mileage isn't covered anyways, but the multi-mode mitigates that by having a faster, less strenuous mode of travel.
A 16 mile hike in Ohio would take about 5 - 6 hours. With a bicycle, the loop back would only take about one. Another way to put it is that it enables the hiker to put 75% of their stamina down trail and 25% on the loop.
Here's the way that lesser loop mileage works. Roads are better engineered than trails. The trails have more grades and turns. Therefore, the road is usually tends to have more level surfaces. Federal Highways are usually better engineered than state highways. State highways are better engineered than county roads. County Roads are usually better engineered than township roads. And township roads are often better than forest roads. So, there's a hierarchy to it.
On one route that I did in a more remote part of Ohio, the loop back was longer than the distance of that day's hike. But the state highway that it was routed on was more efficient, so this was exceptional. And I don't have any experience in any mountainous areas. It might work in some low mountainous ones? But there are some kits that could be bought to convert a bicycle into a motorized one. Otherwise, mopeds, motorcycles, kayaks or a second car. That car could be lightweight vehicle dollied to a truck or some kind of motorhome? Even public transit has several forms. One of those could be "dial-a-ride," "curb-to-curb," and "demand responsive" type transit. Unlike a city bus line, these vehicles pull into certain places, even homes for boarding and disembarking. Those methods might enable the hiker to put 100% of their daily stamina down trail?
Showing posts with label solo hike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solo hike. Show all posts
2017/06/09
2016/02/19
Solo Day Hiking With One Car - How To Get Back
As a solo day+ hiker pursuing a state or agency completion patch, it kind stinks to reserve a certain portion of stamina for the loop, or redundant walk back to a car. Wouldn't you like to put most, or all of in it in one direction progression? I've got a solution.
One is that you could use a bicycle. For me here in Ohio, one mile hiking equals 3 - 4 cycling. It depends on the terrain and personally, I don't ride up hill because it consumes a lot of stamina doing that. So lets say that your a flatland 20 mile per day hiker. That generally means that you need to stop hiking around your 16th mile. With 4 miles hiking left over, you multiply that by 4 and 16 miles of cycling is what you have left. Now if you were just off-road, because the number of curves there are usually greater, you'll usually have something like a 12 mile trip back (4 miles within your 16) because the roads are more direct. They're often better engineered, too. And that will conserve stamina.
The other thing is by putting a motor on the bike. If you hide it somewhere in the forest, you can chain it up just about anywhere and in this example... you can put the full 20 down trail when you hike. However, here in Ohio, a motorized bicycle must be licensed as moped.
Lastly, the other option could be public transit. I'm the webmaster for the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR). But anywhere, transit comes in different forms. There's passenger airlines, international, interstate and regional bus lines with stops and stations. Some of those stops could be at gas stations in places with less than 5,000 residents. There's rail, which has stations in larger cities and platforms in smaller ones. Finally, there's local transit.
It comes in several different forms and I'll start from the most rural. Transit agencies often run county wide zones (some are smaller). The first I'll mention are those running dial-a-ride/ demand responsive/ curb-to-curb/ shared ride services. For the most part, they all mean the same thing. If you search the Internet by county, you might be surprised by what you'll find.
There are three kinds of this type transit, they can be "disabled only," "residents only," or be open to the general public. Here in Ohio, most of the ones that I cataloged on the OTHR are "general public." They all require advanced reservations These services often run on vans, or Ford Econoline cut-a-way buses.
But there's several draw backs. The dispatchers are often not accustomed to hiking locations. That maybe because they don't go up into the parks, or some remote townships enough themselves. And they seldom, or maybe never have got a request for those certain locations before. Also, they may not pick-up/ drop off on a road which may get their vehicle stuck, or damage the chassis. This may be especially true in the winter.
What you need to do is try and work with the dispatcher and see if you can agree on a better location. Be willing to travel up to 3 or 4 miles off trail to this location. It's best if you schedule to board/ disembark at a public facility so the vehicle can get off the road. But some agencies might let you board/ disembark on on the roadside. If they do, you should schedule them to pick you up about at least 120ft from an intersection. Be sure to get on the bus, pay your fare and take your seat expediently so the bus can get back underway.
Then there's what's commonly known as "fixed route," which these are the city like buses that most of you commonly know. Depending on the transit agency, they can run on cut-a-way buses, too. They're fixed because the service is regular and doesn't deviate from it's route. I've catalog agencies that have it. But as we're hikers, or prospective hikers, those deviations are usually only 3/4th of a mile. And some are reserved only for the disabled.
They can have two types of stops. Those are that are formally signed on metal and utility poles and then there's "flag" stops. This when the transit agency doesn't use formal stops. Instead, the person wishing to board just stands on the side of the route and when they see the vehicle approaching, they just wave, or hail the bus to signal their intent.
Finally, there's what I coin as a "hybrid fixed route." This is just like a fixed route, but it requires an advanced reservation to ride. On the OTHR, these are rare.
Tips:
1) When seeking to board, always arrive at your boarding location 15 minutes prior to the scheduled arrival of your transit vehicle.
2) You should board with exact change for fare, or be willing to surrender the remainder of your monetary bill denomination.
3) Many agencies are out of service on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays, except in most larger cities.
In some of the dial-a-ride type agencies have zones that are less than a county. They might just be one city that the trail gets near. And on occasion, they'll state that they'll go 1, or 3 miles outside of its limits. If you activate the right Layers in Google Earth (left pane, at the bottom), you can see municipal incorporation lines. With the line measure tool (located in the tool bar above the map), you can measure the distance between the incorporation line and the trail at various points to see if it comes into their transit range. I've had to do this with two transit agencies and they were both measured "as the crow flies" from any part of their limits with the line going at any angle from it.
For you folks on, or going to be hikers on the Finger Lakes Trail - Main Line in Southern New York, you are truly blessed the last that I knew. Some of the fixed routes between county agencies don't have great schedules, but the last that I knew, there is an elaborately connected transit system along the North Country concurrent portions of the Main Line.
One is that you could use a bicycle. For me here in Ohio, one mile hiking equals 3 - 4 cycling. It depends on the terrain and personally, I don't ride up hill because it consumes a lot of stamina doing that. So lets say that your a flatland 20 mile per day hiker. That generally means that you need to stop hiking around your 16th mile. With 4 miles hiking left over, you multiply that by 4 and 16 miles of cycling is what you have left. Now if you were just off-road, because the number of curves there are usually greater, you'll usually have something like a 12 mile trip back (4 miles within your 16) because the roads are more direct. They're often better engineered, too. And that will conserve stamina.
The other thing is by putting a motor on the bike. If you hide it somewhere in the forest, you can chain it up just about anywhere and in this example... you can put the full 20 down trail when you hike. However, here in Ohio, a motorized bicycle must be licensed as moped.
Lastly, the other option could be public transit. I'm the webmaster for the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR). But anywhere, transit comes in different forms. There's passenger airlines, international, interstate and regional bus lines with stops and stations. Some of those stops could be at gas stations in places with less than 5,000 residents. There's rail, which has stations in larger cities and platforms in smaller ones. Finally, there's local transit.
It comes in several different forms and I'll start from the most rural. Transit agencies often run county wide zones (some are smaller). The first I'll mention are those running dial-a-ride/ demand responsive/ curb-to-curb/ shared ride services. For the most part, they all mean the same thing. If you search the Internet by county, you might be surprised by what you'll find.
There are three kinds of this type transit, they can be "disabled only," "residents only," or be open to the general public. Here in Ohio, most of the ones that I cataloged on the OTHR are "general public." They all require advanced reservations These services often run on vans, or Ford Econoline cut-a-way buses.
But there's several draw backs. The dispatchers are often not accustomed to hiking locations. That maybe because they don't go up into the parks, or some remote townships enough themselves. And they seldom, or maybe never have got a request for those certain locations before. Also, they may not pick-up/ drop off on a road which may get their vehicle stuck, or damage the chassis. This may be especially true in the winter.
What you need to do is try and work with the dispatcher and see if you can agree on a better location. Be willing to travel up to 3 or 4 miles off trail to this location. It's best if you schedule to board/ disembark at a public facility so the vehicle can get off the road. But some agencies might let you board/ disembark on on the roadside. If they do, you should schedule them to pick you up about at least 120ft from an intersection. Be sure to get on the bus, pay your fare and take your seat expediently so the bus can get back underway.
Then there's what's commonly known as "fixed route," which these are the city like buses that most of you commonly know. Depending on the transit agency, they can run on cut-a-way buses, too. They're fixed because the service is regular and doesn't deviate from it's route. I've catalog agencies that have it. But as we're hikers, or prospective hikers, those deviations are usually only 3/4th of a mile. And some are reserved only for the disabled.
They can have two types of stops. Those are that are formally signed on metal and utility poles and then there's "flag" stops. This when the transit agency doesn't use formal stops. Instead, the person wishing to board just stands on the side of the route and when they see the vehicle approaching, they just wave, or hail the bus to signal their intent.
Finally, there's what I coin as a "hybrid fixed route." This is just like a fixed route, but it requires an advanced reservation to ride. On the OTHR, these are rare.
Tips:
1) When seeking to board, always arrive at your boarding location 15 minutes prior to the scheduled arrival of your transit vehicle.
2) You should board with exact change for fare, or be willing to surrender the remainder of your monetary bill denomination.
3) Many agencies are out of service on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays, except in most larger cities.
In some of the dial-a-ride type agencies have zones that are less than a county. They might just be one city that the trail gets near. And on occasion, they'll state that they'll go 1, or 3 miles outside of its limits. If you activate the right Layers in Google Earth (left pane, at the bottom), you can see municipal incorporation lines. With the line measure tool (located in the tool bar above the map), you can measure the distance between the incorporation line and the trail at various points to see if it comes into their transit range. I've had to do this with two transit agencies and they were both measured "as the crow flies" from any part of their limits with the line going at any angle from it.
For you folks on, or going to be hikers on the Finger Lakes Trail - Main Line in Southern New York, you are truly blessed the last that I knew. Some of the fixed routes between county agencies don't have great schedules, but the last that I knew, there is an elaborately connected transit system along the North Country concurrent portions of the Main Line.
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