I spent the day sewing trail patches on my straw cowboy hat. And I repaired a tear in one of my pair of jeans and put a replacement button on another. Right now, the weather report for tomorrow (Monday 04/20/2020) is showing 5 hours of favorable skies for geo photo cataloging the Road Fork Section, Points 26 - 25 (07/2011 BTA map) round trip. It's not as far as I'd like to go, but I can't just stop in the middle of a segment. They have to be photographed whole. But Wednesday is looking like I'll get another 5 hours, but on the Whipple Section? Points 03-W to 05 (10/2010 BTA map) have priority there. I need to see it anyways because I have yet to give it an unofficial, but special segment name.
The purpose of the catalog right now is volunteer procurement. As far as getting new trail adopters, group activities are suspended until further notice. We can get new trail adopters (our primary volunteer maintenance crew), but can't give them the necessary in-person indoctrination until COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed. To sum it up, we can still get them on the record, but not working yet. Anyways, we need those photos for an Adventurer's Project volunteer procurement/ trail promotion campaign that should be had sometime after the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted to a more favorable point.
I didn't jump on the bandwagon and advocate the use of the trail in our region because I thought it would precipitate a public health problem. When cataloged Whipple 06 - 05, it was it's usual, tranquil self out there. The nearest person was 150 yards away from me and they were across a river on a dirt bike.
Our photos for Road Fork 27 - 29 are done and that accounts for the popular Archer's Fork Loop concurrency where I think people are going to be? I've got a good lead on an adopter for Whipple 01 - 02.
New adopters or not, I want to upgrade all of Whipple's off-road blazes myself. It's just to get them up to the Maintenance Guide's recommended standards.
We have permission to move as many North Country Trail NFS tack on markers as needed to our road intersections. They're needed at the intersections because they're shapes and color are what's on NFS's maps. If they see the shapes at the intersections, then Buckeye's blazes can take over from there.
Showing posts with label whipple section. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whipple section. Show all posts
2020/04/19
2020/04/11
Geo Photo Catalog
It might be 9 days before I can continue Adventurer's Project's "Geo Photo Catalog." It has several applications.
Application #1: A photographic record of the trail to educate Buckeye Trail Association volunteers and a reference for future maintenance needs.
Application #2: Produce photos for trail adopter procurement.
Application #3: Social media content. The photos will be released about 3 at a time in between other posts and help with fresh content during the cold days.
Application #4: Photos for Adventurer's Project's website.
Application #5: Pictures for trail promotion and volunteer procurement.
Application #6: Determine where we need to take pictures with better cameras. Those photos can be used for trail promotion, the website and social media.
Adventurer's Project supports the Road Fork and Whipple Sections of the Buckeye Trail (North Country concurrent) in Noble, Monroe, Washington and Morgan Counties of Ohio. The photos are taken about every 50yds or less in both directions. Currently, the photos are being taken at my smartphone's highest possible quality. As this region's off-road total is about 40 miles, it should produce over 2,600 photos. That's far more than Buckeye and North Country's hikers have produced at the moment.
On-road portions have been recorded via video with spoken locations from an automobile. Aside from that, Google Street View covers some of this area. So at this point, it's mostly about photographing about 40 miles of off-road paths on foot. And I'm earning my 2020 North Country Trail 100 Mile Challenge, which I've missed other challenges like this in previous years.
The "geo" part pertains to enabling my smartphone camera's "locator" to produce geotags. This process embeds the location of where the photo was taken into the properties of the file. From there, software can be used to extract their coordinates and then embed them into placemarks into a Google KML/ KMZ file. In terms of the maintenance record, volunteer users can follow the photos, particularly with the GIS/ GPS track of the Road Fork and Whipple Sections. So, this is to see the trail's line with the photos on an application like Google Earth and probably ArcGIS products?
In previous years, the camera locator was on by default. But I like to refer to geotags as "creeper tags." It's unfortunate because people were physically followed by others when they downloaded their pictures and had the geotags extracted. They could tell by the days of the week when they took their kids to karate class for instance.
But recently, to enable the geotag feature, there are two safeties. One is that the phone's locator must be enabled. When it is, this is what enables the smartphone's mapping and navigation. The second step is to enable the locator a second time, but in the camera app's settings. I find it to be a wonderful tool for the trail, but I tend to use it wisely. As of the time of this post, geotags are automatically stripped by Facebook, but not by every social media company. Presently, Adventurer's Project is only on Facebook and no other social media service due to insufficient manpower to admin more.
At last count, it takes about 1 hour to photograph 2 miles of off-road footpath here in what I call "Far SE Ohio," which is in the Appalachian Foothills. That's that's about 4 times faster than it takes to initially blaze (painted navigational markers) one. But still, the "stop and go" is harder on my body and I haven't scheduled this photographing over 7 round trip miles yet.
So, that just about sums up Adventurer's Project's Geo Photo Catalog.
2019/08/18
Passing Up Tomorrow
I work with the weather forecast day by day when it comes to geo photo cataloging the Road Fork and Whipple Sections of the Buckeye Trail (North Country concurrent). For those of you just tuning in, those sections are in SE Ohio, generally east of I-77 and south of I-70 in Ohio. That's one reason why I like to call this region "Far SE Ohio."
I lead Adventurer's Project, which is an effort to try and create a new chapter of the Buckeye Trail Association. It supports these sections and this project is a part of our data collection, which could help in multiple ways.
But getting back to the weather, my camera devices can embed the coordinates of where the pictures are taken. But because these aren't being done with stronger, professional grade equipment, the conditions in the sky have to be good for a more accurate position.
I watch Weatherbug for skies predicted to be "partly sunny" or better. Tomorrow, we're expected to get lightning on the Road Fork Section, but the forecast for the Whipple Section reads sunny and hot. Unfortunately, my van is fuel inefficient, old and the Whipple Section is about a hour away. I'll have to overnight, but my tent needs repairs. I'm afraid I'll have to pass tomorrow up.
2019/08/14
Geo Photo Catalog, A Rough Year, Whole Circuit Challenge
The Geo Photo Catalog is a project for the Road Fork and Whipple Sections that I have already underway. It involves taking pictures with my smartphone and camera app's locators turned on. What does is it embeds the coordinates of where the picture was taken. The idea, is to take them at every blaze, or where they're supposed to be according to the BTA's maintenance guide lines. Because of the weakness of a smartphone's GPS antenna, they have to be taken when the sky is partly sunny or better. And on Weatherbug, there's a difference between "party cloudy" and "partly sunny."
It's multifaceted program as it's purposes are:
1) provide the Buckeye Trail Association with a visual record of the trail
2) provide pictures for a Vacant Segment Showcase
3) to provide Adventurer's Project and the chapter it may become photos to use on it's website and social media, particularly in the winter.
Adventurer's Project covers the Road Fork and Whipple Sections of the Buckeye Trail (North Country concurrent) in Far SE Ohio, or generally east of I-77 and south of I-70. Those sections are off-road at Caldwell Lake and in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest.
It's been a rough year. Where to start??? The project had about 5 presentations and the public only showed up at one of them. We have two volunteers ready to go, but with both there's some scheduling difficulties. We might have another?
I live in my motorhome in Woodsfield. In December, I started getting physical therapy on my back. That concluded in February, but my abdominals still need tensioned. What I've learned is that I'm not in as good of condition as I once thought and now I'm unable to make the 13 mile one way trip to the nearest off-road portion by way of bicycle because the hills in this county are too much to handle at this time.
The electric warming hose that I was using for water to my motorhome failed and my hot water tank ruptured in a cold snap in February. I had to get a motel for a couple nights, but this is when my car started acting up, The RPM's were jumping.
In April, I finally saved up to get my car's clutch replaced. I then added two bottles of "Guaranteed to Pass" in two tanks of gasoline to try and get the catalytic converters clean.. After the first one, it started to jump less. But part way through the second, I wasn't satisfied it was doing enough.
Sometime afterwards, I started to replace the entire exhaust because in the year prior, a mechanic told me that I was leaking oil and as it was dripping down the back side of the engine, that it could probably clog one of the catalytic converters? Since the header pipe at the engine was bad and it was all practically welded together by this point anyways, I felt it necessitated a full replacement from "stem to stern."
It didn't alleviate the RPM's jumping. I changed the oil valve gasket along with the exhaust, but that didn't do anything. There's got to be something else? Because then it wouldn't start.
I had it hauled to Hilltop Auto Services just outside of Woodsfield to perform a diagnostic. They came back and said that the timing chain had gone and as a result, the valves were warped and the pistons were probably gone as well?
At that point, there was somebody in town who wanted to make my HHR into a jacked up, four wheel drive "Baby Grave Digger." I paid for the tow truck from Hilltop to his house because it was a heck of a lot better than sending it 30 miles north to a junk yard. But on the other hand, he had a old Chevy conversion van that I bought for $800. It use to be a passenger van, but it's interior is stripped down. I only have two seats in it. And the passenger's side needs a seat belt, which is on order.
So, we're back up and running, but there's a few experiments to run with a rear wheel drive only, top heavy vehicle in The Wayne. Most of its parking opportunities occur in a grass strip on the side of narrow, gravel roads. But there's another reason to run these experiments...
The Buckeye Trail Association's board voted in the affirmative to have a "challenge" over the whole circuit in one weekend. Basically, the BTA needs to be able to park cars every 3 miles or less in order to have hikers cover such distances over the 1,454 mile circuit almost virtually simultaneously at once. Some of those vehicles could be RWD only's? I have to come up with the contingency procedures in case it rains and their wheels sink?
Right now, I have 600 - 800lbs over my rear axle. But I'll also be experimenting with a new arrangement of parking boards and a come-a-long, or hand winch. With FWD, I would just place a board under each tire when I park in these places. When I leave, I have about 2 seconds of thrust, the rest is momentum and that better get me out.
But with a rear wheel drive, the drive wheels are further back. So the experiment is to see if four boards placed perpendicular in front of the boards being parked on would be enough traction to make it out? My conversion van has one disadvantage that the HHR didn't and that's it's wheelbase. The HHR could come out of a road side parking place forward, or back, depending on what was more advantageous? The conversion van's wheel base is likely to be not as generous? It probably has to come out in the forward direction only because of how tight the treeline is to the edge of these grass strips? Without knowing more, that's merely speculation at this point.
We have different grass strips. Some are up hill, down hill and some are on flats. We have to anticipate that these vehicles could be parked over night? If so, will front reflectors be needed? And if so, what color?
It's multifaceted program as it's purposes are:
1) provide the Buckeye Trail Association with a visual record of the trail
2) provide pictures for a Vacant Segment Showcase
3) to provide Adventurer's Project and the chapter it may become photos to use on it's website and social media, particularly in the winter.
Adventurer's Project covers the Road Fork and Whipple Sections of the Buckeye Trail (North Country concurrent) in Far SE Ohio, or generally east of I-77 and south of I-70. Those sections are off-road at Caldwell Lake and in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest.
It's been a rough year. Where to start??? The project had about 5 presentations and the public only showed up at one of them. We have two volunteers ready to go, but with both there's some scheduling difficulties. We might have another?
I live in my motorhome in Woodsfield. In December, I started getting physical therapy on my back. That concluded in February, but my abdominals still need tensioned. What I've learned is that I'm not in as good of condition as I once thought and now I'm unable to make the 13 mile one way trip to the nearest off-road portion by way of bicycle because the hills in this county are too much to handle at this time.
The electric warming hose that I was using for water to my motorhome failed and my hot water tank ruptured in a cold snap in February. I had to get a motel for a couple nights, but this is when my car started acting up, The RPM's were jumping.
In April, I finally saved up to get my car's clutch replaced. I then added two bottles of "Guaranteed to Pass" in two tanks of gasoline to try and get the catalytic converters clean.. After the first one, it started to jump less. But part way through the second, I wasn't satisfied it was doing enough.
Sometime afterwards, I started to replace the entire exhaust because in the year prior, a mechanic told me that I was leaking oil and as it was dripping down the back side of the engine, that it could probably clog one of the catalytic converters? Since the header pipe at the engine was bad and it was all practically welded together by this point anyways, I felt it necessitated a full replacement from "stem to stern."
It didn't alleviate the RPM's jumping. I changed the oil valve gasket along with the exhaust, but that didn't do anything. There's got to be something else? Because then it wouldn't start.
I had it hauled to Hilltop Auto Services just outside of Woodsfield to perform a diagnostic. They came back and said that the timing chain had gone and as a result, the valves were warped and the pistons were probably gone as well?
At that point, there was somebody in town who wanted to make my HHR into a jacked up, four wheel drive "Baby Grave Digger." I paid for the tow truck from Hilltop to his house because it was a heck of a lot better than sending it 30 miles north to a junk yard. But on the other hand, he had a old Chevy conversion van that I bought for $800. It use to be a passenger van, but it's interior is stripped down. I only have two seats in it. And the passenger's side needs a seat belt, which is on order.
So, we're back up and running, but there's a few experiments to run with a rear wheel drive only, top heavy vehicle in The Wayne. Most of its parking opportunities occur in a grass strip on the side of narrow, gravel roads. But there's another reason to run these experiments...
The Buckeye Trail Association's board voted in the affirmative to have a "challenge" over the whole circuit in one weekend. Basically, the BTA needs to be able to park cars every 3 miles or less in order to have hikers cover such distances over the 1,454 mile circuit almost virtually simultaneously at once. Some of those vehicles could be RWD only's? I have to come up with the contingency procedures in case it rains and their wheels sink?
Right now, I have 600 - 800lbs over my rear axle. But I'll also be experimenting with a new arrangement of parking boards and a come-a-long, or hand winch. With FWD, I would just place a board under each tire when I park in these places. When I leave, I have about 2 seconds of thrust, the rest is momentum and that better get me out.
But with a rear wheel drive, the drive wheels are further back. So the experiment is to see if four boards placed perpendicular in front of the boards being parked on would be enough traction to make it out? My conversion van has one disadvantage that the HHR didn't and that's it's wheelbase. The HHR could come out of a road side parking place forward, or back, depending on what was more advantageous? The conversion van's wheel base is likely to be not as generous? It probably has to come out in the forward direction only because of how tight the treeline is to the edge of these grass strips? Without knowing more, that's merely speculation at this point.
We have different grass strips. Some are up hill, down hill and some are on flats. We have to anticipate that these vehicles could be parked over night? If so, will front reflectors be needed? And if so, what color?
2019/06/15
Tried to Move Road Fork/ Whipple Work Week, Dispersed Camping, Timeline, Failure
Three years ago, I was asked to request that the BTA move it's Road Fork/ Whipple Work Week back from July annually to June. I explained that this could be difficult because Buckeye only has one crew to spare for this region. We do it at the height of the growing season and that moving it back to June could entail the Buckeye Trail Association having to field a second crew.
Well, I did it. And all of those were concerns at the BTA, there was another. The BTA expanded to include more work weeks elsewhere. As a result, it was impossible to move Road Fork and Whipple's back. I'm not sure if the outside understands just how big the BT is? I'm certain that National Forest Service's view is deficient with it, however, that's not really their fault because this sort of data only resides currently on my computers.
They think that the forest has truly dispersed camping when it comes to distance hikers, but they're missing a number of factors. They have to do with the balance between Buckeye's very fixed amenities, the terrain in the Marietta Unit and the intent of the hikers, which influences where they disperse camp. And I think that there are these unauthorized campsites on wonderful terrain because the hikers over the decades independently reached the same conclusion and that's what cased them to be well impacted?
The Hiker Hurricane was about 2 years ago (I think). The three year plan for this region entailed stabilizing the Whipple Section. That was done. The second year was supposed to be for maintenance and using my section supervisor credentials to improve the trail adoption numbers for it. But Year 2 was a dud. I'm a Disabled Vet. When my housing situation hit the fan in Year 1, I withdrew back to Painesville. In May of Year 2, I purchased a 29 year old motorhome. But it's expenses and mechanical needs exceeded my abilities. The hiker hurricane hit that year. In Year 3, I can't remember what happened then? But in the winter, my family has a mechanic friend and we spent 4 months working on the motorhome and got me in Far SE Ohio on May 7th. I've been here ever since.
While I was having difficulties, there are certain people who I don't entirely trust around both within and without. And sometimes, some in the BTA can be impressionable to failure. With exceptions, I kept my whereabouts a secret for the most part.
Well, I did it. And all of those were concerns at the BTA, there was another. The BTA expanded to include more work weeks elsewhere. As a result, it was impossible to move Road Fork and Whipple's back. I'm not sure if the outside understands just how big the BT is? I'm certain that National Forest Service's view is deficient with it, however, that's not really their fault because this sort of data only resides currently on my computers.
They think that the forest has truly dispersed camping when it comes to distance hikers, but they're missing a number of factors. They have to do with the balance between Buckeye's very fixed amenities, the terrain in the Marietta Unit and the intent of the hikers, which influences where they disperse camp. And I think that there are these unauthorized campsites on wonderful terrain because the hikers over the decades independently reached the same conclusion and that's what cased them to be well impacted?
The Hiker Hurricane was about 2 years ago (I think). The three year plan for this region entailed stabilizing the Whipple Section. That was done. The second year was supposed to be for maintenance and using my section supervisor credentials to improve the trail adoption numbers for it. But Year 2 was a dud. I'm a Disabled Vet. When my housing situation hit the fan in Year 1, I withdrew back to Painesville. In May of Year 2, I purchased a 29 year old motorhome. But it's expenses and mechanical needs exceeded my abilities. The hiker hurricane hit that year. In Year 3, I can't remember what happened then? But in the winter, my family has a mechanic friend and we spent 4 months working on the motorhome and got me in Far SE Ohio on May 7th. I've been here ever since.
While I was having difficulties, there are certain people who I don't entirely trust around both within and without. And sometimes, some in the BTA can be impressionable to failure. With exceptions, I kept my whereabouts a secret for the most part.
2018/12/26
Website Upgrades 12/26/2018
Campground & lodging mileage from the establishment to the trail was added yesterday. Adventurer's Project's "Hiker Resources" web page had to be practically rebuilt to handle it. Today, I added a mileage chart of the Road Fork and Whipple Section - Buckeye (off-road)/ North Country National Scenic Trail. I won't touch the on-road, but that's much easier to use the "measurement" tool in the BTA's digital mapping on Avenza Maps there.
A link to my Generic Gear Inventory was created on the Hiker Resources web page.
A link to my Generic Gear Inventory was created on the Hiker Resources web page.
2018/10/25
Adventurer's Project's Social Media and USGS Hydrographic GIS Data
I might like to get Adventurer's Project on multiple forms of social media, but we're a little short handed at this point. Many of the posts that I write to its Facebook exceed 280 characters, so, they're not really compatible with each other. But one day, it might be good to diversify our communications over several social media platforms in the event the Facebook goes terminal.
I'm working with the hydrography data for the Road Fork and Whipple Sections - Buckeye/ North Country Trail now. They all came unlabeled from the USGS, but I have the bigger streams along the trail renamed. Unfortunately, somehow, either I or Google Earth stripped its embedded information? Now, I can't tell if the remaining streams are creeks, runs or just some finger in the tree of these watersheds? I'll have to get a new copy of from USGS and try to overlay what I have named and go on from there.
The data needs to be reorganized and merged because that which is issued by USGS it's too demanding on computer systems. And the LoMaps on my Locus Maps apps doesn't display much in the way of hydrogrqphy.
- The Whipple Section approximate to Point 07 (10/2010 map & guide) is 9.73 miles north of the Ohio River on the Little Muskingum River.
- The Little Muskingum River Flats between Whipple Section, Points 05 - 06 falls between miles 12.5 to 13.61 from the Ohip River.
The Road Fork Section between Points 20 - 22 (7/2011 map & guide) is along the Little Muskingum R between Miles 38.87 to 41.02 from the Ohio River.
- The upload of mostly surface streams along the Road Fork and Whipple Sections to the Locus Maps app on my smartphone and tablet is complete. This project has been sitting around in Google Earth for months
2018/09/03
Trail Promotion Flier Routes
Adventurer's Project's trail promotion flier strategy consists of three loops, three areas and six routes covering about 13 of it's 14 counties. The remaining county is where only 3/4ths of one township is closer to the Whipple Section, which is covered by the project. For the most part, it's been seeded to Little Cities of the Forest Chapter of the Buckeye Trail Association.
The bad news is that I went through the post office lobby and library hours and determined a "least common denominator" as far as what days they're not open. Until things change (like if these least common denominator locations is eliminated due to lack of flier support), two of those routes can only be executed on Monday's only.
The bad news is that I went through the post office lobby and library hours and determined a "least common denominator" as far as what days they're not open. Until things change (like if these least common denominator locations is eliminated due to lack of flier support), two of those routes can only be executed on Monday's only.
2018/07/21
Great Blue Heron and Rest Day
I saw a Great Blue Heron in the Little Muskingum River Flats on the Whipple Section - Buckeye Trail (North Countey current) yesterday. It was truly a surprise. It's my favorite bird in Ohio because it's so solitary most of the time.
I was down there weed whacking about half of the flat's 1.1 miles. Between that and weed whacking places that are impossible for the DR Mower to reach, I had to take a day off today. Yesterday when I got out of the car to meet the Road Fork/ Whipple Work Week crew, I was light headed and felt a surge to my brain like none before. I didnt eat lunch on both days, so I was probably having low blood sugar mixed with fatigue. Now, I know better.
Those flats once took a crew of 4 about 40 man hours to weed whack. I got half it done in about 6. I'm 6'6 and I think that my swing and the disposition of my weed whacked engine have something to do with it?
2018/07/11
I Know How to Work the Weed Whacker Now
I found out how to work my weed whacker. From reports, most aperatures on the Road Fork and Whipple Sections should be clear now. I did this by car, so there were two aperatures that I couldn't access. Those will have to get done when the DR Mowers, or weed whacker sweep through.
2018/05/27
Marietta Unit, New Matamoras Floods, Memorial Day Weekend 2018, Auxiliary Batteries and Whipple Maintenance
- Apparently, New Matamoras floods less than Marietta. Marietta's problem is that it's near where the Muskingum, Little Muskingum Rivers and the Duck Creek that meet the Ohio River there. If there's a big enough storm, all of its water is going to converge on the city.
- This is Memorial Day Weekend 2018. Today, I did some rounds looking at campground capacities and reporting them to the Buckeye Trail Association Facebook group.
- My auxiliary/ house batteries are somehow disconnected from both the generator and the cab's alternator. But I'm able to charge them now by jumping them with my car. It takes about 1hr 15min to get them full. Lightning is in the forecast for tomorrow, so I plan on tracing their power lines. It's possible that they all need to be replaced?
- The maintenance priority on the Whipple Section is blazing. We may have a marathon runner/ thru hiker come through. He's going to need the trail's navigation to become more efficient.
- This is Memorial Day Weekend 2018. Today, I did some rounds looking at campground capacities and reporting them to the Buckeye Trail Association Facebook group.
- My auxiliary/ house batteries are somehow disconnected from both the generator and the cab's alternator. But I'm able to charge them now by jumping them with my car. It takes about 1hr 15min to get them full. Lightning is in the forecast for tomorrow, so I plan on tracing their power lines. It's possible that they all need to be replaced?
- The maintenance priority on the Whipple Section is blazing. We may have a marathon runner/ thru hiker come through. He's going to need the trail's navigation to become more efficient.
2018/03/24
Trail Manual - Mileage Sheets
Let's recap... I've been writing a mileage sheet for a book that I wish to deploy at two shelters on The Wilderness Loop - Buckeye Trail (North Country partially concurrent). Parts of the book are location specific, including the mileage sheets. The mileage sheets are based on the mile markers that I have for the Buckeye and North Country Trails. They were derived from the merged tracks that I have for them, but accumulative mileages have never been tabulated until I started this project.
There may be inaccuracies in what I'm writing in the books. This thing might need a disclaimer? That's because when North Country chapter spans are larger than 99.9 miles, Google Earth's measurements tab rounds up or down to the nearest whole number. What I wish I would have done was converted them to inches, use a calculator and divide by 63,360 to get the mileages for each section with a decimal place in the ten thousandths.
The first thing that I do on a project like this is accumulate the mileage from one section terminator to another from one of the shelter until the both trails are completed. Then for the mileage sheet, it lists villages, cities and other locations. Having the terminator measurements makes it easier to use the section's mile markers. Mine are done every tenth of a mile. But if I had to do it over again, I'd have them made to every hundredth. I just added, or subtracted (depending on the direction I was working on) the locations mileage to the last reported terminator.
I've worked on the book's minor differences for the Road Fork On-Road Shelter. I found that there are some mileages that I forgot to fill in and I really don't know why? And I'm pretty satisfied that the numbers are in for the other shelter now.
So here's how updating it goes. We don't have the volunteers in Far SE Ohio to stay up with Buckeye and North Country Trails "around the clock..." it's quite impossible right now. Any corrections will have to be done during the cold days when we don't have any maintenance, or trail promotion. Additionally, the roads to access those shelters may be impassable to anything other than 4WD vehicles and we may not be able to issue the books new corrections until the snow thaws and exposes the gravel road surfaces?
But in the end, the hikers can reference these sheets and the next day, they can write their fans and support that they're a certain distance from somewhere, perhaps their ultimate destination? I know Buckeye thru hikers and I believe that they would spend a few minutes studying this sheet?
There may be inaccuracies in what I'm writing in the books. This thing might need a disclaimer? That's because when North Country chapter spans are larger than 99.9 miles, Google Earth's measurements tab rounds up or down to the nearest whole number. What I wish I would have done was converted them to inches, use a calculator and divide by 63,360 to get the mileages for each section with a decimal place in the ten thousandths.
The first thing that I do on a project like this is accumulate the mileage from one section terminator to another from one of the shelter until the both trails are completed. Then for the mileage sheet, it lists villages, cities and other locations. Having the terminator measurements makes it easier to use the section's mile markers. Mine are done every tenth of a mile. But if I had to do it over again, I'd have them made to every hundredth. I just added, or subtracted (depending on the direction I was working on) the locations mileage to the last reported terminator.
I've worked on the book's minor differences for the Road Fork On-Road Shelter. I found that there are some mileages that I forgot to fill in and I really don't know why? And I'm pretty satisfied that the numbers are in for the other shelter now.
So here's how updating it goes. We don't have the volunteers in Far SE Ohio to stay up with Buckeye and North Country Trails "around the clock..." it's quite impossible right now. Any corrections will have to be done during the cold days when we don't have any maintenance, or trail promotion. Additionally, the roads to access those shelters may be impassable to anything other than 4WD vehicles and we may not be able to issue the books new corrections until the snow thaws and exposes the gravel road surfaces?
But in the end, the hikers can reference these sheets and the next day, they can write their fans and support that they're a certain distance from somewhere, perhaps their ultimate destination? I know Buckeye thru hikers and I believe that they would spend a few minutes studying this sheet?
2018/03/18
Early Warning System - Adventurer's Project Finished
That's it. I've done it! I just got done plotting waypoints for certain municipal boundaries and filling in their mileages.
This here is a map depicting the mileages from the Whipple Section - Buckeye Trail (North Country concurrent). This is along North Country's route to the west. The whole thing is done, but it would look like a mess in one image. Like I mentioned in a previous log, this project has a dual purpose. One is for a mileage sheet to go into the Trail Manuals at two shelters in SE Ohio. The other is for our Early Warning System that pertains to mobilizing trail angels and resupply in the area. I believe that i can make this data user friendly for all involved internally in Adventurer's Project?
The way that the Early Warning Map works is that hikers would report their positions somehow and we in far SE Ohio would track them as they come in based on what they report. From that, we should be able to predict their arrival based on their pattern? We'll have to readjust for irregularities, but the closer they get to us, the more accurate the prediction becomes.
At this point, all that I have to do now is enter the mileages into the Trail Manual.
This here is a map depicting the mileages from the Whipple Section - Buckeye Trail (North Country concurrent). This is along North Country's route to the west. The whole thing is done, but it would look like a mess in one image. Like I mentioned in a previous log, this project has a dual purpose. One is for a mileage sheet to go into the Trail Manuals at two shelters in SE Ohio. The other is for our Early Warning System that pertains to mobilizing trail angels and resupply in the area. I believe that i can make this data user friendly for all involved internally in Adventurer's Project?
The way that the Early Warning Map works is that hikers would report their positions somehow and we in far SE Ohio would track them as they come in based on what they report. From that, we should be able to predict their arrival based on their pattern? We'll have to readjust for irregularities, but the closer they get to us, the more accurate the prediction becomes.
At this point, all that I have to do now is enter the mileages into the Trail Manual.
2018/03/11
Highway Mile Markers, Roadside Camping, Caldwell Lake
I just got done writing tracks and getting mile markers for the various state highways on the Road Fork and Whipple Sections - Buckeye Trail (North Country concurrent). I think I remember someone saying that the mile markers on the ground aren't exact, but I think that having a ballpark estimate would help with overlaying Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) maps for locations near the trail.
I just crashed Google Earth moving items from Whipple's maintenance folder to Adventurer's project. For you folks who are not familiar with advanced GPS mapping, that means that that folder is very big. Then I did it again, I took my hands off of the keyboard, trackball, waited and again Google Earth crashed. Since this application doesn't have a multiple select option, I had to move the items over one at a time.
-Roadside camping in The Wayne is permitted according to https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5068388.pdf. It's being grouped in with dispersed camping under the heading "Primitive Camping." And the advisory concerning the surface streams is in this document.
- I now have a property polygon (shape) for Caldwell Lake on the Road Fork Section. Trail building there is scheduled for October and camping anytime is not permitted there.
I just crashed Google Earth moving items from Whipple's maintenance folder to Adventurer's project. For you folks who are not familiar with advanced GPS mapping, that means that that folder is very big. Then I did it again, I took my hands off of the keyboard, trackball, waited and again Google Earth crashed. Since this application doesn't have a multiple select option, I had to move the items over one at a time.
-Roadside camping in The Wayne is permitted according to https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5068388.pdf. It's being grouped in with dispersed camping under the heading "Primitive Camping." And the advisory concerning the surface streams is in this document.
- I now have a property polygon (shape) for Caldwell Lake on the Road Fork Section. Trail building there is scheduled for October and camping anytime is not permitted there.
2018/02/22
NOAA - NWS Hydrographic Data
Adventurer's Project's website remains a "works in progress" and is not published yet. But I continue to add things to it. The most recent thing is that I found how to get access to data submitted from five Hydrographic charts from the NOAA - National Weather Service. I'm linking them for the following stations:
- Ohio River at Marietta Pump House
- Duck Creek Near Whipple (approx 320ft W of the Whipple Section between Pts. 11 & 12)
- Duck Creek at Macksburg
- Little Muskingum (River) at Bloomfield [3.8mi NE of Road Fork Section, Point 26 (07/2011 Map & Guide)]
- Muskingum River at Beverly [7.2mi S of Whipple Section, Pt. 22 (10/2010 map & guide]
The Marietta Pump House give a good baseline understanding of what's going on in the area as far as water level is concerned. The station near Whipple might determine in BT's clockwise direction if Whipple 13 is under water?
The station at Macksburg is roughly at 672ft elevation. The ODNR Dam at Whipple 15 is south of that at 644ft. They are approximately 6.82 miles apart from each other. What level would the water on the Duck Creek on Macksburg's hydrograph have to be in order to flood over the ONDR dam near Whipple 15 that is only 3 feet above normal the level of the creek in that location? If we can determine this, then it could alert the hikers traveling in the counter clockwise direction that they'll be on "Dry Boot By-pass," instead of crossing the Duck Creek near Whipple 15 on the concrete ODNR dam.
The Little Muskingum (River) at Bloomfield station could alert hikers that the Road Fork Section near the Ring Mill might be under water? For out of town hikers, this is the kind of information that they would need in order to know whether they should drive at distance to traverse the area. And the Muskingum River at Beverly's levels might somehow indicate the creek and stream levels between Whipple 21 - 23. This area is on higher terrain, but those creeks and streams could bloat? And one of the roads there can have large holes in it?
I have the flood stage data for these stations. But in order to make it a custom fit for these sections, I think that digital photographs are the way to go. They have a time stamp embedded in them that can be accessed with the stock Windows Explorer in Microsoft Windows. If I could roam the area on a very rainy week, take pictures then compare their times to the ones stated in the hydrographs, then I may be able to say based on the Duck Creek in Macksburg's normal level (for instance), that if the hydrograph shows the creek at a certain level, then the Dry Boot By-pass is definitely in effect and we can spare the hiker from having to hike 2.9 miles down to find out, then 2.9 miles back.
- Ohio River at Marietta Pump House
- Duck Creek Near Whipple (approx 320ft W of the Whipple Section between Pts. 11 & 12)
- Duck Creek at Macksburg
- Little Muskingum (River) at Bloomfield [3.8mi NE of Road Fork Section, Point 26 (07/2011 Map & Guide)]
- Muskingum River at Beverly [7.2mi S of Whipple Section, Pt. 22 (10/2010 map & guide]
The Marietta Pump House give a good baseline understanding of what's going on in the area as far as water level is concerned. The station near Whipple might determine in BT's clockwise direction if Whipple 13 is under water?
The station at Macksburg is roughly at 672ft elevation. The ODNR Dam at Whipple 15 is south of that at 644ft. They are approximately 6.82 miles apart from each other. What level would the water on the Duck Creek on Macksburg's hydrograph have to be in order to flood over the ONDR dam near Whipple 15 that is only 3 feet above normal the level of the creek in that location? If we can determine this, then it could alert the hikers traveling in the counter clockwise direction that they'll be on "Dry Boot By-pass," instead of crossing the Duck Creek near Whipple 15 on the concrete ODNR dam.
The Little Muskingum (River) at Bloomfield station could alert hikers that the Road Fork Section near the Ring Mill might be under water? For out of town hikers, this is the kind of information that they would need in order to know whether they should drive at distance to traverse the area. And the Muskingum River at Beverly's levels might somehow indicate the creek and stream levels between Whipple 21 - 23. This area is on higher terrain, but those creeks and streams could bloat? And one of the roads there can have large holes in it?
I have the flood stage data for these stations. But in order to make it a custom fit for these sections, I think that digital photographs are the way to go. They have a time stamp embedded in them that can be accessed with the stock Windows Explorer in Microsoft Windows. If I could roam the area on a very rainy week, take pictures then compare their times to the ones stated in the hydrographs, then I may be able to say based on the Duck Creek in Macksburg's normal level (for instance), that if the hydrograph shows the creek at a certain level, then the Dry Boot By-pass is definitely in effect and we can spare the hiker from having to hike 2.9 miles down to find out, then 2.9 miles back.
2018/01/14
Car Maintenance, BT Map & Guide, Easements
New winter windsheild wipers were installed and an anti-freezing agent was applied to the four door windows of my 2008 Chevy HHR at 191,457 miles. I had a lot of laundry to do, so I'll get to get back to GPS mapping the North Country Trail when I wake up.
Speaking of laundry, I know that when the Buckeye Trail map & guides get wet, then folded, they get sticky. But I just accidently put one through the wash on a hot cycle with bleach, then ran it through the drier and ti came out undamaged. These map & guide combination documents are printed on weather/ tear resistant paper and it just went through some harsh conditions.
An Ohio traffic conditions website was linked to the Adventurer's Project's unpublished website. I hope that it will one day show if the trail in the community of Whipple is ever flooded out? It also links to various street web cams in Marietta of Washington County. Sometimes, the north of Ohio is under snow, while the south is clear. I'm hoping that it might convince a hiker that the conditions are better?
On the Whipple Section, we're waiting on the news of some easements. Other that that, it's internal business for now and I'm letting the powers that be take their time with it. As a result, the hikers and myself inherit that situation. We just have to sit back and let it do it's thing. It beyond our control at this point.
Speaking of laundry, I know that when the Buckeye Trail map & guides get wet, then folded, they get sticky. But I just accidently put one through the wash on a hot cycle with bleach, then ran it through the drier and ti came out undamaged. These map & guide combination documents are printed on weather/ tear resistant paper and it just went through some harsh conditions.
An Ohio traffic conditions website was linked to the Adventurer's Project's unpublished website. I hope that it will one day show if the trail in the community of Whipple is ever flooded out? It also links to various street web cams in Marietta of Washington County. Sometimes, the north of Ohio is under snow, while the south is clear. I'm hoping that it might convince a hiker that the conditions are better?
On the Whipple Section, we're waiting on the news of some easements. Other that that, it's internal business for now and I'm letting the powers that be take their time with it. As a result, the hikers and myself inherit that situation. We just have to sit back and let it do it's thing. It beyond our control at this point.
2018/01/02
Early Warning System
I've always been good at the BT's maps, it's fixed amenities and generally anticipating where multi-day hikers will be next? So, I've made a map based on an entry level thru hiker's abilities depicting where they'd most likely be 10 days out from the The Wilderness Loop in both directions. And since the Road Fork and Whipple Sections are both North Country Trail (NCT) concurrent, 10 days out had to be tracked on the Great Trail Sandy Beaver Chapter span of that trail when it's independent in NE Ohio.
For my North Country mock hike written simulation, one of the next steps is to devise some mile markers based on campsites, campgrounds, lodging, or the intersections to these. I had to get Great Trail Sandy Beaver's started for what I'm calling my "Early Warning System."
There are ways that I can track a thru hiker. One is that I can follow them on Facebook. Two is that if I get their cell numbers, we can text. Three is that they let me follow their location somehow. The Maps app (which is Google Maps) lets users do this. The early warning map is on Google Earth and is more of a quick reference.
If they're more powerful than entry level thru hikers, I can still anticipate their arrival, it's just done on the pattern of their daily progress instead. That would still give me some idea. This was done for Adventurer's Project and a chapter that may come of it.
For my North Country mock hike written simulation, one of the next steps is to devise some mile markers based on campsites, campgrounds, lodging, or the intersections to these. I had to get Great Trail Sandy Beaver's started for what I'm calling my "Early Warning System."
There are ways that I can track a thru hiker. One is that I can follow them on Facebook. Two is that if I get their cell numbers, we can text. Three is that they let me follow their location somehow. The Maps app (which is Google Maps) lets users do this. The early warning map is on Google Earth and is more of a quick reference.
If they're more powerful than entry level thru hikers, I can still anticipate their arrival, it's just done on the pattern of their daily progress instead. That would still give me some idea. This was done for Adventurer's Project and a chapter that may come of it.
2017/07/03
The Heat Is On
The heat in on the Whipple Section - Buckeye/ North Country Trail. The engine in my car is running like it should. Thru hiker Andrew P is approaching the three way Buckeye Trail intersection in Belle Valley of Noble County tomorrow. I still have a parking brake cable to install and I'd really like to pick him up and shuttle him to a campsite from about present day Road Fork Section, Pt. 06.
Between campsites, it's 19.9 miles from the one at Wolf Run SP to the camp shelter near present day RF 10. This is in SE Ohio. RF's roads are known to be the most strenuous on the circuit. Aside from being a Whipple Section Supervisor, I wear another "hat" and that is being a trail promoter and it's organizer in SE Ohio (these are separate). And getting a new private camp host NE of Caldwell of Noble County is on the list of things to do.
Between campsites, it's 19.9 miles from the one at Wolf Run SP to the camp shelter near present day RF 10. This is in SE Ohio. RF's roads are known to be the most strenuous on the circuit. Aside from being a Whipple Section Supervisor, I wear another "hat" and that is being a trail promoter and it's organizer in SE Ohio (these are separate). And getting a new private camp host NE of Caldwell of Noble County is on the list of things to do.
2017/06/11
WCHS Tour Along The BT/ NCTC
I just e-mailed the Washington County Historical Society requesting information on their WCHS Tour signs that I see every now and then. There's one on the Whipple Section - Buckeye Trail/ North Country Temporary Connector in Macksburg. The signs I've seen are few and very faded, which, to me, could suggest that there might be other sites along the trail?
It is possible that I could GPS all of their sites and produce a file to download. And I'd have to check my recording equipment, but I think I could make vocal mp3 files if there was a written guide to these sites. It could be available for download, or on CD. If they're downloaded, they could be used on a smartphone. Audio playback is no problem, in fact many of our automobiles can now use bluetooth to connect it to the stereo system.
But it gets a little tricky with a smartphone GPS. Google Maps, the stock navigation app on Android devices won't support this. The user would need to have an app that allows them to download off-line maps. I use "Locus" on mine. After the off-line maps and GPS waypoints are downloaded, they can be displayed together, but they probably won't have any turn by turn directions when they're out of signal? But a prescribed track, or route could work.
If in the event they'd need help (and we'd need help), then I already know that I'm one of very few people who can do this GPS mapping and make that track. So, it might have to be me?
It is possible that I could GPS all of their sites and produce a file to download. And I'd have to check my recording equipment, but I think I could make vocal mp3 files if there was a written guide to these sites. It could be available for download, or on CD. If they're downloaded, they could be used on a smartphone. Audio playback is no problem, in fact many of our automobiles can now use bluetooth to connect it to the stereo system.
But it gets a little tricky with a smartphone GPS. Google Maps, the stock navigation app on Android devices won't support this. The user would need to have an app that allows them to download off-line maps. I use "Locus" on mine. After the off-line maps and GPS waypoints are downloaded, they can be displayed together, but they probably won't have any turn by turn directions when they're out of signal? But a prescribed track, or route could work.
If in the event they'd need help (and we'd need help), then I already know that I'm one of very few people who can do this GPS mapping and make that track. So, it might have to be me?
2017/06/04
Whipple Maintenance 06/04/2017
Intersections between Whipple 01 - 04 were re-blazed, with the exception of Segment B and the remainder of C. My 2008 Chevy HHR LS has a manual transmission and a parking brake cable snapped. It has about 181k miles and 1st gear isn't holding on any sort of incline. So, I had lunch in Marietta and purchased wheel chalks from a nearby auto parts store. I went back to continue re-blazing when a tree that I needed had some ivy on it. I didn't bother to check if it was poison ivy, but I realized that I wasn't prepared for any today and it was more likely than not that I was going to encounter it down trail. So, I wrapped it up and called it a day there.
I missed the turn to finish Segment C and start D. The road to get into there is Bean Ridge and I think it was hidden on a curve on C9? Segment D is Whipple Section, Pt. 05 - 06 and the two points have to be approached on opposite ends because Brooks Rd/ T94 in Lawrence Township of Washington County is rough between them. I avoid that portion of road whenever I can.
I missed the turn to finish Segment C and start D. The road to get into there is Bean Ridge and I think it was hidden on a curve on C9? Segment D is Whipple Section, Pt. 05 - 06 and the two points have to be approached on opposite ends because Brooks Rd/ T94 in Lawrence Township of Washington County is rough between them. I avoid that portion of road whenever I can.
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