Log 2015112901

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.