By consulting my records and several section map & guides from the Buckeye Trail Association, I have determined that based on the best information at hand, that the Sinking Spring Section, Points 12 - 15 (September 2013 map & guide) have the lengthiest off-road portion between public roads at 6.85 miles. This is in Pike and Highland Counties.
The lengthiest off portion on The Wilderness Loop between public roads is on the Stockport Section (January 2013 map & guide), between Points 01 - 03 at 5.23 miles. This in Noble and Morgan Counties.
I've always wanted to create a spread sheet, listing from most to least, the length that the Buckeye Trail is on a highway. OH-781 & OH-348 in combination on the Shawnee Section in Adams County come in at 3.6 miles. It's is an unusual highway length for the on-road trail. And in all my experience working with distance trails in Ohio, that's an unusual length. Shawnee Section is better known for it's off-road trail. But considering where this highway portion is, I can usually reverse engineer the reason and state that the area is so rural, and the routing of the local roads would add prohibitive mileage to the section and it's maintenance crew to the end that routing on the highway emerged as the best choice under the circumstances.
I'm not familiar with these highways, but I am with the area. By the map and judging what's around it, they're likely to be lightly traveled. I know OH-125 from the Portsmouth of Scioto County area to the Shawnee State Park is a breeze.
The longest portion of on-road highway routing on The Wilderness Loop is on OH-537 on the Road Fork Section in Monroe County at 1.6 miles long. There's probably more traffic here than there is on OH-781 & OH - 348. OH-537 here tends to curve.
The most dangerous highway on the BT is 0.7mi of US-23 on the Scioto Trail Section in Ross and Pike Counties. It's a 55MPH, 4 lane highway with a 3ft painted center median. From what I've seen, it's "crossable" most of the time. But sometimes, you could be playing "Frogger" with heavy aggressive traffic. It's not the kind of traffic that slows down. Instead, it's the 55MPH relentless heavy traffic.
Anything about heavy traffic on US-250 on the Norwalk Section in Huron County and crossing US-422 on the Burton Section in Geauga County has been obsolete since the Ohio Turnpike Commission raised it's speed limit from 65 to 70 MPH. Before, traffic was using those US Highways to avoid paying tolls. Now the new speed limit on the turnpike has effectively convinced those motorists that the faster time is worth it and it has thus calmed US-250 and US-422.
Before the increase, it worked like this... US-250 from the industrial City of Sandusky connected to US-30 in Wooster of Wayne County. Then US-30 travels east to the Pittsburgh area.
And US-422 connects with PA-28 in Kettering, Pennsylvania and it goes toward Pittsburgh.
Either way, it's 55 - 60MPH almost the whole way.
2016/04/24
2016/04/23
Log 2016042302
On the Belle Valley Section of the Buckeye/ North Country National Scenic Trail, the longest stretch of off-road surface between public roads is 3.27mi in Salt Fork SP between Points 05 - 06 on the March 2011 map & guide.
Log 2016042301
The off-road longest stretch of the Road Fork - Buckeye/ North Country National Scenic Trail without a road is between OH-260 & T410 at 2.7 miles. This area is between Points 26 - 28 of the section's July 2011 map & guide.
Log 2016042301
At 4.24mi, the longest portion of off-road trail between a public roads on the Whipple Section - Buckeye/ North Country National Scenic Trail is between Points 05 - 06 on it's October 2010 map. It's also the section's most advanced area.
I began a project today and I started with the Burton Section. Weeks ago, a question was posed on the Buckeye Trail Association's Facebook group asking "what is the longest stretch of off-road trail without encountering a road." At the time, my data wasn't set up to answer it and a few of us could only render guesses and speculation. Right now, this is not a good time for a project like this. But you know, sometimes you have to stop being immersed in what you want and become a team player. It's not all about me and I should do something for them.
It seems like it is an Appalachian Trail like question. And considering that the people that hike there are exactly what The Wilderness Loop is designed for. At this moment, Whipple's 4.24mi is a contender for the #1 spot. But I've heard that the off-road end of the Scioto Trail Section might be longer?
If not it isn't, it still might be #1 on The Wilderness Loop?
I began a project today and I started with the Burton Section. Weeks ago, a question was posed on the Buckeye Trail Association's Facebook group asking "what is the longest stretch of off-road trail without encountering a road." At the time, my data wasn't set up to answer it and a few of us could only render guesses and speculation. Right now, this is not a good time for a project like this. But you know, sometimes you have to stop being immersed in what you want and become a team player. It's not all about me and I should do something for them.
It seems like it is an Appalachian Trail like question. And considering that the people that hike there are exactly what The Wilderness Loop is designed for. At this moment, Whipple's 4.24mi is a contender for the #1 spot. But I've heard that the off-road end of the Scioto Trail Section might be longer?
If not it isn't, it still might be #1 on The Wilderness Loop?
2016/04/22
Log 2016042201
With a scanner, I haven't perfected the use of the Optical Character Reader (OCR). If I did, I could back-up my paper map and guides to a JPEG (.jpg) format image file. At that point, the OCR would detect the words on the page and I'd be able to select, highlight, copy, then paste them into the properties of various parts of the properties of my GPS data. That way when I uploaded it to my hand GPS, or smartphone, I'd have the text there instead. But for now, my Garmin eTrex 20 hand GPS won't read more than a line or so of the properties text. However, my smartphone's mapping app will read everything.
I just thought about it... since I haven't mastered the OCR, I could scan the image, then use Microsoft Paint to crop the text and save it to a new file. After the cropping is done, I could add them as an image overlay and position them in the right spots and my smartphone app should pick up on those. Personally, I would never distance hike without paper resources. So for me, it's just that when I'm mapping at home, sometimes I have to consult the paper map and guides and I'd rather not if I don't have to.
State park and forest maps often come in the Portable Document File (PDF) format. Well, the only thing that Google Earth will overlay is a JPEG (.jpg) image. When you want to overlay your PDF map, it needs to be converted. So far, I've been using the web converter at http://pdf2jpg.net. It's best that after you convert, that you open it into something like Microsoft Paint, crop that one document it into several smaller chunks. That will make it easier to reposition, rotate and re-size in Google Earth. Smaller images will allow you to focus on detail in a smaller area as you try to match the curves in the local roads. With some maps, that's futile. Seldom do I ever get them perfect. And maps from the Ohio Department of Natural Resource - Division of Parks are hopeless. But if they're in sync, or somewhat, you might be able to trace a track (by drawing a "path") that you could upload to a GPS enabled device in the event that the various downloading communities don't have a file for it. About ODNR - Parks, an overlay of their maps might be good for making placemarks/ waypoints for locations such as "disc golf" and "shower houses." That might be good for organizational prep if the park had to be scouted for opportunities in person.
State park and forest maps often come in the Portable Document File (PDF) format. Well, the only thing that Google Earth will overlay is a JPEG (.jpg) image. When you want to overlay your PDF map, it needs to be converted. So far, I've been using the web converter at http://pdf2jpg.net. It's best that after you convert, that you open it into something like Microsoft Paint, crop that one document it into several smaller chunks. That will make it easier to reposition, rotate and re-size in Google Earth. Smaller images will allow you to focus on detail in a smaller area as you try to match the curves in the local roads. With some maps, that's futile. Seldom do I ever get them perfect. And maps from the Ohio Department of Natural Resource - Division of Parks are hopeless. But if they're in sync, or somewhat, you might be able to trace a track (by drawing a "path") that you could upload to a GPS enabled device in the event that the various downloading communities don't have a file for it. About ODNR - Parks, an overlay of their maps might be good for making placemarks/ waypoints for locations such as "disc golf" and "shower houses." That might be good for organizational prep if the park had to be scouted for opportunities in person.
2016/04/21
Log 2016042101
Two days ago, I completed an inspection of the Whipple Section, Points 06 - 05. This is usually where the worst damage is and I'm beginning to believe that the winter really took it easy on us. Humorously, I'm also beginning to wonder if the BTA's Whipple Work Weekend, my crew and I did it too good last year?
Then I drove through some more of the section's public parking areas and either measured their lengths, or counted their capacities in full size quad cab trucks. I estimate that the section can park about 170 vehicles. That's a necessary to know because I believe that The Wilderness Loop needs an event. And I did my counts by parking area, so it could be broken down locally. My data only includes public parking and right of ways that I know the width of, generally at the off-road trail, or along the on-road.
Then I drove through some more of the section's public parking areas and either measured their lengths, or counted their capacities in full size quad cab trucks. I estimate that the section can park about 170 vehicles. That's a necessary to know because I believe that The Wilderness Loop needs an event. And I did my counts by parking area, so it could be broken down locally. My data only includes public parking and right of ways that I know the width of, generally at the off-road trail, or along the on-road.
2016/04/17
Log 2016041701
I geotagged 4 fords on Tittle Run Rd/ T43 in Independence Township of Washington County. The road was a little rough on my Chevy HHR. But on my way to check the name of a location that's in the Whipple Section's guide, I noticed a car that was parked near the pond at County Road 9 and Archer's Fork Road/ C14. It was nice to know that somebody was hiking the section today. And they weren't parked on the hill, but in a spot next to the road on federal property. That might mean that they've read my Personal Section Supervisor's Page, which details public parking parking like that. Then again, it could just be a coincidence? All in all, I clocked in about 4 volunteer hours today.
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