Great Western Trail Tracks Wanted bits and pieces OK!!!!

[Buddy_Holly]

Originally Posted by HogWild

I sat down for an hour and hammered out Idaho. This track overlays perfectly with the lines on the GWT map HERE, and includes only roads, no hiking trails. Of course I haven't ridden it, so not 100% sure there are no locked gates. Several of the lines on that map can not be ridden, as they cross major rivers where there is no bridge, and sometimes go across mountains where there are no roads. I didn't include those.

THANKS MAN I will check this against what I have already done and see which makes the most sense.

BH

[Anciano]

Originally Posted by Buddy_Holly

CD

If I understand your question right you think that the route BigDog took was the GWT. If so I don't even think he ever said that. His route followed part of the GWT but didn't do the whole route as seen by maps provided by the GWT organization. The overall map provided by the GWT organization shows just areas of consideration for the GWT Canadian terminus, and routing through everything basically north of the northern border of wyoming. On that map the end of the GWT is in Montana probably 100 miles east of where BigDog ended up.

Did I misunderstand your question- or do I just have old information?

I think the problem is a similarity of names. "MEX2CAN" is Jerry Count's ride. The file name for Big Dog's ride is "MexCan2010". Easy to confuse names.

Wayne

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by Buddy_Holly

CD If I understand your question right you think that the route BigDog took was the GWT. Did I misunderstand your question- or do I just have old information?

My route is advertised in Mex2Can.com my web site.

Touratech rode it backwards a couple of years ago and called it Can2Mex, they have vidio available.

[Countdown]

I think I will be in Prescott on 10/1 and will then go to So Rim and continue north into Utah.

[HogWild]

Originally Posted by Countdown

I think I will be in Prescott on 10/1 and will then go to So Rim and continue north into Utah.

I'll be a bit North-West of there at that time, riding other stuff. Then a couple weeks later I'll be riding the GWT (per the tracks I made on GE) from Jacob Lake (North Rim) to about 50 miles North of there, then diverting to other destinations. North from Hwy 89 (just into Utah), there are initially 3 ways to go. I'll be doing the most Eastern through track of the ones I drew. Jerry, maybe you can try the middle track? The West track is pavement most of the way. The dead-end tracks I drew are not passable by any vehicle, though the GWT scanned maps show them going through, so maybe they are hiking trails?
http://www.gpsxchange.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3209

[Countdown]

After riding so rim, I will motorhome highway 89 Alt over Navajo Bridge to Buffalo Ranch road S of 89 Alt.

Then on bike what I think is your track from Benchmark SW then North crossing 89 Alt to Franks Res then back south on road just outside park back to 89 Alt.

Then moving to Hwy 89 east of Kanab, ride two options down to Franks Res and back.

Then Ride north to Deer Springs ranch again on your track and back down Johnson Cyn.

Then move to Hwy 12 at Bryce and ride south to Deer Springs ranch and back.

Are we doing the same thing?

[HogWild]

You're talking Greek, and I speak Google Earth. Remember, I never look at maps, so I don't know the names of places or landmarks unless they are cities or major highways. So I have no idea where most of those places you listed are. I'll email you the tracks I'm going to ride.

I did just now take some time dusting off a map, and here's a few comments:

- Frank's Res is on Crawdaddy's tracks, which in that area are not on the GWT based on my study of the the GWT scanned paper maps. The tracks I'm email you show a somewhat parallel track 5mi West which IS on GWT, and which I will be riding approximately 22 October. BTW, the Old Spanish Trail goes East/West right in that same area (according to DeLorme map)!

- Crawdaddy has tracks in the Buffalo Ranch Rd & North Rim area as well. Maybe that's what you're using in that area? If you're planning to ride dirt from Buffalo Ranch Rd UP the mountain to the forest area of the North Rim following tracks from Crawdaddy, you'll find that's a DOWN ONLY path ("Kane Trail"), i.e. too steep the last mile going down, no road at that short spot, and never travelled except maybe by horse and Crawdaddy. I'll be riding that general area too, but I've picked a path that mostly stays off the main roads, and will not be novice rider friendly. I know a lot more than I'm sharing but will keep a few secrets to myself.

[wbbnm]

Thanks for the info about the Kane trail. We started on a trip last Thursday and were planning to ride up that stretch. I could see from the topos that it was very steep and the "road" does not show on very many maps.

Anyway our trip got aborted due to a mud disaster outside Chinle AZ. We spent an unplanned night stuck on the mountain and had to be rescued by the Navajo police the next day. Three of us trashed our clutches trying to slog thru the mud.

Guess we will try again next year. I suspect we will go up the mountain on 89A and then head south on forest roads to pick up the GWT over to Jacob Lake like Crawdaddy's track.

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by wbbnm

Thanks for the info about the Kane trail. We started on a trip last Thursday and were planning to ride up that stretch. I could see from the topos that it was very steep and the "road" does not show on very many maps.

R & R and Topo show a route north of Kane. The Auto Club Indian Country map shows a route south of Kane. I am going there the first week in October and wil check them out. I have track posted on GPSXchange.com and will update after my trip.

[wbbnm]

I went back and compared our intended track to the CORE track. I looks the Kane trail is about 9 miles south of where we intended to go up the hill. Our planned road enters the forest at 36 41 45.5, 112 01 07.7. The road shows up on the Benchmark map and on Garmin Topo but not City Navigator.

I chose this road because it looked like the most logical path for the GWT based on the "GWT" symbols on the Benchmark map.

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by wbbnm

I went back and compared our intended track to the CORE track. I looks the Kane trail is about 9 miles south of where we intended to go up the hill. Our planned road enters the forest at 36 41 45.5, 112 01 07.7. The road shows up on the Benchmark map and on Garmin Topo but not City Navigator.

I chose this road because it looked like the most logical path for the GWT based on the "GWT" symbols on the Benchmark map.

Exactly what I thought but Crawford did go by what looked like some great views of the Grand Canyon on the north side.

See tracks I am looking at in the area.

[HogWild]

Originally Posted by wbbnm

Our planned road enters the forest at 36 41 45.5, 112 01 07.7.

That's the way as shown on this GWT map. But the road South of Kane Tr is the one that matches this GWT map. I guess I don't know which is most correct? The Southern road is a lot closer to the scenic view points Crawdaddy marked, but those points are a bit off that second GWT path.

[Countdown]

How do you get any resolution from these picturres? I can't see a thing.

[wbbnm]

Here is what we were going to try to do. I chose the southern road leading up the hill because it looked better defined on Google earth. It sure looks like a steep sucker when I look at it with my Delorme software.

I think the east route north of 89 would be interesting after about 9-10 miles. The only map that I have that shows a road there is the Benchmark map. I made my track by trial and error using Google Earth.

[HogWild]

Originally Posted by Countdown

How do you get any resolution from these picturres? I can't see a thing.

I overlay the GWT map picture onto Google Earth.

It takes 10 seconds to import it into GE as an overlay picture, and a minute or two more to stretch the picture and line it up so roads are in the correct place. Then I make the GWT map picture semi-transparent so I can see both the GWT picture map and the underlying GE satellite image at the same time. So, I can see exactly where the line drawn on the GWT map lines up with roads I see in GE. When I do that, those GWT lines line up moderaltely well with existing roads I can see in GE. Once I have that, I use GE to draw a "Path" along the underlying road. Then I convert that Path into a track in a GPX file. That's the process I used to draw all those GWT tracks I drew all the way through Utah.

In general when I do this, the GWT line is within a few hundred feet of a real road I can see in GE. Sometimes it's a bit offset to one side or the other, and they sometimes draw that line with smooth curves instead of the sharp intersections that really exist, but it's easy to see that and draw my Path more acurately than they draw it.

When I did this using the two GWT maps I linked to above, the two different GWT lines lined up pretty well with those two different roads. It's pretty amazing that it worked so well with that smaller low resolution image, but their black line was real close to the actual road, and has the same curve to it, even as it goes up towards Jacob Lake.