YZMAN400

Member
Dec 2, 2003
2,491
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I was just sitting here waiting for my lunch to arrive and this hit me.

For those of us that do the trail work and trail marking (I'm part of that group too).

Riding the Grand Traverse loop this week I saw several things that I liked out there.

One was the #'s on the trail connector interesctions. On trails like the Grand Travers were there are several loops and lots of cuttoffs, everywere a trail makes a Y there was a # on the post. And there was a map there that show's you were you are at. While this map on the post is not entirely necessary as long as you are carrying a map with you (and hard to keep on the post ie vandals) it is nice to see.

Another thing that I likes was on some of the trail #'s signs it had milege's listed to the next #. I saw one that said like 2.5 miles to staging on sign #2. That was very helpfull as it was getting really dark out there.

Another thing that I seen on a bycicle trail that I really liked, is that in places were the trail crosses the road, there is a street name written on the 4x4 stop sign post. This is really nice to know so you can place yourself on the map. Those dirt roads/forrest roads usualy dont have too many road signs on them were the trails cross.

Then the next thing would be to get the trail #'s on the map books. I know it was a huge undertaking for Jerramy to make the current map book. It looks great. Its a huge improvement over the old one. But maybe this is just something that can be added to the to do list for the future. I am sure that there is lots of things that are already on the list for the next printing.

So these are just a few ideas I just had floating around in my head for what they are worth.
 

ellandoh

dismount art student
~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Aug 29, 2004
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let me know which trails you mark cause those will be the ones i ride from now on.

leota trail had me in a perpetual loop once from 300 pm til i was out of gas, getting dark and starting to rain simultaneously. i ran completely dry 30 yards from a post with the ## on it and the map with ##

I couldnt figure out where i was on my map, the streets had no names........i did ride to the corners when i come across one(illegal) but was no help. finally a local threw my bike in his truck , gave me a lift to town, where i used the phone and had the rest of my party come get me. they were on a break from the search party as i was only on a little spin around the block.....ALONE.
 

woodsracer369

~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Dec 3, 2004
322
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Street names on the posts is a great idea, I may just bring a permanent marker with me while riding and label a few myself. Intersection #'s get confusing to me, but some people would say I am lost most of the time anyway.
 

Smit-Dog

Mi. Trail Riders
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Oct 28, 2001
4,704
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The latest mapbook was a really nice improvement, but the ultimate is to carry a GPS and get the GPS trails CD that Jeramey created.

I carried a GPS for a trail ride with my son around the Rose City area, and even with a less-than-perfect hardcopy map, the information from the GPS was invaluable. We would have surely taken a number of wrong/unknown turns without the GPS.

I don't know when the GPS Trails CD will be publicly available, but contact Bill Chapin of the CCC (cccbill@dmci.net) to get on the notification list. I am eagerly awaiting its release!
 

2TrakR

~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Jan 1, 2002
794
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All good ones. Another cool one is to number the stop signs sequentially. While you may not know which direction is fastest to the trail head, you know if you are making progress. Yager has done that on a few of his trails.

As for adding those numbers to the maps, very very easy IF I have waypoints. A guy just needs to ride the trail & set a waypoint for each item, naming the waypoint for the appropriate #. Easy to take that and put it on the maps.

GPS is a better way, no question then. We've done some of the road names on signs in Geels. Some at Gladwin too, but those signs only last for a month or so and then they get ripped off.
 

MWEISSEN

Whaasssup?
Mi. Trail Riders
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 6, 1999
2,233
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It's too bad people are so ignorant and rip off the street signs. A permanent marker or spray paint with a stencil on the post would be better. If someone does it, just make sure the street name is the correct one!

The street signs are not only good to keep from getting lost, they're a big benefit it you're trying to get rescue services to someone that's injured on the trail.

A GPS is a great tool, but you need open areas to get the satellites. At least I do on my older Garmin III+. Are new ones better at picking up satellites through the trees?
 

YZMAN400

Member
Dec 2, 2003
2,491
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2TrakR said:
All good ones. Another cool one is to number the stop signs sequentially. While you may not know which direction is fastest to the trail head, you know if you are making progress. Yager has done that on a few of his trails.

As for adding those numbers to the maps, very very easy IF I have waypoints. A guy just needs to ride the trail & set a waypoint for each item, naming the waypoint for the appropriate #. Easy to take that and put it on the maps.

GPS is a better way, no question then. We've done some of the road names on signs in Geels. Some at Gladwin too, but those signs only last for a month or so and then they get ripped off.

Ill see what I can do about getting the Drummond trail # waypoints for you. I know Joe has most of them. And the ones that he dosn't have I will try to get on my next trip out there.

Do you need the Ceder Creek staging area location. I seem to remember that it was missing from the map.

I also heard someone mention that the scale on the Drummond map was wrong. I am not sure if that is correct or not. Just bringing up what I have heard.
 

2TrakR

~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Jan 1, 2002
794
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YZMAN400 said:
Do you need the Ceder Creek staging area location. I seem to remember that it was missing from the map.

Nope, I have it. It was on the first couple of map runs and somehow got bumped on the finals. It'll be on the next round.
 

xsnrg

Member
Jul 20, 2004
728
0
My favorite place in NC is Brushy Mountain Motorsports because:
1- The trails run in one direction (so you can go faster without worry of oncoming traffic...i.e. ATVs)
2- The trails have small arrow signs showing you where the trail is going next, similar to the big yellow arrow signs on highways...so you can go faster.
3- lots of number markers telling you what trail you are on
4- signs at some of the major intersections telling you which way back to the parking lot.

One thing I wish that the Hatfield McCoy would do is offer a GPS download of the waypoints of all the intersections, or even better, a trailmap that you could download to the GPS.
 

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