4-10-08 night patrol

[TeamCF]

Decided to go out for some nocturnal wheeling.

As it was dark the pics are not so great.

But I included a screen shot of the route my GPS recorded.

1. View point that looks out to the west.

2. Gravel pit to play in. It was featured in my last wheeling post with Chazmataz and Scoobyclimbs.

3. Entrance to a short Jeep trail. Well it's proly long but there is a spot that needs a spotter so I use a well placed loop to turn around at that spot. Fun trail though, steep, muddy, tight and twisty, with rocks and stumps that want to hang out with axles. My favorite kind of trail.

4. Gate. sometimes open, sometimes closed (semi active logging area). It was open but I've been in there before and would rather hit it in the day for more exploring. It's like a maze.

5. Headed up the old way towards Goat. This point is where the snow gets crappy around 2,700 ft.

6. Fun gravel pit, muddy trails. Had to go hit it up on the way back down and home.

 

Can't wait till it thaws and I can connect those two ends together.

[backwoodsboy]

Wow!

 

Night wheeling. Youre a braver soul than I am. I always shoot for the main trail about 1/2 hour before sunset.

[TeamCF]

Wow!

 

Night wheeling. Youre a braver soul than I am. I always shoot for the main trail about 1/2 hour before sunset.

 

It seems sometimes half the time I can't even get my wheeling started 'till after sunset these days. So I make the best of it. Plus it's an excuse to use the overheads.

Always have a few people with maps that have the general area I'm gonna hit circled, so they can come looking in the morning.

I keep night wheeling to trails I've been down a bajillion times. Old trails are always still interesting in the dark.

And I always carry enough stuff to survive out there a few days if I need to.

 

Still I don't know if it's braver...or a little crazier.

I just sometimes like breaking the golden rule of never wheeling alone. At night. It's relaxing to me I guess.

[chazmataz]

nice mapping. i never thought about doing that.

 

unless you wanted to go alone you should have called, i usually have thursdays off so i could have started earlier.

[TeamCF]

nice mapping. i never thought about doing that.

 

unless you wanted to go alone you should have called, i usually have thursdays off so i could have started earlier.

 

 

I'll have to remember to call if I got out on thursdays.

 

Yeah I had gotten a Magellan Triton 500 as a gift. It has National Geographic USGS TOPO maps of this area in it.

Only problem is they are riddled with problems and mine gave up on me this past weekend (after mapping out TSF, which is frozen in the GPS now. :-\ ). Might have to return it and get a nice reliable Garmin Vista

[scoobyclimbs]

Kewl man...I love night wheelin...I could always light a few tea lights...

I have no problem wheelin alone or @ night....as long as I'm prepared for it....I usually stick to known trails as well.

 

As far as GPS I'm not a fan:dead: ...old school...map/rear view mirror compass(some new school)

[TeamCF]

Kewl man...I love night wheelin...I could always light a few tea lights...

I have no problem wheelin alone or @ night....as long as I'm prepared for it....I usually stick to known trails as well.

 

As far as GPS I'm not a fan:dead: ...old school...map/rear view mirror compass(some new school)

 

I don't rely on the GPS (Triton 500 quit on me at TSF, new model lots of bugs, warranty time, might just return it for a good old Garmin Vista)

But it is nice to kind of "make your own maps". Seems half the forest maps I see are out of date. Especially around Goat. So it keeps track of where I go, I can add points of interest to it and such and I just load it all into my puter at home and print my own maps, they even have waterproof paper for them. And I was sure to get one that takes regular batteries so I can carry a new pack of them just in case. GPS is bunk if the batteries are dead.

 

Still keep my maps and olde fashioned style compass in the car too.