Sunday, December 29, 2013

GEO-tography: Shillouettes

It's time once again for a jealous look at what can be done with a camera on the off-road, IF the operator just has a tiny bit of skill and knowledge.

I've taken a fair number of these kinds of photographs, I must confess, not all of them intentional - well, very few of them intentional - ok, almost none of them intentional.

What I enjoyed about putting together this group of GEO-tography was realizing that for once, I already knew the technique of HOW to do it; IF only I had the eye to make it look good in the end. [I must confess, Photoshop helps me a lot.]

Monday, December 23, 2013

Scott Expedition: South Pole By Boxing Day

The intrepid "explorers" Ben and Tarka are nearing the South Pole which marks the half-way point of their expedition. Let me tell you, from reading their almost daily blogs, it's been no small ordeal.   [Offroading Home has developed an extensive Google Earth Resource File which brings all the meaningful resources together in one place and it's available free: Google Earth Trail FileScott Expedition: Antarctica]

The two decided to follow in the footsteps of the ill-fated Scott Expedition and try for an unsupported, self-propelled trip from McMurdo Bay to the South Pole and return. Unsupported, in this case, means that nobody runs out and gives them hot chocolate as they lumber by pulling their sledges full of camping gear and satellite electronics.

That doesn't mean that they don't have a support team, because they do, they just aren't on the same continent.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Colorado Backroads & 4WD Trails: Grand Junction - Winching

This is the fifth and final post in the series about the new map we've digitized from a book we've come across: Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails, Vol. 2by Charles A. Wells.

You remember, the absolutely prolific offroading author who feels it a badge of honor to have never used any of "those new-fangled GPS gadgets." His books are a dichotomy of usefulness. On the one hand they bulge with useful "color" and information about every area he talks about; but, on the other, much of the time you can't find what he talks about on any map or globe.

None-the-less, I've (for reasons which escape me now) undertaken the task of hand-digitizing his descriptions into Google Earth map files - twice. And both of them are available for free (see below).

Monday, December 2, 2013

Scott Expedition: Resource Map Update

For those of you following along with us on the "Scott Expedition," Ben and Tarka are now on the Beardmore Glacier after 38 days slogging through the Antarctic weather on the Ross Ice Sheet.

Until now the only topography they've encountered has been what the sheet of frozen water has afforded them but now they've got the land mass to deal with. Fortunately for us, we've got Google Earth and the many modern-day resources available which allow us to join their endeavor from our cozy armchairs.

Offroading Home has developed an extensive Google Earth Resource File which brings all the meaningful resources together in one place and it's available free: Google Earth Trail FileScott Expedition: Antarctica

Today we've updated it extensively and we should probably describe the new features: