Free Topographic Maps - Addition to Offroading Home Files

I mentioned it in the last webcast, but for those who haven't seen it yet you need to know about a new addition to all the master maps found over on the Offroading Home web site - FREE TOPO MAPS.

Trundle on over to the web site and select any of the master maps. You will notice that a new file for download has been added to all of the states indexes: "Find A … TOPO map."

If you download and open it in Google Earth you will see that the whole state is laid out in it's USGS 1:24,000 TOPO Quads and you simply choose one to download. That's it.

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Doing GPS: 103 - "From the Moon to the Earth"

It's been quite awhile since the last episode of my screencast series "Doing Google Earth" so here is another piece of the puzzle.

I do have to apologize in advance for the length - there has been so much happen since last I "casted" that it was hard to fit it all in. But, even if you have to stop and take a potty break it may explain a lot that you were wondering about.

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Deceitful Dirt

Who would have thought that an eighteen inch wide piece of dirt could be so ornery and downright deceitful, even if it was 45 feet long!

It began several years ago when the neighbor poured cement next to the fence and it oozed under. Tired of looking at the eye-sore, dad decided to simply put a length of "pressure treated" along it and plant something.

The good news was that the edging went in alright, the bad news was - that's where the sprinklers had been placed. We dutifully dug them up and re-routed them to the front of the boards.

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Map Update: California Trails - South Coast

Like a cave dwelling recluse I've been pouring through California ATV maps and programming code trying to catch up with some of the things I've been putting off for months. [For a free Google Earth file of this state see: California Trails]

There were so many trails in the California areas that I sorta just "worried about the trails" and nothing else in order to get them posted. Now I've been going back and completing all the descriptions and organizing waypoints.

The California Trails: South Coast Region looks really good now with lots of descriptions and a few more hand drawn spur trails that I missed the first time around.

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New Look for an Old Site

Although I kinda liked the look of the "Offroading Home" web site, it's hard to ignore the nagging forever. I've been told that the pages looked sorta… spartan, and needed a bit more… oomph. Enter graphics and color and animation.

Most of you know, I just dabble at web programming. So, for me, it's been a bit daunting but an opportunity to learn something new.

And, it didn't turn out too bad. See the new look for yourself — Offroading Home (version 2). Lots more color and a bit more "offroadsey" look. Whadaya think? Please leave a comment.

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Map Update: California Trails - Desert Region

Quite some time ago I ran across quite a few California offroad tracks on the web. They were in a format which was completely new to me and I sort of got hung up on trying to understand and convert the trails to something usable in Google Earth. [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Offroading Home: California Trails]

I succeeded, then found that there were other GPS tracks available for Utah, Colorado and Arizona as well. I was able to convert them to .kml format much more easily and thus was born some of the offroad trail maps which I was able to make available. Of course, much has been added since then.

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New Trail Map: Utah's Paiute ATV Trail System

After I developed the Utah Arapeen Trail System Map people began requesting that the Paiute Trail System get equal time. With all the updates recently I'm starting to feel a bit "time shared"; but, here it is — at least the beginnings. [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Utah Paiute ATV Trail System]

I have to tell you that this effort has been quite an experience, and it isn't over yet. Unlike the Utah Arapeen ATV Trail, this trail is a bit massive — and quite disjointed (as far as obtaining and plotting maps are concerned.)

The internet-available map is NOT anywhere as accurate as the one I found for Arapeen and there are quite a few trail/number variations/differences between them.

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Map Update: Colorado - Front Range Region

A new book "Colorado Trails Front Range Region: Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails"
has been published by Peter and Angela over at Adler Publishing (who have apparently moved from California to Colorado).

Therefore I felt it was time to "upgrade" the Colorado Offroading Maps a bit. I have added all the book's "Trailheads" to the map and will be adding tracks as I can obtain them. Additionally, I have had a couple of trail submissions in the area so there was even more data to add. [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Colorado Offroad Trails]

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New Trail Map: Utah Arapeen Trail System

A few weeks back I announced that we had split our Nevada ATV rides into several separate maps. The Mesquite-Bunkerville and Gold Butte trails have been given their own files.

Well, the addition of the Arapeen Trail System has made the Utah Trails file so large that it just begged to be split — so I did. [For a free Google Earth file of this offroad route see: Utah Arapeen Trail System]

In a previous post I whined a bit that it had been quite difficult to produce the Google Earth maps of this offroad trail system. The available maps, some even produced by the USFS, were not accurate or detailed enough to produce a .kml file.

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Utah - On the Moon: New Google Earth Map

Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin has announced, along with Google, that there has been new map content released for Google Earth to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the U.S. moon landing.

As many of you (who "lived through" the last "upgrade" of Google Earth when it completely broke all of our maps) can imagine, the first thing I did was to try it out. It works great… and it does NOT break our maps.

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Grandpa's Arapeen Offroad Trail System

Without knowing it I was one of the early visitors to the Utah Arapeen Offroad Trail System when I stayed during the summer with my grandparents - before either it or ATV's were even "invented." [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Arapeen Trail System]

Grandpa Allred, it turns out, also without realizing it, constructed and improved most of the roads for the trails during his years working for the USFS on the Manti-La Sal forest.

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Entertainment: Hale Centre Theater "Hello Dolly"

After the marginally directed and acted play "Treasure Island," the Hale Center Theater has done a lot to redeem itself in the production of Hello Dolly - a true "classic" based upon Thorton Wilder's book "the Matchmaker."

The T/Th/S cast was superb, to a tee. I heard "Barbara Streisand" a couple of times when Dolly Levi went on in her rapid fire way; but, not when she sang her numbers - I didn't want to, Jennifer Hohl was doing just fine, thank you very much.

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New Mesquite Offroad Trails Map

For some time I have been worrying about combining all the trails we have ridden our ATVs in the winter snowbird headquarters area into one composite map. I finally bit the bullet and just spent the time to do it — and here it is: Mesquite-Bunkerville Riding Trails

It must be said, that these are the "verified" trails in the area, not those on the ubiquitous "old time" or "marketing" maps handed out. No frills, no descriptions, no markers (except area labels), just a plain ordinary map of where you can take your bike all in a GoogleEarth .kml file.

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New Google Earth Map - "Nevada Trails"

It's finally done! After nearly 8 months of Google Gazing (Earth that is, GE) and programming, I've finally published the updated Nevada Trails GE Map over on the official web site, offroading.home.att.net.

That is, the "Western Region" with actual route maps, descriptions and waypoints for over 30 SUV/ATV trails East of about Reno, South of I-15 and North of US-6. There are maps to Ghost Towns, Mining districts, abandoned and active mines, canyons, back-country camping and plenty of scenery.

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Doing GPS: 102 - "Making a Map"

For over 8 months I've been working on a "Master File" for Nevada. The Western Region is nearly complete with tracks and waypoints for a lot of ATV trails to abandoned mines, canyons, mountain hideaways and great rides. I'll let you know when it's posted and ready for download. [ed note: it's already here]

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Samuel Clemmens (Mark Twain)

It has taken so long because of the number of trails and because I've needed to correct many erroneous waypoints which were published in the book. You can't fault them too much because, as you know, GPS units are greatly affected by mountains and other obstructions.

You get back home after a ride and find that all the nifty petroglyphs you so carefully marked are scattered all over three states due to the GPS loosing its bearings down in the canyon — bummer.

Today, as I was coding the very last trail, I realized that it was the shortest of the bunch — only two points; and that it would make a great piece to use for a video tutorial.

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