Offroading Break

The call of the off-road beckons as a siren from the south, so a short break with our ATVs is in order. Until next week enjoy a couple of posts of GEO-tography.

Jumbo and Lime Wilderness BLM Meetings

Never willing to leave well enough alone, the BLM wants to do a face-to-face with the offroaders around the Gold Butte area - and any who ever seek to go there.   [Previous post with wilderness map: Jumbo Wilderness-Pierson Gap.]

Ostensibly they want to hear your opinion about the two existing wilderness areas already on Gold Butte; however, we know all too well the agenda's and modus operandi of the Las Vegas office. They are actually mandated by law to hold "scoping" meetings, even though absolutely nothing (which can't be rationalized away) needs to be listened to or followed.

What must happen, however, is large numbers of off-road riders show up at: Bunkerville Community Center June 27, 2011 6 PM, Overton Community Center June 28, 2011 6 PM and Mesquite City Hall June 29, 2011 6 PM to demand answers to substantial questions in front of the press. And somebody should make certain that the local press attends.

Yea, I know that the two areas are ALREADY wilderness areas and that nothing short of a massive legislative recall and congressional Un-"wilderness-izing" the area can be done about it; but, these scoping meetings are the place to try and "entice" (or shame) the managing agency (in this case the BLM) into making implementation rules less prejudicial to the senior community and onerous to offroaders.

The backcountry rambler over at the "Save Gold Butte" blog thinks people should talk about "weed treatment for invasive species and developing interpretive information to educate the visiting public about the resources and history in the area." Those topics are, indeed, within the realms of the wilderness guidelines and I'm not saying they shouldn't be addressed. Although, I don't know which "visiting public" he has in mind – there is no visiting public… this is wilderness. Unless you count an infinitesimally small number of hikers.

However, the press will be there and, IMHO, at least someone should voice the intense disdain over the arrogance and incompetence of the implementers (read Harry Reid and his either incompetent or deceptive staff) who exhibited such obvious discrimination against the senior population which for years frequented the area.

What someone needs to demand is an answer why the boundary of the Jumbo Wilderness was drawn a matter of yards too far to the east to allow continued access to Cottonwood Canyon through the Pierson Gap trail! The final tiny section of the trail, runs almost parallel to the border between two very popular and still open riding areas, through rock and has been used for hundreds of years.

By precedent, a right-of-way for the existing historic trail should have been accounted for like has been done in countless other wilderness designations around the country. I'd also like to know what procedural or legislative method there is to re-align the border so as to provide multi-use through that minuscule portion of the existing trail. Or, in the interim, what alternative route can circumnavigate the closed portion.

Doing this in the off riding season, the time when there are least numbers of senior users in town to defend themselves, (which by the way is another question to demand an answer for) – what a deceptive, behind-the-back time to choose for your "scoping meeting" Ms. Marr – for shame!

Offroad: Mesquite - CCC Cabins

A bit stir-crazy from all the rain and snow, Gordon and I took our rigs up to Toquop Wash for the first time this season. There are many nice things to see up the wash, and several areas which are quite challanging; but, as rides go, much of is a bit nondescript so sort of falls down the priority list a bit.

Beginning up at the water-tank road trailhead, will take you to Toquop by a trip up and over Flat Top Mesa. You'll need to negotiate opening and closing heavy gates on an incline on both sides of the Mesa; so, unless the Mesa is an actual destination, most riders prefer a little easier access to the wash.

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GEO-tography: Spring

You know, if I don't soon post these photos that I've been saving about spring – it won't be spring any more. This year, we've got all the plants in but they haven't gotten out of their shock yet from all the snow and cold weather up here at summertime snowbird headquarters. By the time we take off our coats we will have missed spring entirely.

However, there must have been spring somewhere because look at all the examples of spring photography I have found. Our goal here is NOT so much become expert photographers BUT to get some ideas of how to make our own snapshots a bit more… let's say… "showable."

All of these, of course, are examples of what I call Geo-tograpy. They aren't always Geo-coded but are most always of our offroad Geo-graphy. As always, be a bit patient as they load because they are full photos. And if you've got some examples of spring geo-shots you'd like to share, post about them in the comments.

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Obama Utah Land Grab

I have received information from USA-All that Obama is planning a "LAND GRAB" in Utah and the west similar to what Clinton did in his last ditch "scorched earth" method just before exiting the office.

The offroad group wrote: "Utah's Congressmen Bishop and Chaffetz and Senators Hatch and Lee jointly submitted a bill intended to prevent President Obama from creating HUGE national monuments in Utah. Last year Congressman Bishop uncovered internal BLM documents that appeared to show the Obama administration was considering an attempt to create 14 national monuments across the west including in Utah. Utah is still reeling from the politically motivated creation of a 1.9 million acre monument in the Escalante Grand Staircase by President Clinton in 1996."

The public lands group has begun trying to convince the delegation to opt Utah out in a similar fashion to what Wyoming did in the 1950's. I'm not sure what that fully means but if it will prevent Obama from pulling the atrocity that Clinton pulled – Offroading Home is all for it.

Colorado Backroads: Offroad Trails Map Update

Actually, some time ago I spent what seemed like a year one month completely going through the Colorado Master Map and updating it to include the trails in the book "Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails" by Charles A. Wells and published by FunTrecks.

The book contains descriptions for trails through colorado's most scenic areas so I was excited to see how they traversed the actual globe. I quickly began experiencing difficulties almost around every corner. Wells sometime used, lets say, "alternate" road and area names – at least different than I could find in any of the databases.

I could see that the book had only sparse GPS coordinates but most of the time with even just a few you can follow Google Earth satellite images along the trails – not to be. Colorado is covered in snow much of the year and a canopy of green the rest of the time so trying to follow trails from the outer atmosphere is maddening.

So, even though it was updated months ago, and I decided to go ahead and publish what I could to the server; I, none-the-less realized people would need some explanation about the different format these trails required and planned a blog post. Which post, I'm sad to say, got delayed… until now.

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Offroad: Gold Butte - Devil's Cove, Horse Springs

The 2011 winter offroad riding season in southeastern Nevada, well at least the Mesquite area, has been an unusually - read frustratingly - wet time especially for all our ATVs held hostage under tarps and in garages. Don't get me wrong, we're happy for the all the citizen locals who are out dancing in the street for the dust-quenching moisture. Just sayin' …

Gordon and I braved the dark clouds in the morning, perhaps believing that: "if you go it will stop" or some such erudite sapience, and saddled up the CanAm and Yamaha to head for "The Butte." After all, one needs to ride it as often as one can before the Reid/Holecheck coalition closes it all off to seniors.

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NEW: Bryce Canyon Trail System

You know, with age, I find it increasingly difficult to do two things at once. I learned a term in my youth, back when things called computers were invented – it's called "time sharing." Afterwards, the womens movement claimed the prior discovery rights to the activity; they said it had been inherent in the gender to "multi-task" since the time of Eve.

I used to be able to do it like a whiz, you know: drive and read a map, listen on the phone and continue reading mail, dictate a letter and drive to work, walk and chew gum… I used to be able to juggle navigating an ATV over a single-track, watching a GPS trac, scanning for photo ops, listening to a CD and pointing out items of interest to companions all at one time. Well, I still can do the "gum" thing but it's difficult to both work on building trail maps and write blogs at the same time.

However, have I got a deal for you today! A rider from southern California named Randy began communicating with me several months ago about some rides he had taken up in Utah, around the Bryce Canyon area. Over the last three or four months, we've been communicating about the area and he has been able to send in three great GPS tracks for those of you who want to ride the area with your offroad machines.

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Salazar Backtracks On His Land Grab - For Now

Offroading Home has just received word Wednesday morning that Secretary Salazar will back off on his "Wild Land" grab … at least for now. The letter we received from USA-ALL is included after the jump.

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Life's A Musical - Only In New York

What do YOU know about New York? Have you visited? Have you lived there? I have! What do you think of when a friend tells you that they met someone from New York? A pleasant, happy go lucky individual who will go out of his way to help?

It's true that most consider New Yorkers as a bit stand-offish, and I can tell you that, for the most part, it's earned. After all, you don't hear the challange: "got a problem with that?" said very often anywhere else in the world – unless maybe France. But, there is Central Park, and Macy's and Gimbal's and about the highest concentration of difference-tolerant carbon-based organisms found anywhere in the galaxy!

I mean, there was a reason that the "Men In Black" story could only have its setting in New York – it's the only place in the world where the story would be believable! I mean, alien creatures living completely unnoticed amongst the population? Really… they were aliens not wizards like in England.

So, what would happen in, let's say, Salt Lake or Mesquite, if you were in a food court and literally everyone except you broke into a chorus of Handel's Messiah? Or, broke into an opera about passing them a napkin? … Would YOU simply fake it and join in so you weren't the only one left out?

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Godspeed Endeavour

Finally, after several delays, the spaceship Endeavour left the Cape Canaveral starting blocks for its final voyage to the International Space Station. Its 16 day journey to outfit the Space Station with the long awaited Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer began with a lunge toward the clouds upon the command of the Auto-sequencer which controlled the thousands of "double-checks" and switch-throws necessary during the last nine minutes before the sparks started flying.

The six lucky astronauts' families watched from the roof of the launch control center as the clouds swallowed the ship mere moments after the launch, leaving them stunned silent from the site. Congresswoman Gifford (the commander's wife) made her second trip to the cape from her rehab hospital stay in order to participate in the event and said "Good stuff… good stuff" as her husband flew toward the stars.

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Offroad: Gold Butte - Jumbo Creek Mine

It's plain to see why the "old-timers" decided to put in so much effort exploring around the Jumbo Creek Mine area. Quartz has always been known as a harbinger of precious metals because the same geologic forces which produce them produce quartz as well. And there's a lot of it, at least on one outcropping.

We've been there several times but we've never been able to find any thing left of the once "Jumbo Creek Mine" besides the white post in the middle of a quartz tailing's pile so attesting to its name. No mine entrance. No left over mine equipment. Nothing!   [A free Google Earth file of this route is available at: Offroading Home.]

In fact, there is no mention of it on either our GPS maps, our topo or other paper maps or even the official USGS "US Features" file which lists every registered landmark and geological feature in the CONUS. To make the enigma a bit more of a mystery, we stumbled across several BLM "mine-type" officials on our way down the Gold Butte Backcountry Byway who had come to The Butte to blow up some dangerous old mine entrances.

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The Wilderness of Gold Butte

For some time now I have had the BLMs map of their proposal for turning Gold Butte (and Bunkerville Flats) into a WILDERNESS AREA, glaring at me from the middle of my desk top, not knowing what else to do with it except look at it and shake my head in disgust.

Frankly, as a useable map for making an assessment leading to meaningful comment, it is completely worthless; there, I said it. It is nothing more than an enhanced clone of the map the Las Vegas BLM field office foisted on us when they went through and systematically closed close to fifty or so trail segments a couple of years ago. That map was completely worthless to the public, and so is this.

Absolutely NO geo-location marks! Absolutely no latitude or longitude markings! No road names. For the most part NO readable, meaningful labels! All this leaving even the most basic understanding of where things are, woefully complex and time consuming; beyond what most reasonable people are either able or willing to undertake. Then there's obsessive-compulsive me.

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Offroad: Mesquite - Noodling on North Flats

Probably one of the easiest ATV, SUV trailheads to get to in Mesquite is up the Mesquite Heights Road, most know it as the "road to the dump." There is quite a large staging area for the trailers of offroad vehicles just to the left before you arrive at the land-fill, a testament to its popularity and frequency of use.

Most of the use is from all forms of carry-alls of motorcycle's. The sandy wash banks and trails make for favored two-wheeled riding and we have never failed to see a group of cyclists whenever we have been there ourselves. This day was no exception, there were five in a "sleeper-van" who were spending the day offroad down from St. George. Actually, they were back at their trailer taking a "break" when we arrived.

It had been one of the ubiquitous rainy days this season and quite chilly; when, the sun coming out of the clouds triggered one of our genetic responses to "swim upstream" and get out in the air. Late in the day, there is really only one place to go offroad from Mesquite and that's North Flats.

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Google Earth: Present and Future Tense

All indications are that Google Earth is about due for another Richter 7.0 shake-up – at least if you can believe the scuttlebutt at "Where 2.0" last week. I wasn't there myself, but lurkers in the "blogosphere" sure are all a-buzz about it.

"Where" is the massive conference started by Google last year to showcase their product and draw "groupies" from all around the globe who want to learn about and show off and network their projects that they are developing – notably those that use Google Earth and Google Maps. Using their familiar nomenclature, this, the second "version," is 2.0.

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