Scott Expedition: One Month To Blast-Off

I've written about this before when they were in their "shake-down" treck across the snowy wastes of Iceland; but, believe it or not Ben and Tarka are but a mere four weeks away from their "real" expedition in Antarctica.

Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere (extreme cold expeditioners both) are, along with their team, undertaking to "finish" Captain Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated foot-treck to the South Pole during this Antarctic winter.

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Colorado Backroads & 4WD Trails: Winter Park

This post is the third one I've written to introduce the new map we've digitized from the book: Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails, Vol. 2by Charles A. Wells.

It's a sequel to his first trail book about Colorado, called by the same name; except this one is volume 2 and covers the more northerly portion of the state. Wells has divided the trails in his book into five areas and this post is about area three – the area which includes Winter Park.

As we've mentioned, the book has absolutely NO reference to the geologic coordinates required of today's trail guides.

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Colorado Backroads & 4WD Trails: Grand Lake

This is the second in the series of posts about the new map we've digitized from a new book we've come across: Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails, Vol. 2by Charles A. Wells. And by "we" I mean I.

The book is a sequel of sorts to his initial "volume 1" which covered the more southern portion of the state and overlaps to a certain extent the trails already contained in our previous map: Colorado Trails. And fortunately a number of the trails we've already digitized are in the same area so connect to a certain extent.

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Colorado Backroads & 4WD Trails: Fort Collins

I've been spending much of my summer free time trying to digitize a new offroad book (well at least new to me) which I've just gotten access to: Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails, Vol. 2by Charles A. Wells.

You remember the guy. He wrote his "Volume 1" several years ago and, in frustration, I digitized it - much to the chagrin of my poor 'ol balding head. After the excruciatingly difficult experience I swore I'd not do another book with so little coordinate information to go on – well… here we are.

That's the issue after all isn't it? To supply better geo-coordinates for those who don't have it.

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Offroad: Lower North Valley & Seeps ATV Trail

To the south of Mesquite Nevada, in fact to the south of Bunkerville, is a large, flat, sandy bajada known as Bunkerville Flats. It is divided into east and west portions by the substantial Nickel Creek Ravine and is the unassuming portal to a "magical" valley – which is where we are going to ride today.

North Valley! Ahhh, dad and I have fond memories the first time we "explored" it – only about six years ago now. We were snowbirding "in the warm" (Mesquite that year) and had my ATVs with us. Simple, little, meek things that enabled us "old codgers" to get out from under-foot and see the world.

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Interstate Exits: New Mexico KML File

This is the eleventh and final map in the series about Interstate Exits in the western U.S. – whew!

New Mexico is by no means the least of the western states, but it is one with the fewest submitted offroad trail maps. I've never had the pleasure to ride in the state, nor have we had many submitters from there. A trend we'd like to change.

This is one of the "four corner" western states with Colorado, Utah and Arizona. It's a state where humans are outnumbered by… well… pretty much EVERYTHING! With only 12 people per square mile it's hard not to be.

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Interstate Exits: California KML File

It's finally here! I've been putting off doing the Google Earth (GE) KML for California interstate exits because of its size; but, I guess there's no stalling any longer. Somebody's gotta do it and I guess I'm the one.

This is the tenth such file I've created for the interstates in the west so you would think it would'a been easy, but it wasn't. Well, not so's ya'd know it much.

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Interstate Exits: Montana KML File

Montana! Big Sky Country! Yellowstone! The ninth in the series of Google Earth (GE) KML maps I'm making to snazzy up the labels on the interstates in the western part of the country.

Now that I can open this map up in background of GE, I can tell where I'm at when a trail book advises "turn south at exit 27" as they all are want to do these days.

It's been no small feat but this is the ninth in the series of such files and leaves only California and New Mexico left to do.

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Interstate Exits: Arizona KML File

We're on the home stretch of our journey through the interstate exits of the western states. As you can't possibly not know, I've been laboring through making Google Earth (GE) KML files in order to make up for the program's lack of labels.

It's been a thorn under my blanket for years that when nearly all the trail books I've read tell me to "turn left off interstate exit 253" I have absolutely no way of following along on Google Earth – cause there are no labels! Frankly, often when I zoom in to be able to even see some of the back-country roads, I have absolutely no clue where on the globe I've got to.

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Tony Hillerman Quote on the Sierra Club

I think that if you have even casually read the Offroading Home blog you realize our interest in pretty much all things Native American midst our intense interest in providing free offroad trail maps.

Tony Hillerman is a world renowned Native American historian, author, conservationist and advocate of the land who has written upwards of thirty books, always informing and entertaining.

He not only understands and appreciates the land and landscapes but he probably is one of the most skilled observers of people, their needs, habits and motives of any author alive today.

Here is his take on the Sierra Club and people like them.

"I must say that some people look on me as, at best, a mixed blessing. Especially guys like Dan Murphy. The people who really love the landscape. They love it because it's empty. And it stays empty only if people stay away from it – and nobody's there but them, right?

Sorta the same as - I sometimes think it's the same attitude that causes a lot of people to support the Sierra Club. I mean, they love the country. And they love it better if the hoi polloi [Ed. - ignorant masses, common people uncultured and apt to act stupidly] is not there – the barber and the working man, you know, and it's left for the culturally elite who really appreciate it… right?

So they don't have to mingle when they get there with somebody who went to a state supported teachers college, you know strictly ivy leaguers."
Tony Hillerman

Pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

Interstate Exits: Colorado KML File

This is the seventh of our maps of the U.S. interstate exits and puts us well on our way to completing all the western states, which is our goal. Here is the Google Earth KML map for Colorado.

Eventually, we'll be able to load these files in the background and make up for the fact that Google Earth doesn't handle interstate exit labels very well - in fact not at all.

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Interstate Exits: Idaho KML File

The sixth, and nowhere near the end, of our posting about maps for the interstate exits of the western U.S. states – this one for Idaho.

These, of course, are Google Earth maps, of the .kml file type, which can be loaded in the background whenever you are trying to find locations in the state. This because GE really doesn't handle the area navigational labels at all well. The National Geographic and other advertising placemarks it inflicts on us all too well, but the road labels leave a lot to be desired.

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Interstate Exits: Nevada KML File

This is the fifth in our series of Google Earth (GE) files containing all the interstate exits located within the western states is for Nevada, one of my home stomping grounds.

After serendipitously stumbling upon the data which I've been searching for the past several years, I decided to digitize them for others to use; because, as you know, good old GE doesn't have them in its repertoire.

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Interstate Exits: Oregon KML File

The fourth installment in what seems like is turning out to be almost a life's work. I'm trying to make up for Google Earth's (in fact the entire internet's) lack of publicly accessible geo-coordinates for the exit locations along the interstate system.

It's a maddening exercise trying to follow along one of the trail books which gives directions in terms of freeway exit numbers - cause Google Earth has no such labels. Then try and "Google" it - you do get one or two worthwhile hits but they all want you to join their society or download sophisticated software (for a fee) or merely display the numbers on a proprietary, protected PDF file.

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Interstate Exits: Utah KML File

This is the third in a series of KML, Google Earth, files I am preparing for Offroading Home concerning the Interstate Road system, its exits and the lack of labels for them on digital maps.

When the DOT didn't respond to my several requests to make their Geo-data available in a user-friendly form, I kept seeking for other sources. I did find some and have begun the painstaking process of coding them into the .kml file type structure which can be used in Google Earth. This one joins the group with coverage of Utah.

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