Is there a database of NW overland destinations that anyone knows about? I’m thinking something that can be referenced when someone is looking for something new to experience.
If not, I’m willing try to get something together, I can post a KML file that people can open in Google Earth.
I’d like to use the “Mitchell Scale” https://trackandtrailpublications.com/the-mitchell-scale/ as it seems to me to break out the difficulty well in meaningful ways.
If you know of good destinations (views, lakes, dispersed campsites, fire lookouts, etc.) please share the location, what is there, and your evaluation of the trail to get there. If there is interest, I can try to get a form setup to submit the details and host a link to keep the file updated.
My vision was more the destinations than the routes. Half the fun for me is discovering the route for myself, but it would be nice to know that I can get there, and what I have to look forward to when I get there. I would be more likely to get out with a target than if I randomly pick somewhere (which can be fun too, but more "risk").
I figured tracks would mostly be for things like the WABDR where it is not really a point type destination, but the trail itself.
In addition, like Jesse brought up, I hear things "Douglas Creek" and see what looks like some cool pieces of trail, but that does not give me enough information to determine if it is an appropriate trail for me or where I should aim to go among the roads in the area.
Aaron -
Yeah I have the WABDR info I just figured I'd throw it on the list to include if someone is wanting to go through the trouble of putting all the info into one handy spot.
That'd be awesome if I could get the tracks for the rally runs, thanks! jesse.overlin@gmail.com
I'm personally not so much hung up on the GPS part (I'm really into green trails maps and the Delorme atlas), most of the time I see something about an interesting looking area and try to find it on a map and just see a maze of forest roads, and not sure what the 'route' would be. I'm totally willing to explore but sometimes crunched for time and/or worried about getting into a hairy spot or gate that could have just been avoided if I knew the general gist of the route. Know what I mean?
Even something as simple as "X Area - Typical Route - Take road A to road B to road C, and there's cool stuff along the way like X, Y, and Z"
Maybe we can start something like that in parallel? I could even start the formatting, just wouldn't have the actual info :)
Jesse,
WABDR tracks are available on Touratech's website. If you'd like, I can email you tracks for the rally runs.
That said, part of the fun of this whole thing is just picking a point on a map and going there. Or driving along and seeing what's up this road or that road. I guess I would encourage you all not to get so hung up in GPS tracks that you miss out on the road less (un?) traveled!
L.T. Murray Wildlife Area
Colockum Wildlife Area
Wenas Wildlife Area
Oak Creek Wildlife Area
Quilomene wildlife unit
Whiskey Dick wildlife unit
Ahtanum State Forest Naneum Ridge State Forest
Maps for areas above ( i am working on putting together GPS tracks for them but someone else might have them already)
https://wdfw.wa.gov/lands/wildlife_areas/green_dot/
Maps for trails off Manastash and Liberty areas
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5317428.pdf
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5317431.pdf
Other bdr:
IDBDR
ORBDR
I actually don't have the relevant info to upload but it seems like it might be good to start with this list, if anyone can contribute:
Manastash Ridge
Ruby Creek
Chumstick
Sugarloaf
Douglas Creek
Hole in the Rock
WABDR 1/2/3/4/5
or any other favorites I'm missing!
So I took a stab at this, is there interest in feeding me more data?
Here is a link to the KMZ file (open in google Earth). It only has two destinations at the moment.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulbh5n3wl235nyn/NWOL%20Database.kmz?dl=0
And here is a link to a form where more points can be submitted to me.
https://goo.gl/forms/uPJ6g0rnlB57iTHM2
I would love something like this. Sometimes it takes a LOT of hunting around to find a route that seems intriguing, and then even more digging to find what the route is like from a technical and accessibility standpoint. I started with a book called Washington Wild Roads but generally the routes are pretty tame and short. Sometimes I try to reverse engineer routes from seeing them mentioned on the forum or on trip planning but can't get very far. Some stuff is super vague like "Ruby Creek" for example, if I see that mentioned and some cool pictures and want to check it out this weekend, where would I even start? I know half the fun is just getting out and finding stuff and being surprised, which I enjoy, but with limited nice weekends to get out there it'd be great to have some reference.
Even a Google Doc or a list on this site somewhere with the following would be awesome:
Route name -
Roads used (forest road numbers etc) -
Technical difficulty -
Mileage -
Elevations -
Features (rivers, views, swimming holes, history, lookouts, etc) -
Hazards (exposure, water crossings, mosquitos, inbred tweaker zombies, etc) -
Links (GPS, KML) -
Even the bare minimum of route name, roads used, difficulty, and features would be a HUGE help, one could easily route/plan/find the remaining info.
Trailsoffroad.com , NWjeepn.com , Green Dot trail maps, NFS 4x4 trail maps are where i have been gathering my info. Also google maps.