Traversing the US (and back)
- Thread starter jessejman
- Start date
JCMatthews
Tour Guide
Awesome trip! :bowdown: Thanks for sharing, we all know how much work it takes to post up a good trip report. :Wow1:
Day 44: Ochoco to Malheur Forest
Click here for zoomable map and download options
I woke up long before down to lightning running in from the Southwest. The distant rumbling was unsettling in intensity and quantitiy. I monitered the storms approach from the window of the tent and from the nearness of the thunder. It was heading for us, wind was picking up and instead of the sky getting lighter, it darkened. Around 530 I jumped out of the tent and put the rainfly on it. We ahdn't had much rain at all and had been using it without the fly. I woke everyone up as the car swayed underneath my weight but I got it up quickly and shortly after the rain hit. The rain was a nice change of pace but the wind and lightning were frightening. I remembered all the deadfall we'd passed laying across the road and stuck my head to watch the great trees bend. I didn't sleep more that morning.
The rain passed pretty quickly. It was the first morning that we packed up wet gear.
Click here for zoomable map and download options
I woke up long before down to lightning running in from the Southwest. The distant rumbling was unsettling in intensity and quantitiy. I monitered the storms approach from the window of the tent and from the nearness of the thunder. It was heading for us, wind was picking up and instead of the sky getting lighter, it darkened. Around 530 I jumped out of the tent and put the rainfly on it. We ahdn't had much rain at all and had been using it without the fly. I woke everyone up as the car swayed underneath my weight but I got it up quickly and shortly after the rain hit. The rain was a nice change of pace but the wind and lightning were frightening. I remembered all the deadfall we'd passed laying across the road and stuck my head to watch the great trees bend. I didn't sleep more that morning.
The rain passed pretty quickly. It was the first morning that we packed up wet gear.
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Short answer:
I use Garmin Basecamp - free version of their mapping software. Can be downloaded at gpsfiledepot.com along with a great tutorial on how to use it.
Long answer (that probably belongs in another section of the forum?:
For mapping there are two options.
Option 1: Start in googlemaps and plan the route using bicycling directions rather than driving directions. Once the route is close to what I like I will change the view to satellite to see if what the terrain and road surface looks like. I"m going for as rough as possible usually. Once you have the route I download it from googlemaps to my computer. It is a kml file which is unique to Google ( I think) so Garmin devices won't recognize. You can use the file in Google Earth but I rarely used GE except to do "fly-overs of the route and to estimate distance between gas. With the kml file on my computer I to to gpsies.com. Find the tab on the site homepage that says convert. Convert kml to GPX (I cannont remember if I ended up using gpx track or route. One worked one didn't. It will take some experimenting). gpsies.com will save the file next to your kml file on your hard drive. Once that .gpx file is on your hard drive you can open it up using file options on Basecamp which you will have on your computer.
Option 2: Use track creator tab on gpsies.com to create your route and then save as whatever file type you need. No need to convert.
Most likely, once you have the route opened in Basecamp it will be made up of thousands of via points. Most gps devices have a max number of via points on a route set at 250. So you have to reduce the number of via points. This essentially means that instead of having thousands of little dots at every turn or bend in the road, you will reduce it to only major/ important turns in the route with straight lines in between points. It makes it more confusing on the ground. To reduce these points: open track in BaseCamp, the track will show on the left side of the BC menu however you named it, right click on the route name, go down to properties, a new box will open, click create route, enter 250 (whatever your device max points is) as the max via points.
Done.
The route will show up on the menu bar on the left. Connect your Garmin device, right click on route and save to gps or microsd card for later use in gps.
To download free maps for use in BaseCamp. Go to gpsfiledepot.com and search for maps. I usually use the free ones and donate something to the site. Download to computer, import into BaseCamp using import option under file menu. To save the map to your device or to you microsd card. Connect your gps, right click on device name on left menu in BC. Click option to install maps, go through the process to save it on your device.
There are some tricks with using maps. I saved all my maps on one large microSD card that the device uses. I saved them titled Arktopo, Oktopo, etc. However, when you save the map to the gps/card it will be called "gmapsupp." If you don't want to use that map immediately or want to save multiple maps, you need to rename the file something else. Late rwhen you want to use/switch maps, I put the microSD card in the computer (or connect the device as a storage deivce) and rename the file names. The one you were using you rename to Colorado topo and you change the Utah topo to gmapsupp. Now you have the Co map saved and the Utah map displayed on the GPS.
Day 44: Ochoco - Malheur
The morning storm had washed all of the tracks of the dirt and gravel. It really looked untraveled. Somewhere along the way, making a turn onto an even narrow trail with grass growing in the center, we began following fresh tracks in the dirt. We wondered what other intrepid traveler was up so early traveling this forgotten and rough way. We climbed for an hour longer and the tracks turned up to a firetower. It all made sense. We drove up to the tower hoping to be invited up but the spotter was busy investigating the area for fires from the storm. Parked at the bottom of the tower was a brand new Toyota....Corolla. We sure felt like sissies.
This guy came barreling down onto us at some point in the morning. I stopped and waited but we ended up making the same turn so we had to follow him for a ways. Ran the airconditioning for first time in a long time.
Surprise gas in Seneca. Sure we'll top off. We ran into two Adv riders here. Both on Tigers, husband and wife team. They were traveling to Portland. We shared route info and told stories and he tried to scare the kids with tales of bears but really he just excited them. No pictures of them unfortunately.
The morning storm had washed all of the tracks of the dirt and gravel. It really looked untraveled. Somewhere along the way, making a turn onto an even narrow trail with grass growing in the center, we began following fresh tracks in the dirt. We wondered what other intrepid traveler was up so early traveling this forgotten and rough way. We climbed for an hour longer and the tracks turned up to a firetower. It all made sense. We drove up to the tower hoping to be invited up but the spotter was busy investigating the area for fires from the storm. Parked at the bottom of the tower was a brand new Toyota....Corolla. We sure felt like sissies.
This guy came barreling down onto us at some point in the morning. I stopped and waited but we ended up making the same turn so we had to follow him for a ways. Ran the airconditioning for first time in a long time.
Surprise gas in Seneca. Sure we'll top off. We ran into two Adv riders here. Both on Tigers, husband and wife team. They were traveling to Portland. We shared route info and told stories and he tried to scare the kids with tales of bears but really he just excited them. No pictures of them unfortunately.
Day 44: Ochoco - Malheur
From Seneca we drove twenty or so miles of pavement that I now see could have been routed better and with an extra river crossing. Oh, well, maybe next time. After the transit section on highway 16 we turned east onto more forest service roads in the Malheur NF. There were tons of roads through this area and many of them with the same number going in multiple directions as if they were loops. We ended up routing through some very rarely used roads - young pines growing in the roadbed, lots of deadfall but mostly small stuff, lots of pin-striping and slow going. We were very glad we had the GPS!
From Seneca we drove twenty or so miles of pavement that I now see could have been routed better and with an extra river crossing. Oh, well, maybe next time. After the transit section on highway 16 we turned east onto more forest service roads in the Malheur NF. There were tons of roads through this area and many of them with the same number going in multiple directions as if they were loops. We ended up routing through some very rarely used roads - young pines growing in the roadbed, lots of deadfall but mostly small stuff, lots of pin-striping and slow going. We were very glad we had the GPS!
Day 44: Ochoco - Malheur
The area we were passing through was a big question mark for our planning. The road shown here is Forest Service Trail 774. I didn't know if we'd be allowed to drive on this designated 'trail.' Turns out you can drive on it and we followed two motorcycle tracks down into the N. Fork of Malheur canyon. We were trying to stay of off NF-16 which is mostly paved but crossing the canyon required fording a river and crossing some private land on marked roads.
The road opened up somewhat after the river crossing so we were able to speed up some while also looking for a campsite, when suddenly the right side of the car was airborne.
The area we were passing through was a big question mark for our planning. The road shown here is Forest Service Trail 774. I didn't know if we'd be allowed to drive on this designated 'trail.' Turns out you can drive on it and we followed two motorcycle tracks down into the N. Fork of Malheur canyon. We were trying to stay of off NF-16 which is mostly paved but crossing the canyon required fording a river and crossing some private land on marked roads.
The road opened up somewhat after the river crossing so we were able to speed up some while also looking for a campsite, when suddenly the right side of the car was airborne.
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JCMatthews
Tour Guide
I was going to say thanks for the update, but I have been patiently waiting for more and then you end it like that.
I don't know if I can take it.
I don't know if I can take it.
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You know, I'd never thought about that. That will be really cool when they're old enough to take interest in it. Thanks.
Thanks for following along and I hope to end the "cliffhanger" soon.
Oh, you should. When I told my wife I planned on being gone for a month on my motorcycle she (rightfully) pitched a horrendous fit. My solution was this trip. Honestly, I was skeptical she and our one-year-old could do such a trip and enjoy it but I think they both really really enjoyed it. Some parts not a lot but we're already talking about and saving for the next adventure.
Day 44: Ochoco - Malheur
After crossing a fork of the Malheur River (I still don't know how to pronounce most of the places we went in Oregon) we ventured on to some very little used roads. It was nearing the end of the day and though we'd had a swim/bath at the river crossing we were ready to stop. As camp time neared we made it a game with the kids (and parents) to find the best spot to camp in a given number of minutes. We usually didn't turn around but if we had to for a great (good) campsite we would. We had capped our travel time to thirty minutes and the game was on. We were cruising down a small gently sloped valley with a nice smooth two-track in the center while looking up other small hollows (that's what we call them down here in East Tn.) that spilled into this bigger valley trying to find a shady and protected spot in the tall pines.
I was taking my time looking back over my left shoulder into a tree filled draw that looked promising when my wife sounded the alarm from beside me with a shrill yell of some unknown gutteral language. I brought my attention back to the road in time to realize, not see, that the road narrowed where a creekbed crossed underneath the road from our left and into the main creek on the right. In the same moment I realized that somehow this crossing was not wide enough to fit the truck through and immediately hit the brakes to try to slow us down as we were traveling at a nice clip.
I was much too late. In a flash the right front of the car began to drop sickeningly. I tried to think of a way to avoid a rollover but there was nowhere to maneuver, no way to avoid it. There was no time to imagine the carnage that was about to ensue. Thankfully, the ditch that I had driven us into without having the chance to see it was not as bad as I was fearing. In this case it was actually good that I had been speeding along and didn't have a chance to hit the brakes. Had we rolled into the ditch we would have nose-dived and had some fun extracting the stuck vehicle. But with speed, though the front did dive down the speed of the vehicle jumped the deep washout and landed the tire on the uncovered culvert. Maybe a picture will better help you visualize it...
Well, now we were in a pickle. As you can tell from the pictures, there was no way to continue forward without letting the drop completely swallow the rear tire and dragging the rear of the vehicle through the obstacle - which we could have done but we worried about damaging our water system housed between the rear axle and bumper, not to mention the extreme flex and pressure put on the suspension. The driver side was crumbling and we worried that side might crumble into the washout underneath as we crossed over.
So we all stepped back, drank some water and enjoyed the fact that we weren't hurt or worse and tried to solve the puzzle.
After crossing a fork of the Malheur River (I still don't know how to pronounce most of the places we went in Oregon) we ventured on to some very little used roads. It was nearing the end of the day and though we'd had a swim/bath at the river crossing we were ready to stop. As camp time neared we made it a game with the kids (and parents) to find the best spot to camp in a given number of minutes. We usually didn't turn around but if we had to for a great (good) campsite we would. We had capped our travel time to thirty minutes and the game was on. We were cruising down a small gently sloped valley with a nice smooth two-track in the center while looking up other small hollows (that's what we call them down here in East Tn.) that spilled into this bigger valley trying to find a shady and protected spot in the tall pines.
I was taking my time looking back over my left shoulder into a tree filled draw that looked promising when my wife sounded the alarm from beside me with a shrill yell of some unknown gutteral language. I brought my attention back to the road in time to realize, not see, that the road narrowed where a creekbed crossed underneath the road from our left and into the main creek on the right. In the same moment I realized that somehow this crossing was not wide enough to fit the truck through and immediately hit the brakes to try to slow us down as we were traveling at a nice clip.
I was much too late. In a flash the right front of the car began to drop sickeningly. I tried to think of a way to avoid a rollover but there was nowhere to maneuver, no way to avoid it. There was no time to imagine the carnage that was about to ensue. Thankfully, the ditch that I had driven us into without having the chance to see it was not as bad as I was fearing. In this case it was actually good that I had been speeding along and didn't have a chance to hit the brakes. Had we rolled into the ditch we would have nose-dived and had some fun extracting the stuck vehicle. But with speed, though the front did dive down the speed of the vehicle jumped the deep washout and landed the tire on the uncovered culvert. Maybe a picture will better help you visualize it...
Well, now we were in a pickle. As you can tell from the pictures, there was no way to continue forward without letting the drop completely swallow the rear tire and dragging the rear of the vehicle through the obstacle - which we could have done but we worried about damaging our water system housed between the rear axle and bumper, not to mention the extreme flex and pressure put on the suspension. The driver side was crumbling and we worried that side might crumble into the washout underneath as we crossed over.
So we all stepped back, drank some water and enjoyed the fact that we weren't hurt or worse and tried to solve the puzzle.