big flat north map - 2007/05/17 17:54here's another map with some mildly possible route additions. mildly possible because they're not all filled in.
the sand spring trail extension is exciting to me, as a hiker, because it's an all-trail route from shingletown to north meadows road. for bikes, it could possibly mean a non-MST route.
the REAL bear gap is just cool to be in. i can't imagine how a bike would work it, though. but getting over to raven hill does seem a possibility, and from there is a more feasible route to the owl gap trails or big flat.
the route from the top of wildcat gap trail (on bear gap road) down to the owl gap trails is interesting because it looks easy to get from owl gap to the sand knob trails, which would make quite a grand connection.
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/17 19:42yes, bear gap is the "gap" (which, i suppose, is a mixing of terminologies ... the water clefts/folds in the mountain vs. the full-on wind or water gap that also is known as a "pass") ... is the gap there to the west of wildcat gap trail. it's just amazing in there. really steep sides to the mountain and some deep clear portions to the stream. there are several places in rothrock which stand out (beyond others) for their character (geographic, historic, scenic, or whatever), and bear gap is one of them. (but that's just my opinion).
i haven't scouted the whole area out, but i wouldn't be surprised to find more trails in that area. i'm kind of wondering, actually, why they bothered to build a train bed (that is, piles of rock) into bear gap. ... which is why i think there may be more there. (or not).
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/17 20:12Have you ever been into the area of owl gap that is off trail to hikers left just as the stream starts the first cut in the mountain? It is pretty cool in there too.. Here is a shot of some of the rocks in that area:
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/17 21:14your photographs are remarkable. i've "lived" in rothrock quite some time, but every now and then i fail to convince another how amazing a place it is -- this is usually in the stinking hot buggy days of summer. i suppose i needn't worry about convincing anybody of anything ... but if i wanted to, i'd send them to your website. / wonderful.
if you ask about the notable places with the eye of a photographer, i probably can't offer anything new. i hiked the appalachian trail in 2001 and hope -- every after-dinner walk there's that old hope -- to do it again. people ask, "why not go out west to the pct where there are better views," and all i can answer is that i figure hiking to be something between the body's flesh and the earth's. which is to say, views throttle me to the point of rapture, but i feel more deeply touched by twenty-feet-to-fog and dripping brims. / that's the preface qua apology to the "viewless" treats of rothrock.
1. little mountain valley on the gasline cut. i don't know how to explain it, but every time i'm there, i feel like i'm 10 years old and in the place i'm meant to be. i've stopped for lunch there, on the stream, several times. perfect.
2. the view from indian wells. but that's nothing new to anybody. bill plotkin, in his book 'soulcraft', talks a lot about vision quests and fasting rites ... and an old native american ritual of constructing a circle of stones and sitting in it for a day or two or three (never leaving), and waiting for the world to speak. "crazy," for sure ... but there's something necessary in insanity, i think. anyhow, i sometimes imagine that these are what the wells were for. "contemplating the massif," like the monks in the himalayas ... or something like that.
3. bear meadows. no doubt. i can't drive through without stopping.
4. look on a map. take shingle path and extend it to the intersection of corner road and bear meadows road. call it, "the shingle path extension." although it's not mapped, you can walk trail almost all the way -- excepting the area at the end of shingle path, but that burned in the fire, so it isn't that hard a walk. for whatever reason, i'm always struck by the topography there. it gives a view to structure of the mountains in that area which i don't get anywhere else. if you're a photographer, i can't really claim you'll find anything photographable, but it's certainly peculiarly interesting to me. (walk it toward corner road, away from tussey ridge).
5. tree stands. the best thing about a gps is being able to mark the totally random tree stands i find in rothrock. i don't have all that many, but a couple. it's quite a thing -- almost a practice, in the spiritual sense -- to just chill there. kind of the opposite of what they were made or placed there for, but cheeky in that way, too. i suppose the same could be send for just climbing any tree at all (regarding the vantage).
6. i had a bond with the old dead tree at wampler view. but they knocked it down. oh well.
7. on the other map i posted -- the alan seeger map -- there was a charcoal flat on a route that heads toward the gwf tower beginning opposite the intersection of "yoder" trail and seeger road. since i first found it, i've had an odd affection for it. i just got a new mosquito hammock for the summer. my plan is to test it out this weekend with a night at that charcoal flat. (nice big old tree, too).
8. the ccc ghosts of penny roo. they come out in that big field at night.
9. winter at sunset, almost anywhere deep in rothrock, is thick with heartache. but i know it best in detweiler hollow.
10. you can hear an underground spring on an old skid trail in alan seeger. there's that exupery story about the desert arabs visiting france who wouldn't leave an alpen spring. coming from a god of meger parsimony, they were waiting for it to stop flowing. it totally baffled their desert hearts. something like that happens there. just lie down on the trail and feel it.
11. somewhere in rothrock there's an old train engine or two. if i ever find it, you can take the picture. i've got two weeks.
this is seeming a little self-indulgent, so i'll stop. -austin
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/18 10:15Hey Austin, Any chance we could pick your brain for more info. before you leave? You helped me with your map of the missing Bell Ridge trail and have a great knowledge of other areas as well. This would be a huge help to us with future trail projects. Thanks for your insights, I'll have to include some of those places in my travels.
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/18 10:50anybody notice the trail heading off bedileheimer road, on your left as you are heading down towards Greenlee coming from Croyle? maybe a 1/3 of the way down the last decent. It probably heads into private land pretty quickly but not sure.
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/18 11:13hodog, don't have much of a brain to pick. ; ) it's just a matter of collecting as many maps as possible, looking for blank spots on the map, and always choosing to bushwhack when i could otherwise be on trail. i only got a gps a few months ago, and prior to that, i was too overwhelmed to keep note of what i found, so my knowledge is only recent. and, since i was on foot all winter -- and in snow -- most of it is local to the tussey/galbraith gap entrance. (and it's kinda tough to find 100-year-old trails under snow, too).
i had been sending everything on to frank, but wondered if i was burdening him, so i just started posting things here. which is to say that frank should also have the intel.
but, sure, if you have any questions, i'll be glad to say, "beats me." ; )
kevinb, that's on the map hodog is talking about. it was posted under something like "wet weather scouting of bells ridge trail" or something like that. it does go down and curl around to the edge of the private/public boundary. it has one exit, to the west, on what my software calls "croyle lane." it can also connect to a trail i found which goes up to bells ridge. that route, though, would be somewhat pointless from a large ride perspective, but, still, it'd be fun. and certainly different than most other trails in rothrock, as it's smooth and easy going. the goal, of course -- which hodog may be working toward with his own scouting -- is to connect that route (the one you mentioned) to the end of the croyle run extension. maybe i'll look there next. the map was already posted at:
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/18 11:16i should also note that there are two skid trails that work down from beidleheimer road, going south, on either side of the train line. i just haven't mapped them yet. in the past i've followed them down the flat part, where they seemed to disappear. i can't say they have any particular 'connectivity' usage, but perhaps they are portents of more trails to find. (they would be POI092B and POI093B on that one linked map)
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/18 13:44Kev, I scouted that trail it has great potential - it looks really fun, but I need to find a link to the missing Bells Ridge (which I think Austin has found) before it gets underway. It hasn't rained on a weekend for a while so I haven't gone to scout it yet. Also I need to finish opening Croyle X, but I am sure the turkey hunters wouldn't enjoy me running a chainsaw and the brush cutters on a Saturday morning.
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/18 22:23Nope, you weren't bothering me! Maybe overwhelming, but every email made me wish for more time to explore. Austin has also given me a couple of kick ass books on the subject of wandering around in the woods. The latest one was called "reading the Natural Landscape" and was a great way to help figure out why things developed the way they have or did. Also, Austin has been saying he is leaving town for going some 4 or 5 years but some how manages to pop back up. So don't count on losing his random wanderings just yet!
Re:big flat north map - 2007/05/19 00:43that book is tom wessels's "reading the forested landscape" ... if anybody else is interested. it really is quite amazing.
frank, i've never lied about the leaving town part. it just somehow happens that i find my way back. ; ) so, it's not like i'm lying: i'm leaving town at the start of june. that's a fact. but, if all goes to plan and i finish my master's this august ... i'll be homeless and jobless in new hampshire. a great plan, huh? which is to say, there's a tiny chance i'll find myself stuck in laurel in two feet of snow buswhacked-to-heck in the middle of nowhere in rothrock again this february. a cozy vision, if there ever were one. but, really, i have a glistening crazy dream that's going to take a bit more money than i've got at the moment. that dream's a priority, which means i'm going wherever i can save a little money without losing my soul. // anyways, it's like thinking you only have one month left to live. you'll find a way to fit a lot of living into that short time.
(ever feel like you're writing a note to somebody and the whole world's listening in?)
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