Wyoming B.S. Thread

and better yet not letting hordes of people know it's there and over use it. It's a shame that thats a thing now, but it's the reality too.

 

That's when the real adventure starts!

 

Us taking that wrong turn in the Wyoming Range led to one of the best days of adventure ever!


Speaking of - you habitual mappers and planners should do a trip without mapping it first, and see what happens.

 

When I started doing this, that's the way it was. There was no mapping software or GPS devices for that. Had to rely on paper maps. GPS is better.

 

You're not wrong.

 

For me, I got into it by accident. I was recently out of work and basically just working on our ranch, when a friend popped by to camp. He saw my vehicle at the time and knew of my photography background, and knew OnX was looking for quality people at the time - so it all basically clicked. I leaned into it, and now I'm one of a few that gets assigned projects and areas to map. Ironically, this has led to mapping for the BLM, and other agencies as well, camping remotely and planning more trips deeper into the backcountry. As far as the undocumented or non-existent trails - that's precisely what the BLM had us doing. They didn't know what was on their land, so we went and mapped it for them. The last one was basically all the BLM from Yuma to Gila Bend, and then Ajo to the border.

 

I mean, I use Gaia all the time too, and love it.

My point was more about the pre-planning, and adding some spontaneity to your trips.

 

We had a talk about this around the campfire with propensity to use paper maps otherwise I just follow the guys with "tracks". I am looking into Gaia just for the ability to determine what land I'm in, but to define the trip ahead of time. Most of my mapping on the front end is studying Google Earth and going off memory when on dirt.

 

Agreed. I never map out my route beforehand, at most I might put waypoints out for key intersections or roads to take, points of interest, etc. I run the track as I’m going so I can find my way back though.

 

I just assume it comes down to personality, some folks aren't comfortable getting lost

 

If you never get lost, are you ever really found?

 

Something that bears considering is some people do it for work. When I'm out on a pleasure weekend with my friends, its very rough and open ended, and I never plan the route...

 

Damnit Dan, that's deep.

 

I plan stuff in a way to make sure there is a way through. Other than that. Take side roads all the time.