Tracing the Appalachian Trail

I had another sleepless night and another bright idea. I downloaded a Gps file of all the shelters along the Appalachian Hiking Trail (AT). In my neck of the woods some of the best motorcycle roads intersect with the AT. So, in the spirit of my Trans New Jersey Trail I decided to trace the roads between the shelters along the AT from ME to GA picking what I think looks like the best motorcycle roads and of course picking as many dirt roads along the way as possible.

Link to the route:
AT: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20883724/AT.zip

14 States, 2,000 Miles. I doubt many people will ride the entire thing in one shot so I picked as many back roads as possible while avoiding as many highways as possible. So, you can pick up the route in your neck of the woods and check it out or ride the whole damn thing.

Feel free to improve or update the trail. Just be sure to post your changes.

p.s. Navigate the route in Off-Road mode going from Waypoint to Waypoint, turn off Auto-Calc



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I did something similar back in '97 in a 4x4, going from Brasstown Bald to Baxter State Park. Spent about 28 days or so farting all around the area and 4wheeling from S-N.

I don't have a way to download your file, being a non-GPSer, but the idea is totally killer.

Sht, I'll ask my gf how to download it...

Rob----sounds like your like me---wanting to do something different. Great idea and a good job.----I know it was lots of work--but was probably fun laying it out. I've added your route to my collection of GPS files------thanks !!

Trying to keep the route as close to the trail has to be a good idea---as the trail is in some really remote mountainous and pretty areas--so the roads near it have to be good

download google earth for free and open the file.

http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

Thanks,

btw, cool website!

A couple notes on Maine:

No motorcycles in Baxter State Park. Weird, I know. But dem's da rules.

Don't try taking the "Navy Road" in Dallas Plantation, or you're apt to get an MP pointing his rifle at your face, there is a Navy Survival and Avoidance training center back in there...

And I'm sure some of those "roads" you're going to want knobbies. They come and go as logging operations move and can become rather challenging even though they're still on the map.

Very cool idea though, thanks for taking the time to put it together.

Thanks, I've added this to the collection!



Oh BigDog......

I think I hear someone calling my name---yes.....it's Jeff !!!

I could even do this ride this year Jeff-----in fact soon would be good

Maybe we could reel in Mr. GasPipe to------he needs a ride--been all couped up lately.

I won't be able to ride the entire route because of work but WV, VA and NC looks like it could work for me.

Sections in MD are less than 15 miles from my house. I'd be interested in the PA, MD, VA sections.

Probably a good thing, as some of the northern bits will probably be unrideable before too long....

I was under the opinion the trail was for hikers only. Please tell me I am wrong since I am not far from the PA portion.

txbikerinpa

This could be a cool thing....

Yeh--and who is going to do it first ???? Could be you Swampy

It is, but that's not what they're talkin' about. This route follows rural roads and highways that the AT crosses at gaps, shelters, etc. along it's way.




I've hiked quite a bit of the AT, and would love to be able to access some of the same areas by bike. Great work, rob23. I'll be using this one soon.

Aaaaaaggghh! Why can't I open this file?

I've got CN NT v.8 loaded, but when I try to open it (regardless whether I just open it or save and attempt to open it) I get "Access was denied when MapSource tried to read from the registry. Please consult your system administrator and start MapSource again."

I am sorta a computer Meathead, but this oughtta be simple.

Anybody got any ideas?

That's not good. First thing to check is windows explorer, go and check the file types and make sure that .gpx is there and associated to Mapsource.

If it is, UR SCREWED, and will probably need to do a deinstall and reinstall.

I downloaded it at opened with no problems so I know it's fine. Before all this transpires, why don't you email me the file and let me see if I can open it to make sure what you downloaded from here isn't corrupt.

OK - first the easy question - can you open Mapsource with any other files?

I was able to download and open the file above with Mapsource v6.13.4. If you can get Mapsource open, do a Help|About Mapsource and see what version you are on.

If you have a current version, you might try an uninstall and reinstall.

Dave

I emailed him a version in .gdb format to see if that works, but my guess is his registry is hosed.

Thanks Phil and Dave.



I know where I'm goin' ridin' on Saturday.