Great Western Trail Tracks Wanted bits and pieces OK!!!!

[HogWild]

Originally Posted by Countdown

Hope Scott gives his opinion before I leave in the morning.

Opinion on what? My dual sport is a 2007 525EXC, and my hardcore off-road bike is a Harley!

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by HogWild

Opinion on what? My dual sport is a 2007 525EXC, and my hardcore off-road bike is a Harley!

At least one good choice. If it is lowered, I'll make you and offer.

Opinion on tracks in the post 41 above.

[HogWild]

Looks like a really fun route. I'm assuming you're starting in Cave Creek and heading North. The road gets progressively less maintained. The purple track (Track 001) starts getting a bit sketchy about 3 to 5 miles in. It still looks fine, but a big adventure bike may not like it. Then 3 miles after crossing the 17 freeway, it cuts East on another less traveled road. Then 2 miles later it splits and your track doesn't make it clear which way to go. Straight at the intersection is better. Right takes you into some rancher's back yard, though they both end up in the same place. The Southern most section of Track 003 is a hiking trail. Unless you're an expert trials rider, you might not want to take that way! The other way (D4aPayson2ShoLo) looks fine, though there is a gate or cattle gurad near the last house on the South end of Jerome. I didn't look past there. Have fun!

I just bought my 525 a couple months ago, so it's not for sale. Never owned a 2-wheeler dirtbike before. The damn thing tips over if I don't put my foot down when I stop. These things are dangerous!

[Countdown]

Sorry, starting at Camp Verde not Cave Creek.

[wbbnm]

Jerry,

The Coconino Rim road does not sound familiar to me. We have ridden the Mogollon Rim road a couple of times and it is nice.

On the full track for our trip a few weeks ago there are some tracks southeast of Flagstaff more or less around Mormon Lake that make for a nice ride. There is about a 12 mile long primitive section that runs by some lakes southeast of Mormon lake that we really like.

I was looking again at your track file. There is another track of mine called PL3aFlag2Williams that does not work. The road was closed about 6 miles north of Flagstaff due to Fire Recovery. I think I had a waypoint noting that.

Enjoy your trip this week end.

Bill

[quota]

Originally Posted by HogWild

As I was drawing the Utah tracks, I ran into several places where the GWT goes where no motor vehicle could possibly go. I ran smack into straight up cliffs, and straight over mountains too steep for any road, and no visible signs of even a hiking trail. In one long segment the line on the map follows a mountain ridgeline for many miles, yet there is no sign of a road anywhere near there. I also read that there are competing forces in the organizing of the GWT, some pushing for hiking trails and others pushing for dirt roads. Apparently they can't agree on one official route, which is what leads to multiple parallel routes. So it seems there is no such thing as the "official" GWT. It's just a collection of possible North-South routes that can be connected together forming a great adventure.

Just stumbled onto this thread.
Maybe 15 years ago, I was at some event where the GWT organization had a display. I donated some money to their cause and ended up with the topo map set of the GWT for Utah.

At that time, the idea was for the GWT to be multi-use, when possible, for hikers to Jeeps and everything in between.

The "official" GWT passes just a couple of miles west of my house. It may of been one of the places where Hog saw no way for a motor vehicle to get through. Unfortunately, because of of private property, there isn't a feasible way to travel through our area of Utah on dirt, and stay reasonably close to the GWT

I'll stay tuned to this thread and can break out the old maps if any input is needed. Seems like you guys have it under control though.

I do need to take Hog's advice and brush up on my GE skills. It is a great tool.

[Countdown]

Coconino Rim is track 015 and part of 002. It shows with that name on City Nav & R&R.

Do you have tracks for Mogollon Rim? On the road, back 6/6.

[wbbnm]

Jerry,

I found the Coconino Rim. I have never ridden in that area. But the terrain looks very interesting. Looks like the Little Co River is a bit of a barrier to getting there on dirt from the east.

We rode the entire Mogollon Rim (~100 miles) on our Phoenix ride two years ago. The tracks are in GPsXchange. They are in the file called Abq NM to Phoenix and Central AZ that I loaded in Nov 2009. The rim road is the middle part of track 5bPresc2Spvill.

[HogWild]

Originally Posted by Countdown

Sorry, starting at Camp Verde not Cave Creek.

My mistake. I got confused among the various posts. Sorry I couldn't get info to you before you hit the road.

Originally Posted by wbbnm

I found the Coconino Rim. I have never ridden in that area. But the terrain looks very interesting. Looks like the Little Co River is a bit of a barrier to getting there on dirt from the east.

I rode that area two months ago, including a bit of those same roads. Yes, the only way across the Little Colorado in that area is the Hwy 89 bridge at Cameron. You can hit dirt again just 2 miles south of Cameron, 2 miles West on Hwy 64. Crawdaddy has tracks that way. The 05 Big Dog track is very similar to some of Crawdaddy's tracks in that area (25 miles are identical), but Big Dog has more highway right after Cameron than Crawdaddy. Crawdaddy went through the $12 Grand Canyon fee booth to get the great scenic views. Big Dog bailed off the highway just before that fee booth, but missed the scenic views into the Grand Canyon. I found a way to get the veiws without going through the fee booth, without doing nearly as much pavement, while staying on legal roads. It's tricky there because there are fences and locked gates all over the place in the fee area.

[wbbnm]

We are planning to do Crawdaddys ride up the east side of the canyon in late summer. I didn't think that was in the fee area, but it's not a problem since I now have a lifetime national park pass and will try to remember to bring it.

[HogWild]

Originally Posted by wbbnm

We are planning to do Crawdaddys ride up the east side of the canyon in late summer. I didn't think that was in the fee area, but it's not a problem since I now have a lifetime national park pass and will try to remember to bring it.

The East side is not in the fee area, only the South Rim is. The tracks on the East side are just a small part of a much larger track Crawdaddy has posted that goes all the way around the Grand Canyon. I'll try to find where he posted the whole track. I was refering to the secton from Cameron South and West, which is not included in the file in this thread.

[wbbnm]

Scott,

Thanks for the offer. I actually downloaded it as soon as he posted it (or when I first saw it) probably from GpsXchange. I regularly drool over it and their trip report. I used these tracks for planning some of our Death Valley ride last year and am using them for our ride out that way this year.


Here is our trip report.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=587761

[Countdown]

I went to Prescott for Memorial day. I bought Benchmark maps for AZ & UT and Forest maps for Coronado, Tonto, Prescott, & Kaibab. When I got to Williams, I went to Kiabab forest to try to get a copy of the map on their sign. All they had was a hand out color map from Prescott forest for Carrefree to east of Williams?

On Monday afternoon, Tuesday, and Wednesday I went out and rode from Camp Verde to the Grand Canyon.

I found "GWT" stickers on post in many places. When I got to Kiabab boundary, there was a big kiosk with a map of GWT and other information. When I got to Hwy 180 there was the same big sign.

Attached is a file with tracks for where I could find GWT on the Benchmark maps, a file with where I found markings on the ground, a file of the Prescott map, & a file with routes that showed on Kiabab Kiosk.

Please post any additions or corrections.

[Countdown]

Kiabab Kiosk

[Countdown]

GWT markings on the ground