A map and compass still work after batteries die and after being dropped on a rock.

Finding north without a compass is also a useful skill to retain, as well making a fire without matches or flint, how to communicate with a signal mirror (or whistle, or hand signals), how to make an emergency shelter, and how to find water along a dry trail.  These are increasingly rare skills, but may save your life one day.  (or if you are just a doomsday prepper.   )

Lewis and Clark traversed a continent without a GPS, or even a map as a map of the route did not exist.  They used celestial navigation to track their locations, and after two years and 2000 miles were in longitude error of less than 200 miles -- a neat trick because at that time calculating longitude accurately required a precise timekeeping device and they did not have one.

I also have an RV.  I will set up my RV and use it as a base camp for long day rides and S24's.  When I casually mention I am going camping over the weekend to my coworkers some smartass will say it's not really camping in an RV.  My reply is either to ignore it, or say "You can call it what you want.  I am going out in the woods over the weekend while you stay at home."

You're getting your knickers in a knot because some anally retentive word parsing purist is arguing definitions?

Why do you care what someone else calls it?  Does it somehow diminish your riding?  Or is this a 'I want to always be right' situations?

Too many variables. 

Public land agency on either side may have a right of way across the private land, especially if it is a public road.  It may be private road, and the landowner has granted access to the public agency (in exchange, for example, cost sharing on maintenance).  It may be posted no trespassing, but the landowner does not care about non-moto and wants exclusion only for moto (common for private timberlands around here).  Legally, the landowner cannot differentiate access like that, but there are ways to do it.

Poaching is always possible, please consider the ethics before making that choice.  We want more access, not less.  Be a considerate neighbor and ask permission if not sure.  That pays dividends in future negotiations with the landowner.

If you do gain permission to cross, make sure you not do anything to harm the owners interest.  Do not spook his livestock, leave ruts on or off road, make a campfire, or complain about how he manages his land.  If anything looks amiss (section of broken fence, tree down across the road, dead livestock, etc) call and let him know as a courtesy. 

I used to use DDT, but I used up my last remaining stash just a few years ago (I was hoarding it and using it sparingly).  I think I can still get some from Mexico - I know someone who knows someone...  but that is a hassle.

I am going to be in the Heber area in September.  Won't be able to do any overnight bikepacking, but I will have my bike with me.  Any suggestions for day rides?  The people I'll be with are novice riders.

Cycling the California Outback with Bodfish has some good N. Cal. route suggestions. http://www.bodfishbicycles.com/home.html  530-258-2338...

Chuck's shop is on Main Street, in Chester.  Along the Lassen Peak route mentioned above.  Some of the high country will still be snowbound in June.  It was a good snow year for California mountains.

After further reflection...

An unofficial route circumnavigating Lassen Volcanic NP ~130 miles depending on which variation you ride.  Mostly forest road with some single track and a few unavoidable paved miles.  Follows the outside perimeter of the Park and adjacent Caribou Wilderness.

Just north of the Downieville Divide is an area of Plumas National Forest called Lakes Basin.  It has a trail system that connects to Downieville.  Lots of lakes. 

South of Paynes Creek/Highway 36 and north of the Ishi Wilderness is a system of 4wd roads on National Forest and state Fish and Game land.  Gets very little use outside of hunting season.  Even though it is labeled an OHV area you will have little to no motorized company on the 'roads' (some are as technical and rough as any black diamond singletrack).  Incredible wildflowers, wildlife, and bizarre rock formations.  Spring time best.  Hotter then Hades during summer and heavy hunting pressure in the Fall.

Not too many long stretches of single track.  Most of the extensive trail systems are locked up in wilderness.  If you are willing to ride partly on dirt forest roads an infinite number of routes exist.

The Modoc Line Rails-to-Trail from Alturas to Susanville is still under development (85 miles).  It eventually will connect to the Bizz Johnson Trail (25 miles) (which will eventually connect to the still being built Collins Pine Trail - 18 miles).  Just across the state line in Oregon is the ONC trail (120 miles) from Klamath Falls to Bly.  When completed, all these interconnected trails will total over 300 miles of bike trail, with bike-in campgrounds a day's ride apart.  Thank God for mtn bike riding county planners with big dreams.

I have poached, I admit sheepishly.

I felt guilty and the guilt detracted from the ride.  Don't do it.     

No.  Different units/different people get the same result.  The really weird thing is it's intermittent, not consistent.  No discernable time/day or weather pattern.  A GPS expert was taken to the site.  He said it is impossible for that to happen, but was stumped when it occurred during his visit.

I blame it on the secret UFO base in nearby Lassen Peak!    As good an explanation as any.

GPS sometimes does get weird.

There is one spot in the Caribou Wilderness where the GPS places you on the antipode of the earth (Indian Ocean, from the Caribou Wilderness).  Walk a few hundred yards in any direction and it is normal again.   

The experts claim underground mineral deposits do not effect the signal.  But I have seen too many strange things happen.  I consider all just part of the adventure.

ArcInfo will do that easily, but very few people have that software at home.

Contact your local college or university that has GIS courses.  Students are always looking for real world problems to solve.

A self contained, bicycle towable RV -- with electric hookup, a day bed, a small on-board fresh water supply, and weighs 100lbs...




http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H0LKKun8j7I/R40ghPUzRJI/AAAAAAAAAPo/V5NlMJ1Eya8/s400/first+test+run.JPG

I've never done a backcountry backpacking trip longer than five days, but I just don't understand the point of camp stove cooking, other than as a feel-good activity or a way to kill some time. The same lightweight nutrition can be found in sandwiches, energy bars, smoked salmon, lots of things. Maybe that's just me, though. I don't cook at home, either. ...

You can get the same nutrition in uncooked foods, but after a few days cold food just loses some of its appeal.  I end up craving a hot meal.  Some things just taste better hot.

I hope we do not degenerate into a 'holier-than-thou' elitism.  You use a rack (or pannier, trailer, et al), so you are not a true bikepacker!

Are you trying to impress someone?  Be part of the 'in' crowd?  Keeping up on the latest fad?  Worry less about politically correct user created definitions.  Concern yourself with getting out and riding more. 

A friend of mine proposed a combo trip -- one I must consider.

Stash the bikes at Spencer Meadows just outside the LAVO boundary.  Drive to Butte Lake in the NE corner of LAVO.  Paddle down Butte Lake to the south end, and stash the canoe.  Backpack diagonally SW across the Park to Twin Meadows/Spencer Meadow.  Retrieve the bikes and bikepack back to Butte Lake.  Hike to the south end of Butte Lake and retrieve the canoe, paddle back to the vehicle.

hmmmm.... the trip sounds intriguing...

...Done any exploring in Mill Creek? I've looked at it from the 172 and Black Rock ends but never made it through.

Hiked Mill Creek, never biked it.  Many locals bike it. 

The Lassen Forest Recreation Officer has stated in public meetings the Mill Creek trail is closed to bikes, and I gotten into arguments with her about it.  It is proposed wilderness, but not designated yet.  The FS has to manage it as if it were wilderness, but the public is not bound by the Wilderness Act restrictions.  Also, after a winter storm blew out the road to the trailhead at Rocky Gulch, the FS opted to just start the trail there, instead of rebuilding the road for the mile or so (at an estimated cost of $250k).  So that short stretch of roadbed was decommissioned and turned into trail.  I suggested to decomm the road all the way back to Hole in the Ground campground, but it costs money to decomm a road as well as rebuild it, so that was held a possible future project.

Another trail in the area is the 4wd road along the ridge at the north boundary of the Ishi Wilderness from Peligreen Place to the Fish and Game Campground in Antelope Creek.  Or continue all the way down to the valley floor.  That is a Spring ride -- the wildflowers are fantastic!  Summer is too hot, winter is too muddy and cold.       

I live in Northern California. I want to try Tahoe Rim Trail(bikes on only certain sections) and the trails in the Plumas national forest area. Jaimison lake loop or North Yuba trail has promise (when it is complete).

I was looking at that the other day as a possibility -- Jamison loop to the Yuba Divide, then down Lavezzola to Downieville.  You would need set up a shuttle to return, or long hard pavement grind up the Gold Lake Highway... 

So you're taking the 17 Road on the west side, I assume, and then up through 1000 Lakes? What's the route on the east side? And where's the singletrack??...

 Yep.  Up the 17 Road.  A short piece of pavement on Hwy 44, then back on forest roads east towards the Hat Creek Rim.  All south of 44, not through the 1000 Lakes -- that's a Wilderness.  Up the rim on Parm's Trail.  At one time Parms Trail was a temp section of the PCT, and on some older or erroneous maps it is still shown as the PCT.  From Baker Lake back on forest roads east to the 10 Road at the north end of the Caribou Wilderness. Follow the 10 Road to Silver Lake, then the Trail Lake Trail to Echo Lake.  This is NOT wilderness and is open to mountain bikes.  Some guidebooks and websites erroneously claim the Trail Lake Trail is closed to bikes.  At Echo Lake, back on the 10 Road.  A couple of options here -- to Highway 36 and back to Chester, or descend the Mud Creek Rim on forest roads.  While in Chester you can visit Chuck Elliot's shop -- Bodfish Bicycles -- on Main Street.   From Chester, up Feather River Drive, to Rice Creek Loop road.  Get on the Spencer Meadow Trail and descend to Hwy 36.  Some unavoidable pavement again to the top of Morgan Summit, then forest road back to the 17 Road.  There is a trail from Glassburner Meadows to Heart Lake to 17 Road.  It just nicks the corner of the National Park, but the NPS folks don't seem to care if bikes cross that 1/4 mile of NP land.  It doesn't get much bike use -- the trail is bit technical for bikes in places.

There are, of course, a near infinite number of variations of this route using the forest road system.  That is the beauty of National Forests and BLM public lands -- if you do not mind riding on unpaved roads you can create any route of any length you want, and camp nearly anywhere along the way.  Just by perusing forest maps I have penciled in a route from Mt Shasta to Lake Tahoe that is at least 90% dirt.

Detailed topo maps can be downloaded from the Lassen NF website free.  PDF files sized 8.5 x 11, so you can print them on your home printer (photo paper creates a cleaner map than bond paper).