Trip Planning: How To?

[RBBailey]

I've only just now realized that it's been probably 5 or 6 years since I've been off-roading, especially anything that is more than just a few miles long. I am trying to plan a few trips this Summer. But the problem is that I have no idea how to plan. In fact, now that I think of it, one of the reasons I initially just stopped going out is because I kept running out of fuel and time in wandering back and forth coming across one closed road after another.

So when I say "plan" I mean: How do people find good back-roads routes where we are allowed to go, to connect any one way-point to another?

What tech do you use? What online resources?

 

[The_Vermonster]

When we were in Italy I had the most up to date Garmin maps for our Nuvi and I downloaded the Nokia Here maps onto my phone. 9 times out of 10 we got stuck on a back road that the GPS said would get us to our destination. We drove 13km down a road only to find a gate less than 100 ft from the intersection we wanted.

I learned that absolutely nothing beats the advice of someone that has driven in the area. There are tons of Facebook groups and forums for localized Overlanding, camping, mudding, rock crawling ect. That would always be my first place to ask. I've seen a few people post on Facebook after they found out a trail they drove last year is closed. You can also get some great advice if you post something simple like "I'll be in this area on this day, what should I do?"

 

[RBBailey]

Yeah, this makes sense. And the GPS failures are exactly what I am getting at.

 

[RBBailey]

Here's a site that I have found useful. I'm actually planning to go someplace this summer, and I need to know how to dive into open BLM/Nat. Forest land.

http://publiclands.org/

 

[LR Max]

Social Media.

Local wheeling groups always post up trail pics and say where they are. Once you have a trail name, you can cross reference that information.

Or if you end up taking a big trip, say, to Colorado. Then use one of the books that are out there for trip planning.

 

[RBBailey]

I think both of you are correct about this. But I'm seeing a pattern of the types of things that local clubs publicly post. Most of them show off the day trips they take to find the biggest mud hole, or the biggest rocks to crawl. But I'm looking for long distance trails into parts of the state that very few people go. Technically, I'm looking to find places that people haven't talked about yet. The biggest problem I have is running up against closed roads that aren't shown closed on maps.

Right now, I'm researching a 1-3 day trip where only one night will be spent at a camp ground, the rest of the nights need to be on public land where it is not illegal to drive or dry camp.

 

[The_Vermonster]

Mudders and rock crawlers generally have to drive a lot of the back roads to get to and from their glamor shots. So there is a good chance they could still help. They also might know of any roads that are closed now.

We have the Wharton State forest and there are a lot of roads that are going to be closed this year for ecological protection. Most of the mudders are pissed because the closed roads have the best mud holes. Get them started and they'll tell you about every road you can't drive!

You also might try checking with the local Forest Service. They might have maps or advice for some of the back roads.

 

[stu454]

Chris made a run into eastern Oregon/southern Idaho in the last year or two. It looks like there are tons of seldom-traveled roads in that area.

 

[LR Max]

I think both of you are correct about this. But I'm seeing a pattern of the types of things that local clubs publicly post. Most of them show off the day trips they take to find the biggest mud hole, or the biggest rocks to crawl.

Indeed. There can be a lot of information to sift through. For every 25 "bro hold my beer" posts, there *could* be one that provides useful information. So you gotta approach it in that fashion, as almost passive in what you see.

Other than those, I would say look for MVUM maps.