Messages

76

General Discussion / Re: Planning TA—Oregon logging trucks & annual highway closure?

« on: March 09, 2024, 12:58:09 am »

The logging truck area on the PCBR is one length or road I remember well.  Sure, where it was two lanes it had a side lane. Problem was large sections of bark broke loose from the trunks and scattered in the roadway.  These were pushed into the side lanes.  That required zig-zagging left and right continuously, swerving left of the white line into the main motorway.  All in all, the PCBR was a great ride.

77

General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: March 04, 2024, 10:27:37 pm »

It isn't all or just homeless people.


Certainly, not only homeless people might cause problems.  There are many people who will take advantage of a vulnerable person.  It happens every day.  The news is full of horror stories.  Sure, quite real and true.  However, within  the context of searching out a stealth site for a night's sleep, it is the homeless that one is likely to encounter.  As for these other bad actors, they can strike any time and place.

78

General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: March 01, 2024, 06:58:37 pm »

If I see a well-worn path starting at a random location along an isolated forest road I'm more likely to think "Marijuana Grow Operation" or "Meth Lab" than "Homeless Encampment".  But still something to exercise caution about.

You also need to be a bit realistic.  Homeless people and drug dealers don't like to walk more than most Americans, so usually their lairs are pretty close to a town or built-up area.  So if you see a trail going off into the woods a dozen or more miles from the nearest habitation, chances are there aren't people living at the end of that trail.  There are exceptions to that so I'd argue caution but not paranoia.

Another thing:  if two streams come together and there is a flat spot nearby there will be a campsite.  Usually a quite decent one that has been used for thousands of years.  Similarly if there is an obvious ford of a large stream or river there will almost always be campsites near either side of the ford.

Every foot path where homeless people lived was near or in a city or town.  Some were former camps where people had been expelled. In these places you might see run down torn open tents and debris fields of trash.  They look like the people who were forced to move really trashed it up on their way out.  I must say, I did encounter some aggressive nasty characters on foot paths, and they were criminal homeless people, probably mentally ill with criminal records.  Most camps had been abandoned.  In any case, you have to make your choices of where to lay it down for the night. When cycling through or near a town, I generally pass up foot paths into wooded areas.  When I did follow such paths it did not end up a catastrophe at all, but there were confrontations that could have turned out very badly if I had not kept my head about me. I think going west, starting with eastern Texas, free sleep sites are more plentiful and easier to find.

79

General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: February 29, 2024, 06:01:12 pm »

When searching for a concealed sleep site, you might want to resist the temptation to follow an unknown, foot-worn path into the woods. Homeless and other people live along these paths in many locations nationwide.

80

General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: February 23, 2024, 05:56:50 pm »

Shmogger, I would say you covered the subject well enough.

81

General Discussion / Re: C 2 C

« on: February 20, 2024, 09:24:37 pm »

All my bicycle  touring was on roadways, sidewalks, bike paths, even extensive distances on interstate highways. For the gap I used highway 50.  Road cycling is easy for me. However, nowadays, with the crowded conditions and smelly noisy poisonous traffic, road cycling in some places is not such a viable option. I wore swimmers' ear plugs to keep out the vulgar noise. I had a rebuilt Mongoose Iboc Pro mountain bike ($1200 new). wheels 26 by 1.5, Schwalbe Marathon tires. Gravel and dirt trail cycling are not entries on my resume.

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General Discussion / Re: C 2 C

« on: February 20, 2024, 08:03:02 pm »

It could be a very long time when the GART is completed in full. Not in my life time.

83

General Discussion / Re: C 2 C

« on: February 17, 2024, 10:46:40 pm »

 I went ahead and cycled that coast to coast rail trail in Florida. Starting in Fort Lauderdale near Miami, I pedaled US Highway 1 north to Titusville, left on Main, right on Canaveral, and there I was on the path in the inky dark.  Way too much noisy smelly traffic on 1, and no site for a stealth tent.  The C 2 C path was as smooth as silk, mostly, and kept everyone out of the motorized traffic. But here again---a paucity of even a small space of concealment for a small tent for one night.  Try being up at midnight and 3 a.m. searching for a spot 9 feet long and 8 feet wide four nights in a row.


By the time I had cleared far north of Orlando and curved south to Tampa/St Pete, I lost the trail, found myself on Hwy 19 south, and cycled that to Hwy 60 in Clearwater. The concentrations of car and truck traffic were never meant to be.  With the wind blowing the wrong way, unfortunately, a cyclist can get constant doses of air poisoning throughout the day.  Many too many cars and trucks and pollution. In Clearwater I got on Hwy 60 east to Vero Beach on the east coast 60 is doable on a bike, but not so much in Lake Wales where old-town sidewalks and no side lane define your urban landscape. More problems doing a stealth night in the bush.

From Vero Beach to my home town of Stuart and back to Fort Lauderdale was a spin. This was something like 500 or 600 miles.  I have not measured it.  What is needed is a bicycle / multiple-use trail from coast to coast in the United States.

84

General Discussion / Re: Documenting my maiden TransAm voyage - Suggestions?

« on: February 17, 2024, 10:18:42 pm »

A cinematographer, human on the loose, is a trail cyclist.  She produces engaging videos of her rides on the single tracks and the gravel roads and byways. She is on You Tube. Her videos would be good examples. She would likely answer questions you might have.

85

General Discussion / Re: Southern Tier -- Austin to New Orleans

« on: February 11, 2024, 07:08:44 pm »

About the lower, closer to level hills, it is true once you are out of hill country. Coastal gulf land in NO, LS, Miss and AL is about as hill-less as it gets and stays that way until HWY 90 in north Florida. Inland LA and Miss and AL will have hills, but nothing daunting.

86

General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: January 20, 2024, 10:02:05 pm »

Certainly, drivers tearing along the roadways will not crank their craniums 90 degrees to inspect minute details of motions beyond the bushes and trees. A passenger might be looking. And that is not a problem. I think maybe 1 in 1000 would cause problems for the stealth sleeper. 1 in 10,000 might double back for robbery, or worse. At a site unseen, I would say security is assured. Rest easy.  My nights stealth sleeping are countless. There are no negative incidents to report. That is for the human element. Some really lethal nasty storms caught me unexpectedly, but that is not the topic. Drivers and others keep their eyes forward, on the road, rarely glancing far left or right. Many focus only 200 feet in front of the hood. They do not look upwards.

87

General Discussion / Re: POLL: What services are most important to you on a map?

« on: January 18, 2024, 08:27:36 pm »

On a very long tour with far distances between services ( food, water, amenities ), distances between towns are useful.  Getting caught short of water, in the middle of a fifty mile ride, on a hot day teaches to plan ahead.  That is what maps are for, planning ahead. In an automobile, planning like that is not a consideration. There you are in 45 minutes. On a loaded bicycle, going against the wind, stopping for cover in a storm, repairing a puncture in a tire and other matters can turn 50 miles into an 12 hour struggle.  It is extremely important to know locations and distances in remote locations.

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General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: January 18, 2024, 12:24:33 am »

Yes, the whole idea is to be out of sight. Out of sight of any foot paths, of any and all roadways, of houses from every possible angle.  I would rather sleep in peace than rest in peace.

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General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: January 16, 2024, 06:12:20 pm »

Interesting post for me.   I camped at Harris a few years ago and can honestly say, that it is the only state park I was a bit uncomfortable in and it was largely because of the transient population. Fortunately, there were a number of other bike tourists in the hiker/biker site, so I felt relatively safe and didn't experience any problems.  Had I been the only camper around, I would have been a bit uneasy.  Just another symptom of the homeless problem in this country.

In 2022 I cycled part of the pacific route in WA and OR. Somebody gave information for a nice place to set up for one night. I headed out. Later, somebody else told me there were homeless camps in the so-called nice place near a river. With that information, I made a turn of 180 degrees and kept away. After that, it was a search and a find and a night of sleep in a one-person Kelty tent.

90

General Discussion / Re: Stealth Camping? Sleep Site!

« on: January 16, 2024, 06:03:55 pm »

Of 36,000 miles of loaded bicycle touring, the vast majority of which was by free-camping in wooded areas, I have discovered what I call the iron law of stealth camping. The law is this---All day, intermittently, from the road. you see nice places to sleep for one night. They are there in every direction. However, when the sun goes down, when it is time to haul it off the road, and lay it down for the night, there are no such sites to be found anywhere. This law presented itself to me so very many instances. I thought it might be supernatural.