Messages

1

Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Great Divide, Northern Montana section, Fall 2015

« on: October 05, 2015, 11:28:29 am »

The Morrell Complex fire burned over part of the Great Divide crossing the Morrell-Clearwater Divide, south of Clearwater Lake and north of Seeley Lake. The route is open again, but there are more downed trees in this area than usual and plenty of snags to come down in the future. Part of the singletrack was widened to serve as a fire break, and has been recontoured and closed again to motor vehicles.

Plan on getting black carbon dust on your kit when pushing over and around burned trees.

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Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Great Divide, Canada section, closure north of Elkford Sept. 8 to mid-Oct 2015

« on: September 14, 2015, 04:24:46 pm »

Three bridges are being replaced on the Elk Valley Highway between KM posts 125 and 144 -- about halfway between Elk Lakes Provincial Park and the town of Elkford -- and the road is closed. A sign says that bikers can ride the closed road and wade the creeks or take the unnamed road which roughly parallels the Elk Valley road but on the east side of the Elk River.

3

Routes / Re: Montana Great Divide -- with a Chariot

« on: December 02, 2014, 03:27:59 pm »

Thanks, sfuller. I ended up biking a good deal of the route in Montana this summer, almost all of it with a loaded Chariot, and I did not encounter any problems. The hardest part was that part you mention between Holland and Clearwater, but it was not that big of a deal.

Still have Rimini and Fleecer to do, however.

4

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: Please help! How to follow waypoints?

« on: July 02, 2014, 02:52:22 pm »

OK, so I reloaded and had a track that went from Banff to Helena then stopped, and a route that would make the unit crash when opening. I deleted, reloaded and ... same. Then I erased everything, went to topofusion.com again and dowloaded everything, put it up on the unit and ... success? There are now three tracks, one of which stops in Helena, but the other two seem to go to Mexico. So ... I guess the lesson learned is that if you hit enough buttons enough times things eventually work.

Thanks very much for your help as I know this was  rambling target shoot of a question!

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GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: Please help! How to follow waypoints?

« on: July 02, 2014, 11:57:04 am »

Ah -- so for some reason I only loaded one of them, not both.

In Basecamp it seemed that what I loaded had the entire journey as the latitudes started in the 50s and went to the 30s, but on the map when it appeared the track started in Banff and ended near Helena -- yeah, probably about 1000 miles.

Let me try it with both.

I really appreciate your help.

6

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: Please help! How to follow waypoints?

« on: July 01, 2014, 03:45:49 pm »

Thank you.

I've actually realized now what I really want is not the waypoint data but instead track data which is made available here:

http://www.topofusion.com/divide/gps.php

So rather than using waypoints I could (in theory) follow that guy's track, which would/should show up as a blue line on my gps signifying that it's an entered track.

I have copied those files into my Garmin but they are not visible on the unit tracks, nor is the track visible on the map when I zoom in.

Is there something I have to do to unlock the track or install it on the unit?

I apologize for the shifting nature of this question. While using the eTrex 20 is easy, loading it and customizing it with maps has been really confusing and annoying!!!

7

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: Please help! How to follow waypoints?

« on: June 30, 2014, 12:00:32 pm »

Thanks, I'm trying to follow the Great Divide route, generally the Montana section in maps 1 and 2.

8

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Please help! How to follow waypoints?

« on: June 27, 2014, 02:27:43 pm »

I have a Garmin eTrex 20. I have installed maps on it from gpsfiledepot.com. Earlier I biked a portion of the Great Divide trail and decided that following waypoints would be way easier than following the map only. I talked to a biker who uses the same unit and said with his dash-mounted GPS he can just look down and see which way his arrow is pointing when he gets to a road junction. THIS IS WHAT I WANT!

I downloaded waypoints for the route from topofusion.com but have not put them on the unit yet.

How do I install waypoints so I can then follow the route? Do I just install them on the unit and then click enable and they appear on the topo map? I think I can manage to 'Create Route' through the 'Route Planner" but do I need to select every single waypoint in the topofusion route?

Also, does it matter which direction I ride in?

I save routes and mark waypoints on my GPS, and when I return to the area I can open that track that I want and navigate by the waypoints already saved, but in this case I will have a set file of waypoints, not a saved track.

Obviously I am not an expert with the GPS. I'm not against fiddling with it, but I'd hate to think I had done everything right only to get on the trail and discover I had missed a step!

9

Routes / Montana Great Divide -- with a Chariot

« on: June 11, 2014, 01:41:27 pm »

I have not been able to find helpful information about doing the Montana portion of the Great Divide with a loaded Chariot.

I understand that the difficult sections like near Rimini and Fleecer probably won't work, but any input on the other areas?

The main issues I'm wondering about is single track and particularly steep or rocky sections.

I have the map, which gives some hints on steepness but not on trail width.

Since we have a baby and live nearby we are doing to do it in weekend chunks -- probably starting on the section from Swan south to Seeley.

Thanks for any input.