Where did your cruiser take you today? (1 Viewer)

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Last weekend I helped a friend scout Unit 015, which includes the Smoke Creek area. Lots of rough roads, very little private property, and a crop duster that almost seemed to be chasing us. We didn't see the herbicide warnings until we were on the way out. Also, the old buildings at Sand Pass are gone, I think we all knew that already.
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Returned to the trail north of Jumbo that turned us around in the spring. No ice, no problem. It is steep, I used the rear locker through the point we turned around last time, to the top. And took another branch off that tree.
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Nifty!
Really need to get my HAM license so I can go and do a bit more exploring and have a way to get myself out in emergencies. Alita has a rear locker but I have yet to use it or really try LOW at all.
Just hate not knowing where I am going. Need to grab some GPS tracks for stuff and just get out to explore I guess, gonna break down at some point!
 
gregnash said:
Nifty! Really need to get my HAM license so I can go and do a bit more exploring and have a way to get myself out in emergencies. Alita has a rear locker but I have yet to use it or really try LOW at all. Just hate not knowing where I am going. Need to grab some GPS tracks for stuff and just get out to explore I guess, gonna break down at some point!
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To be honest, I think a Garmin InReach is a better investment for emergency coms. Ham is good if you are exploring an area with a group of people you KNOW are going to be on a frequency, and are ready to come help. If you explore alone a lot (like lots of us do) then I think an InReach is a game changer.

Buy yourself an older tablet. Like 1 or 2 gens behind current and setup GaiaGPS on it. I think it is the best solution for adventuring and finding trails. If you like Apple, then a cellular iPad mini is great. That's what I have, but make sure it is a cellular capable device. Apple slaves GPS to the WiFi radio on WiFi only units and they're useless if it cannot triangulate using towers. The cell enabled devices have a dedicate GPS radio that will work with no connection at all. You just need to download the tiles you plan to adventure through onto the device before you lose signal and you'll be good to go for tracking, recording, and referencing.

You can get yourself a milspec case from SupCase for $25 and you'll have a rugged overland tablet ready for the trail.
 
Tony_Farson said:
To be honest, I think a Garmin InReach is a better investment for emergency coms. Ham is good if you are exploring an area with a group of people you KNOW are going to be on a frequency, and are ready to come help. If you explore alone a lot (like lots of us do) then I think an InReach is a game changer.

Buy yourself an older tablet. Like 1 or 2 gens behind current and setup GaiaGPS on it. I think it is the best solution for adventuring and finding trails. If you like Apple, then a cellular iPad mini is great. That's what I have, but make sure it is a cellular capable device. Apple slaves GPS to the WiFi radio on WiFi only units and they're useless if it cannot triangulate using towers. The cell enabled devices have a dedicate GPS radio that will work with no connection at all. You just need to download the tiles you plan to adventure through onto the device before you lose signal and you'll be good to go for tracking, recording, and referencing.

You can get yourself a milspec case from SupCase for $25 and you'll have a rugged overland tablet ready for the trail.
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Yup... Already have a subscription to Gaia... Had it on my old android headunit, so once I get a new one in Alita from the same company I will download and install on there.
JOYING is the name of the brand, I had their single din 7" unit in BeBe and it worked quite well. Had one problem with it, few emails back and forth and they sent me out a new "metal box" (main unit) because they believed mine was having a known soldering issue that a few batches had from their manufacturing floor. When they did, they sent me out the "newest" version of the unit with integrated DSP sound, better processor and whatnot. And literally had it less than a week after the emails from China.

Has its own integrated GPS in the unit with a dedicated GPS antenna. Always seemed to have good reception with it whenever I played with it.
 
Whatever you choose for comms, use it a lot. I don't use my radios enough to feel competent. While working at home I have kept my scanner on the 2m band to get a better ear for it. In any case, there are no repeaters in many areas, so I no longer view the radios as a serious part of the rescue picture. They are great for trail comms though.

InReach is on my list for this year, I have carried a Spot for a while but 2 way comms would be nice.

For Nav, BCN is an excellent choice on Android. Same concept as Gaia. I load Caltopo maps and USTopo imagery. I have tracks in BCN going back to 2014. There is also OnX, mostly a hunting product, but I had trouble with it crashing so I always keep BCN on in the background. My only complaint with BCN is it does not save the track on the fly, so if the tablet battery dies or overheats and you don't catch it, you lose that track.
 
We are buying some vacant land up in the mountains of Lassen County near Frenchman Lake. Since the club run was cancelled, my oldest and I spent the weekend up there exploring and getting a feel for the property while we are in escrow.

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Nice and congrats @lelandEOD I actually really like that area and want to do some more exploring. Spent quite a few summers camping at Lake Davis but never actually got over to Frenchman's to putz around.
 
My cruiser took me to a friend's house on Sunday. Used the winch to drag down a pine tree, then a tow strap to pull the stump. With the lockers on I didn't even churn up the gravel driveway.
 
rusty_tlc said:
Remember it's the journey not the destination that is the best part.
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Good point! I am taking my 40 (tub) on a journey tomorrow so at least we are spending some quality time together!
 
Beer run...lol..
 
My cruiser continues to perform dust control by dripping petroleum products in my parking lot as it has done since March.
 
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