Trail Navagation? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Trail Navagation?

K

komodo

Well-known member
Going to get dirty this spring.
Plan on riding the Ganaraska and Simcoe county forest.
Being a city dweller and not knowing where I'm going I'd like to have some way to navigate.
What are you guys using?
Old school paper?
GPS?
The force?

Once I get into the forests everything looks the same...
 
Learn the fire roads. There's only a few main ones and once you've got them figured out its pretty easy to navigate. I use the force :)
 
When I did the trail tours, I didn't see any fire roads. Ganaraska forest looks like a easy place to get lost.
Last thing I want to do is be low on fuel and lost.
 
In a pinch use your cell phone. I've never had any problems getting out to a road. Most single track links to double track which links to fire road type which will lead to a proper road.
 
For Ganaraska, at least pick up a West Forest map when you get your day pass and bring a compass. Then if you get lost in the single track it is fairly easy to pop out onto the double track or fire roads and reorient yourself. That being said, a cheap hiking GPS is well worth it. The first time you visit the forest just cruise along one or two sides of the outer fire roads with the GPS on to delineate the boundaries of the forest, then go get lost in the single track. Even if you don't have GPS maps, the breadcrumb feature of most hiking units will clearly show you the straight lines of the outer fire roads that you rode and give you a frame of reference.

I run an old Garmin (a VentureHC, I think) on a bar mount, and a laminated paper map taped to the tank. The paper map is easier to see at a glance than panning/scrolling the GPS
 
The big wide sandy roads, those are the fire roads or the logging roads if you prefer. Just pay attention to where you went in and turned, don't go in with low fuel.
 
I was thinking along the lines of a waterproof handheld GPS. Trailtech Voyager looks interesting.
I'll probably just start out with a paper map and see how it goes before spending money.
 
komodo said:
Hesitant to use my phone. I'll probably end up crashing and damaging the thing.
Click to expand...

Life proof case mounted on a ram mount. I've crashed plenty of times and never broke. Or I just chuck it in my hydration pack and look if I need to.
 
Robp said:
Life proof case mounted on a ram mount. I've crashed plenty of times and never broke. Or I just chuck it in my hydration pack and look if I need to.
Click to expand...

Looked up the life proof case. Never heard of them.
They don't have anything for my model of phone.
Probably a good idea to have a phone in case of emergency though.
 
Get a Ganaraska trail map,most of the trails are marked by letter and numbers so you can see exactly where you are.Once you ride there for a few months you get to know the fire roads pretty well.I used to start at the west and ride over to the east forest all the time.If you want gps I have a Garmin rino 130 that I never used with a bar mount,you can have it for $40.
 
Kijiji is your friend - no need to spend a ton of money. Look for something like the Garmin 62 series (or Garmin Oregon if you can find one) of handheld GPS units. They are waterproof, will take a pair of AA batteries and there are a million mount options for them. Once you have one, you can choose the type of maps you want to load onto it; streets, topographic, Ontario backroads, etc.
 
canuckwr250 said:
Get a Ganaraska trail map,most of the trails are marked by letter and numbers so you can see exactly where you are.Once you ride there for a few months you get to know the fire roads pretty well.I used to start at the west and ride over to the east forest all the time.If you want gps I have a Garmin rino 130 that I never used with a bar mount,you can have it for $40.
Click to expand...

Might take that gps off you.
 
Ganni pretty easy to navigate.
I rode around there by myself 4-5 times this past fall (first time on a dirtbike and absolutely loved it can't believe just got into now ... lol majorly missed out all these years).

I didn't have a map or phone/gps, it's fairly east to follow the main 2-track/logging roads. You ride far enough in any direction and you would hit the edge/boundary of the forest anyway in 20-30 mins of riding max if your just cruising (more realistically 10-15 minutes in any direction). If you have all winter to prepare/research one cool thing you can get is an over-sized tank (my dirtbike came with one and I spend 4-5 hours give or take just zipping up and down the forest double and single tracks). Your gonna luv it it's so much fun and the forest is quite beautiful inside and a couple of look-outs to stop for a break.
 
Re: Serialize

Yeah I did the Trail Tours thing last year.
I'm hooked. Already have a bike sitting in my living room haunting me.
When I took the guided trail tour, I was just following along.
Didn't pay too much attention to where I was going.
Seemd like it would be easy to get lost. All the trees looks the same.:)
We didn't ride much double track/fire roads.
 
komodo said:
Re: Serialize

Yeah I did the Trail Tours thing last year.
I'm hooked. Already have a bike sitting in my living room haunting me.
When I took the guided trail tour, I was just following along.
Didn't pay too much attention to where I was going.
Seemd like it would be easy to get lost. All the trees looks the same.:)
We didn't ride much double track/fire roads.
Click to expand...


LoL, yep I hear ya got mine in the basement taunting me (though about trying in the snow for a few wipeouts) :lmao:
Oh cool, yeah i heard the trail tours are great and everything provided.
Most / all of the trails that aren't literally a thin rut the exact width of the front tire to fit (these are the single track) are considered the double track access roads / logging roads. There are some really nice single tracks in there with up and down elevations and some steep hill climbs and very narrow barely fitting the handle bars in places.
If you get to the centre south part of the West forest there is a kind of "bowl" area with some burmed side which is kinda neat and can be repeated like a little circuit.
Yeah I can't navigate by the tree's either, but ride out which ever trail your on (for like 5-10 minutes max) and you'll hit one of the main double track access roads in no time. Also the doubles are labelled in major spots so you have an approx idea where you are.
Its almost like the layout of ski/snowboard resorts in terms of picking a trail, ride it out, and eventually you end up back on a double track and take that as an access road until you see the next trail that you want to ride.
 
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Serialize said:
LoL, yep I hear ya got mine in the basement taunting me (though about trying in the snow for a few wipeouts) :lmao:
Oh cool, yeah i heard the trail tours are great and everything provided.
Most / all of the trails that aren't literally a thin rut the exact width of the front tire to fit (these are the single track) are considered the double track access roads / logging roads. There are some really nice single tracks in there with up and down elevations and some steep hill climbs and very narrow barely fitting the handle bars in places.
If you get to the centre south part of the West forest there is a kind of "bowl" area with some burmed side which is kinda neat and can be repeated like a little circuit.
Yeah I can't navigate by the tree's either, but ride out which ever trail your on (for like 5-10 minutes max) and you'll hit one of the main double track access roads in no time. Also the doubles are labelled in major spots so you have an approx idea where you are.
Its almost like the layout of ski/snowboard resorts in terms of picking a trail, ride it out, and eventually you end up back on a double track and take that as an access road until you see the next trail that you want to ride.
Click to expand...

When I was shopping around for bikes I test rode some in the snow. It's not that bad...unless there is ice under the snow.
 
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