Canaan loop + optional camp and 2nd day at Flagpole - VA/WV/MD/DC/Southern PA members

[gfxcruncher]

My thoughts on wheeling, camping, and fireside trash talking? They're three key ingredients for a great weekend...

I will say that my camping and Day 2 activities will still be partially contingent on the weather and how much progress we make on Day 1. If we're on the loop winching up icy hills and clearing trail with the chainsaw all day, I may decide to motor back home and pass out once we're back on pavement.

Wrapping the day up around a hot fire with a cold beer (or few) makes it that much better...

Sounds like a good plan, I'll defer to your experience. I'm gonna be stuffing as much firewood in as I can too.

 

[01100101]

[MENTION=138048]01100101[/MENTION] - I missed you in my original heads-up message. Wouldn't feel right not checking in with you to see if you could make it up...

Thanks for the invite! The wife said we have nothing planned for that weekend, so I should be able to tag along on this trip. There's no way I can pull this off as a day trip, so I'll be sleeping in the rig if we decide to camp at GWNF.

 

[Big_Orange]

Carlos.elmotor, thanks for the invite However, I will not be able to attend to this great adventure

I will be driving down to Florida that weekend.

Have fun ! looking forward for the next trip.

 

[Dougthelurk]

Hey Carlos, please put me down as tentative for the day trip. I've been wanting to do the Canaan Loop for a while now but not sure that I'm prepared to do another sub-freezing camp out.

 

[gfxcruncher]

There's no way I can pull this off as a day trip, so I'll be sleeping in the rig if we decide to camp at GWNF.

Hey [MENTION=138048]01100101[/MENTION]. I'm thinking if Friday winds up being a worst case scenario and Sat is a bust, I'd still like to camp Fri night, even if we would have to head home after breaking camp in the am, so you could count me in on a Fri. night camp. If I'm geared up to camp, I think I'd rather do that than drive home... If we get a blizzard and it's -20F... may be another story, but I doubt it.

 

[carlos.elmotor]

Thanks for the invite! The wife said we have nothing planned for that weekend, so I should be able to tag along on this trip. There's no way I can pull this off as a day trip, so I'll be sleeping in the rig if we decide to camp at GWNF.

Hell yeah! Adding to the confirmed list.

Looking forward to catching up.

 

[carlos.elmotor]

Hey Carlos, please put me down as tentative for the day trip. I've been wanting to do the Canaan Loop for a while now but not sure that I'm prepared to do another sub-freezing camp out.

Hey Doug, that's great news and will do! Really hope you can make it out for the day. It's a fun little run.

 

[carlos.elmotor]

Carlos.elmotor, thanks for the invite However, I will not be able to attend to this great adventure

I will be driving down to Florida that weekend.

Have fun ! looking forward for the next trip.

Bummer [MENTION=162677]Big_Orange[/MENTION], but understand. Hope you guys have a great holiday and a safe trip back and forth.

Any chance you're driving down to Florida then sailing back?

 

[carlos.elmotor]

Quick update for tonight:

Just posted major waypoints for Day 2 in post #1

Will lay out a notional track next week and post it up around midweek.

Have a great weekend all and let me know if you're thinking about joining us for either day!

 

[troopa4life]

Hey Carlos,

I may be in for both days sir, will keep you updated depending on my work schedule.

 

[08runnertjb]

Sounds good and thanks for the heads up, but also planning on doing the Allegheny NF trip with 08runnertjb.

If you haven't seen it, I updated the timeline and some details on the overland bound site.

Otherwise, I'll copy and paste details on the thread I started on this forum

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[01100101]

Hey [MENTION=138048]01100101[/MENTION]. I'm thinking if Friday winds up being a worst case scenario and Sat is a bust, I'd still like to camp Fri night, even if we would have to head home after breaking camp in the am, so you could count me in on a Fri. night camp. If I'm geared up to camp, I think I'd rather do that than drive home... If we get a blizzard and it's -20F... may be another story, but I doubt it.

Sounds like a plan, there's no way I'm going to try to drive back to the beach after day 1.

 

[carlos.elmotor]

Ok great! Glad to hear it and will put you down on the tentative list.

Hope you can make the caravan out with us!

Hey Carlos,

I may be in for both days sir, will keep you updated depending on my work schedule.

 

[Dougthelurk]

I'm in for Day 1. Will meet you guys in Davis that morning.
I am crash-coursing some HAM knowledge on YouTube so that I can ask the right questions about setups and licensing. Currently, I only have the handheld CB that I bought last year which was fairly useless...

 

[carlos.elmotor]

Hey Doug,

That's great news!

I'll post target meet-up and departure times for major rally points over the upcoming week. Will PM you to make sure the Davis time fits with your availability.

Re: Ham
I just got my first license this past summer. I've been wanting to do a writeup about how I prepped for the exam, equipment I bought, lessons learned, etc.. Just haven't had time for it. I'd loan you my handheld, but [MENTION=174597]gfxcruncher[/MENTION] has already spoken for it this go-round.

The Tl,Dr; version:

• 
  I ran through the test questions and did a practice test using this free app every night before bed for about a month

• Bought an affordable 8 Watt handheld and better antenna so that I could listen in on local repeaters while I studied (receive only/no transmit)

• Used the AARL website to find a local test session - I went to the Hamfest in Berryville, VA for mine

• Showed up, took my test, paid zero dollars, expended a minimal amount of effort (studying/memorization), and was done - the license is good for 10 years and can be renewed without retaking the exam

• Almost immediately decided that I wanted a higher power output (~50Watt) rig in the truck and bought this unit with this external antenna

• I'll admit that I just didn't see the point in Ham until I tried it - the range (due greater legal transmit power and an incredible amount of extended coverage through repeaters) and audio clarity (due to FM vs AM) is lightyears ahead of CB

• Having said all of this, I still run my CB and CB antenna because there's always a mix of people with either one technology or the other - CB will be just fine for this run since it's likely we'll have a pretty small group

I'm in for Day 1. Will meet you guys in Davis that morning.
I am crash-coursing some HAM knowledge on YouTube so that I can ask the right questions about setups and licensing. Currently, I only have the handheld CB that I bought last year which was fairly useless...

 

[Boyds4Runner]

Hey [MENTION=141503]carlos.elmotor[/MENTION]

I'm still in for Friday.

Trying to have my friend in an original Toyota Pickup (yes it was just called a "pickup" back then) join in. Any ballpark idea on timeline for the day? He is trying to work the trip in and get home in time for a dinner party.

Thanks for the short-list on the HAM setup. After my first Cove trip in 2016, I went and got a Midland hand-held but wired up an external antenna for CB communications. Now go figure that everyone is moving to HAM:hurt:

Looking forward to seeing your setup and how I can make it worth-while for the "out-on-the-trails" configuration but removable or minimized for the "daily-driver" configuration!

 

[carlos.elmotor]

[MENTION=3442]Boyds4Runner[/MENTION] [MENTION=153136]Dougthelurk[/MENTION] [MENTION=138048]01100101[/MENTION]

Just PM'd you guys to coordinate meeting times for the morning of Day 1. Please let me know and I'll update the first post to capture the appropriate meet-up times/locations.

Thanks!

 

[Dougthelurk]

This is excellent info. was the hand-held good enough for trail runs or did you hit limitations quickly? that's all that I really need it for. (and I have an aversion to cutting up dashboard parts). we can talk about it later so that I don't derail the thread though.

Hey Doug,

That's great news!

I'll post target meet-up and departure times for major rally points over the upcoming week. Will PM you to make sure the Davis time fits with your availability.

Re: Ham
I just got my first license this past summer. I've been wanting to do a writeup about how I prepped for the exam, equipment I bought, lessons learned, etc.. Just haven't had time for it. I'd loan you my handheld, but [MENTION=174597]gfxcruncher[/MENTION] has already spoken for it this go-round.

The Tl,Dr; version:

• 
  I ran through the test questions and did a practice test using this free app every night before bed for about a month

• Bought an affordable 8 Watt handheld and better antenna so that I could listen in on local repeaters while I studied (receive only/no transmit)

• Used the AARL website to find a local test session - I went to the Hamfest in Berryville, VA for mine

• Showed up, took my test, paid zero dollars, expended a minimal amount of effort (studying/memorization), and was done - the license is good for 10 years and can be renewed without retaking the exam

• Almost immediately decided that I wanted a higher power output (~50Watt) rig in the truck and bought this unit with this external antenna

• I'll admit that I just didn't see the point in Ham until I tried it - the range (due greater legal transmit power and an incredible amount of extended coverage through repeaters) and audio clarity (due to FM vs AM) is lightyears ahead of CB

• Having said all of this, I still run my CB and CB antenna because there's always a mix of people with either one technology or the other - CB will be just fine for this run since it's likely we'll have a pretty small group

 

[gfxcruncher]

Awesome Carlos!
Got everything plugged into Gaia and downloaded the maps too, won't be long now!

Hope everyone has a good holiday and looking forward to seeing you all on the trail.

 

[carlos.elmotor]

The handheld was ok for trail rides with one other vehicle, but even then, having the antenna inside the vehicle limited its range. Having an external antenna (unsurprisingly) made a big difference.

I’ll bring along the parts I put together to rig up power and external antenna and give you a quick demo.

This is excellent info. was the hand-held good enough for trail runs or did you hit limitations quickly? that's all that I really need it for. (and I have an aversion to cutting up dashboard parts). we can talk about it later so that I don't derail the thread though.