OFF ROAD - GPS tracks

dlevedag · Sep 14, 2007

I took off with the new 3rd edition MHS map and had a blast. Left at 11 am one day and was back by dinner the next.

My off road sections were:
Mae Taeng- Chaing Dao
Muang Khong - Wiang Haeng ("Motorcycle only track") Absolutely awesome single track!
Kong Lom - Pai

Note: Muang Khong - Wiang Haeng. When you reach "Ban Ngoo" there's a long bamboo bridge to the village. Supposedly you cant cross there, and have to cross by carrying your bike down stream a 100 meters, then back across a few hundred more meters. You can get help from the villagers for 100baht per bike. I thought it was a scam, might have been. I didnt see any other option, and I looked.

We ended up dropping the first bike in the river, and getting the plug/carb wet. Its a tuff crossing now with the water so high. Waist Level - chest level at some points.

So we spent the night with the good people of Ban Ngoo. I was the only Farang, the first to ever sleep there. Good times. Had a kid smoking opium in the corner, little old lady fixing my cigarettes by roasting them over the fire and rolling them in corn husk, Palm Heart and rice for breakfast, incredible tea.

Good times!

Anyways - Be prepared for the crossing/ getting wet /change of dry clothes/ and maybe staying the night in the village (if they will let you?). Also bring plenty of water and snacks - you're going to sweat alot and use every once of energy you have.

I kicked down 600baht for everything, crossing the river and spending the night, food and water.

Here's a link to the GPS files. GPX for GPS and KML for Google Earth.

Cheers Dirty
Download MXweinghaing.zip

dlevedag · Sep 14, 2007

Oh Yeah - how about you guys start sharing GPS data? I know you got it!!

DavidFL · Sep 19, 2007

quote:

Originally posted by dlevedag

Oh Yeah - how about you guys start sharing GPS data? I know you got it!!

dlevedag
Good report mate & welcome to the GT Rider "riders" board.

Chiang Mai is a good place to live & go riding eh?
There are heaps of excellent dirt / asphalt loops to do in North Thailand / Laos.

Most of what I’ve already done is either in my Golden Triangle guide book, or on one of the maps – The Mae Hong Son Loop, The Mae Sa Valley Samoeng Lop, or the Laos guide map.
The guide book has dated a bit now & I was supposed to be doing an update earlier this year, if it were not for the broken shoulder, so the book update is on the drawing board for the 1st half of next year now. However for road descriptions & travel times you still can’t beat it as a bikers guide to North Thailand. Only the bars / restaurants / ghouses / hotels have changed the most!

Now for GPS tracks, yeah sure I have “the works.” I also have a 1st class GPS map of North Thai & all of Laos – all surveyed by myself, with some input from fellow GT Riders who like riding / touring & sharing info / tips.
There are scores of guys who would dearly love the info as soon as they arrive, but I have to confess I aint giving it away.
I’m prepared to swap tracks for something I don’t have, but your tracks must be active logs, not saved tracks, & plotted at 20 metre intervals. None of this auto / 200 metre plotting for me. I like my maps to be accurate & in the mountains 200 metres can make all the difference when trying to find a trail or turn off.

For parts & shops in Chiang Mai check out
https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorc ... -t633.html
For other stuff, not readily available we use Chan Kok Pyng at M-Technik
http://www.m-technik.net/index.html
in Singapore.
Chan can & does get anything we want, plus can arrange delivery in Thailand if you’re not in a hurry. Otherwise EMS & courier are only 24-48 hrs away, subject to customs hitting you up for duty.

Please drop by the X-Centre Sunday for MotoGp & introduce yourself. You should find some like minded keen dirt riders in attendance. Wear a GT Rider shirt & you’ll probably fit right in with the group.

Sorry had to repost this as I wacked it on the wrong thread (Chiang Mai Parts), yesterday. Apologies too all for the eror of my ways.

dlevedag · Oct 4, 2007

Thanks Davidfl - for you comment and for all the work you've done for riders in Thailand.

As far as GPS data goes - I understand the value in time spent finding trails. So I'll gladly trade tracks.

I dont quite understand the "active log' vs "saved tracks". I've only been using GPS for a little while. I'm finding new a better ways of doing things everytime I go out. So as far as saving tracks - how am I supposed to make a track file if I dont save it? If when I get home and export the active log - it'll have my all my road riding and all the stops, dead ends and so on. It would be even more of a mess than my tracks already are.

I do understand the tracks points - I just set my unit for "distance" and to record every 0.05km ( is my math right?)

Anyways - > Any area you want more tracks for? Sounds like you have the whole country mapped - I dont think I'll finds anything you dont already have.

My next destination in NAN - I like the openness and the rolling hills.

Cheers

dlevedag · Oct 11, 2007

NOTE: Muang Khong - Wiang Haeng

I've been back since and there IS a trail (narrow foot path )that connects at the river crossing. But its hairy. Real steep and narrow with sharp turns, and a drop off that would proably kill you if you made a mistake. Its not wide enough to push your bike or put your feet down if you loose balance.

I was willing to give it a go - but my friends said no. Looking back to it - its probably better I didnt try.

DavidFL · Oct 11, 2007

quote:

Originally posted by dlevedag

Thanks Davidfl - for you comment and for all the work you've done for riders in Thailand.

As far as GPS data goes - I understand the value in time spent finding trails. So I'll gladly trade tracks.

I dont quite understand the "active log' vs "saved tracks". I've only been using GPS for a little while. I'm finding new a better ways of doing things everytime I go out. So as far as saving tracks - how am I supposed to make a track file if I dont save it? If when I get home and export the active log - it'll have my all my road riding and all the stops, dead ends and so on. It would be even more of a mess than my tracks already are.

I do understand the tracks points - I just set my unit for "distance" and to record every 0.05km ( is my math right?)

Anyways - > Any area you want more tracks for? Sounds like you have the whole country mapped - I dont think I'll finds anything you dont already have.

My next destination in NAN - I like the openness and the rolling hills.

Cheers

Dirty Dave
Saved tracks are averaged out & reduced to 500 nodes.
Active logs keep all the nodes, so that you get an accurate track.
If an active log has 2-3-4 thousand nodes in it, when it is saved & reduced to 500 nodes you lose a lot of corners & it could end up being scores of metres, if not hundreds of metres out in places & that is not good enough for serious trail riding or mapping. (The 12,000 baht ESRI map is often out hundreds of metres up-country.)

Just download your tracks as active logs. Save them in a folder on your computer. Then clean out your GPS & start again. Keep them all as active logs, NOT saved tracks!

Set your GPS tracking distance to 0.02 metres for best accuracy. No need to go down any less to 0.01 metres. I only use 0.01 metres for city mapping & small sois.

I'm looking for tracks north & south of R1150 between Phrao & Wiang Pa Pao. "Half way" between Phrao & Wiang Pa Pao, turn left / north at Kun Jae & head to Mae Pung Luang royal agric station. There should be a link up with Mae Tam on R118 The Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai Road. But it should be muddy steep rutted & slippery, with lots of turns & possibly dead ends.

I'm also chasing the GPS track from Wang Kaew waterfall (north of Wang Nua) to "Phayao." Get up on the ridgeline there & you will find a whole network of trails.

There are also heaps of dirt trails in the Wawi area, west-south-west of Chiang Rai, that I'm after the GPS tracks for.

Have you met up with Big & Tall yet?
Who are you riding with -I understand you're not alone.

Catch up to you soon - either Richco tomorrow, or the Triumph launch at Niyom Panich on Saturday. Or MotoGP on Sunday.

Auke · Oct 12, 2007

David,

That must a mighty good GPS you have if you can make track points every one or two centimeters. The best my GPS(60 CX) can do is to make a track point every 10 meters or every second.

With regard to tracks, if you have a Garmin X model (60CX, 60CSX, 76CX and 76CSX and probably a few of the Etrex models with an SD card as well) you can set up the unit so that every track is stored on the SD card which you can download on the PC (not sure if that is possible with a Mac).

In the "Track Page" on the GPS go to "Set Up" and then to Data Card Setup on the bottom of that page. On the next page tick the box "Log Track to Data Card". The GPS will then save all the tracks automatically to the SD card using the date as name of the track.

Downloading the tracks to the PC: Go to the "Main menu" page, select "Setup" and then "Interface". Toggle to the bottom of the page to "USB Mass Storage". Press Enter and the GPS becomes a simple SD card which will be recognized by the PC as such. Press the "On" button briefly and the unit reverts to a GPS again.

DavidFL · Oct 13, 2007

quote:

Originally posted by Auke

David,
That must a mighty good GPS you have if you can make track points every one or two centimeters. The best my GPS(60 CX) can do is to make a track point every 10 meters or every second.

Duh, you got me there Auke.
Should be 0.02 kms. (3 typos in a row?) Best if I leave all the GPS queries to you from now on.

dirthonk · Oct 13, 2007

dleveldaq, me and big and tall are out pretty much every day if you fancy hooking up and finding some new trails, we have primarily been concentrating on the area on the south east and south of doi sutthep and have found some trails that link up, today we nearly made it from the 121 highway on singletrack to the obseratory on the 1004 up to wat sutthep, we came an agonising 150meters from succeeding beforte being faced with a ravine and a very dicey " trail" on the side of the mountain, we walked it first before deeming it impossible. however we were informed at the bottom by a thai guy that you can reach the obseravtory on a motorbike, we must have gone of the trail somewhere, it is a bit of a spiders web up there, so we will try and connect it starting from the top next time. if you are based in chiang mai give either me or big and tall an email and we probably can be of some use to one another.....

dlevedag · Oct 25, 2007

Thanks for the clarification - up until recently I didnt have any software (for MAC) that could manage track files. Then it took me a while to figure out how to delete more than one point at a time. But I'm all straightened out now. Bought "MACGPSPRO" - > GPS set to save active log to SDcard @ 0.02 KM. I'm off this weekend with a friend from Bali. He's been up a few time and I also ride with a Thai friend from CM.

I've seen alot of you guys around town. That Africa Twin stands out!!

I'll get on those trails in the coming weeks and get you some data.

dlevedag (Dirty)

DavidFL · Oct 25, 2007

quote:

Originally posted by dlevedag

I've seen alot of you guys around town. That Africa Twin stands out!!
dlevedag (Dirty)

Please stop & say hello then. We’ve still not met you.

quote:

Originally posted by dlevedag

I'll get on those trails in the coming weeks and get you some data.
dlevedag (Dirty)

Good work if you do. Get something new & we can swap some tracks.
I’ve got heaps of tips for new places to check out.

dlevedag · Oct 30, 2007

quote:

Originally posted by dlevedag

NOTE: Muang Khong - Wiang Haeng

I've been back since and there IS a trail (narrow foot path )that connects at the river crossing. But its hairy. Real steep and narrow with sharp turns, and a drop off that would proably kill you if you made a mistake. Its not wide enough to push your bike or put your feet down if you loose balance.

I was willing to give it a go - but my friends said no. Looking back to it - its probably better I didnt try.

Here's a picture of the foot path - >

My 2 cents are NOT to try it. The crossing the river is easier and safer. Now with the rain gone - its a piece of cake. Only about 3 meters are still to deep to push/ride through.