Resources and Reflections

This was my first attempt to create a KML path in Google Earth, use TCXConverter to transform the KML to GPX, upload the GPX to the GPS and ride the route. Oy! with the acronyms.
The USGS topo calls this Main Ranch Road, paralleling Eldridge Creek to the back side of Greenfield Ranch and thence to Orr Springs Road, right up at the top by Mann Ranch. With the permission of someone along the course of the road, I hope to ride all the way through from Redwood Valley and make a really nice 30 mile loop down Orr Springs, down to North State Street and back through Calpella to Redwood Valley. Not to mention this being the most direct route to the hot springs, less than 15 miles and very little traffic, saweeeeet! The road surface looks very dusty from the satellite photos, but fairly well traveled, with perhaps a dozen or so homesteads along the way by the looks of it.
On further research, I’m told by the Mendocino County Surveyor’s office that Main Ranch Road is a privately owned road with multiple owners.

Main Ranch Road
Hoping to ride this today, more news tomorrow.

OK, July 6th and the road has been ridden, photographed and GPS’d to a fare thee well. Using the GPX file above for navigation was very easy and proved extremely useful out in the lands of many winding gravel roads with colorful names like “Chicken Foot Road” and “Find yer Way”. More details and geo-tagged photos coming tomorrow, but tonight, apres ride, I’m just going to put up the track and profile(3142′ total ascent, 28.01 mi.)

The full loop
The trickiest part of using the uploaded GPX file for navigation was actually finding the point of beginning. A close look at the “Full Loop” map above will show two false starts at the beginning of the navigation portion of the course. These cost nearly an hour and a mile or two of confusion, but once on the course, the guidance was invaluable. The rider also needs to keep in mind the necessary approximations inherent in creating a navigation route by clicking on points in Google Earth.
It is often the case, especially with rural roads, that the map’s road line deviates significantly from the underlying satellite photo image. So you pick something in between the two. In addition, when charting a course over very winding roads, you pick the midpoints of a series of curves, rather than exhaustively following the road. These and other factors result in a track that is merely an approximation of the actual ground course. So when using a “hand made” track for navigation purposes it is inevitably the case that your ground truth will vary from the navigation file and it is these variations that can throw you off course without careful attention. At these points, you have to fall back on non-technical way-finding means, like checking the road surfaces for patterns of usage (which of these forks is the main road?) and the like.
In sum then, the GPS technology is great to have and could even be a lifesaver, but inevitably, traditional way-finding skills will come into play when the device provides ambiguous information, when you exceed the 15 hour battery life or when someone (not me surely) loses or breaks the device out in the back country (or down in the ‘hood). It would be unwise and unsafe to become overly dependent on a fragile piece of technology when your life could be at stake. On the other hand, as a means of communication, to document field conditions, it a real gem.
The ride itself was really top-notch, with over 3k vertical feet of ascent, most of it between the 8 and 13 mile points, all on loose dusty gravel at grades between 8% and 20%. I am not ashamed to say that at a couple points I got off and pushed. The combination of a narrow street tire up front and very worn cleats caused me to come out of the pedals on some very steep pitches, and there’s just no getting back on till you come to a flatter spot. Did I mention its flippin’ STEEP too?
But the back country is really beautiful, spotted with oak trees and offering lovely views into redwood clothed valleys. This is Greenfield Ranch country and the folks there are very protective of their privacy and the quality of the environment. I did not see even one piece of rubbish lying beside the road. I must say that I also saw only one Private Road, No Trespassing, sign along the course of Main Ranch Road (as opposed to those indicating adjoining properties) indicating that one could not pass along the road. The signs I did see along the road, as shown in the photos, indicate that the road is “Privately Maintained” and that one is entering at one’s own risk. From my point of view, its a much more entertaining and safer route to Orr Hot Springs than taking the paved roads, and shorter too.
The big HOWEVER is, however, that in conversation with a local resident along the road, and since, with a sometime visitor to the area, my trespass is very much unwelcome. You should know without being told that simply passing over the road is BAD, the transgression of taboo which, if I had better sense I’d not have transgressed in the first place. It’s also been said that my action in passing through will cause the erection of signs that actually SAY “Private Road”, or even electronic gates. I stand accursed, for riding the road that must not be ridden, mea culpa. NO ONE must ever do this again!!
And, since no one of the uninvited may ever go there again, please enjoy the geo-tagged gallery and know that which is forbidden, however distantly.

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View on map (geotagged at lat 39.2139015, lng -123.3249664)

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