I've spent some time hiking and camping in the Charles Deem Wilderness. However, I've always wound up staying at the primitive camp sites. This weekend, I'd prefer to get off trail and camp somewhere more secluded. Ideally, I'd like enough hiking to keep me busy for two days, so some sort of loop would be great. Does anybody have any favorite off-trail hikes or camping spots?
Yes! I've only camped at "hard to reach" secluded spots here...well, 99% of the time. I like to pull up bing maps and use the "birds eye" view to scope out little pockets of the pines to camp in. Take the penninsula trail and get up high on some spots around the ponds (pretty nasty even for filtering). Sorry nothing real specific, but it definitely pays to get off the trail!
Unfortunatley, the grubb and penninsula trail is usually a mud and poop slip-and-slide. Horses completely destroy it then the rain turns it into a messy slurry. I've been focusing more on the Sycamore loop lately as it's foot traffic only.
Not a bad tip, Mark, provided you've got satellite imagery from the months with tree cover (for those of us in mainly deciduous areas).Gonna borrow that tip!
It's actually great in this area, it looks like april to me...almost no green except the pines. Now if they update it...who knows. Google maps seems to be in the dead of summer, so it doesn't offer much other than a green blobOriginally Posted by Eric Labanauskas
Not a bad tip, Mark, provided you've got satellite imagery from the months with tree cover (for those of us in mainly deciduous areas).
Thanks markr6. I didn't even think about pulling up satellite imagery to plan my route. That tip is definitely going to come in handy.
The Birds Eye view in Bing has been a huge help. In the past I've used the basic satellite view and once I got to my spot, it was totally different than I expected (could be a good or bad thing). Even now I'd say it's a 50/50 chance once I get there. I find it fun to just wander and find new spots without doing any planning too.
Google Earth is good for this too. I usually plan my off-trail routes in Bascamp and then view the route in Google Earth (View menu > Google Earth in Basecamp). This lets me plan on a topo and then verify the ground cover and see what the route looks like in 3D. Then I go back to Basecamp to make adjustments and repeat until I'm happy. Then transfer the route to my GPS, print some map pages for backup, and go hiking.
"Every human being holds something holy. We can all have some respect for that." - Omar Marzouk
I use Gaia app on my iPhone. It's AWESOME! I can download the maps ahead of time (TOPO, USGS, GOOGLE, etc) and it stores them on my phone, so it uses NO data/less battery/no cell signal. Definitley worth $8 or whatever it costs now.
Both Peninsulas offer plenty of off trail hiking and camping. In fact in most cases, as a hiker, you're much better off, off trail, due to the MU status of much of the Deam. Even Nebo, is much more enjoyable used to get to where you want to explore off the trail, than as a thru, these days.
GPS is sweet for finding the places you think you want to get to. Just don't become too dependent on them, leave your map and compass at home, or forget a back up battery
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