[r1de]

Hi All,

For the last several months, we've been working on an upgrade to the Evergreen Trail Guide. The old Wiki-style guide has served well and worked hard over the years, but the replacement software will aim to be more visual, mobile-friendly, and easier to use.

We're going to begin the process of porting over some content from the wiki to the new trail guide soon: for each trail, that will include information like location, maps, photos, etc. We could use a few volunteers to help migrate the information to the new site. Please PM me if you'd be willing to take on a trail or two, or even just review the content for accuracy and/or provide some pics/directions for someone else to plug into the new site.

Thanks!

 

[r1de]

Bump - still working on it.

 

[Sven Trials]

Good work ride!! Can't wait to try it out.

 

[mrosey]

did you guys take it down to work on it? i clicked on the link and it took me here Trail Guide Search Results - Find cheap prices for Nitto Trail Grappler M/T 35x12.50R20 E/10PR - PriceGrabber i dont think thats it.

 

[r1de]

did you guys take it down to work on it? i clicked on the link and it took me here Trail Guide Search Results - Find cheap prices for Nitto Trail Grappler M/T 35x12.50R20 E/10PR - PriceGrabber i dont think thats it.

No, it's not down. We haven't posted the URL for it here or publicly; we've been sharing the URL via email with the volunteers that have come forward. Have you been roped into that list yet? If so, please contact me via email.

We're very close to being able to publicly reveal a sneak-peek at the new site, but still need a couple weeks of work.

 

[Borneo]

Hopefully this helps a lot. I recently had a ride where someone showed up with a map from an online trails resource (not Evergreen's) and the TH was about 3 miles off behind a locked gate. Also in perusing the routes I know all too well, there was bad information (old, outdated or just wrong) on there as well. No wonder when at the gate at the end of the road two weeks earlier, I ran into two separate groups that were also using this site and got real lost. Now, those that know me know I've been giving everyone from Zilly and on a bad time about being accurate when they write/post routes, etc. Just seems some on line trail guides don't really put any research into what they post.

This thread didn't get much traction a week ago when r1de threw it up here but I always see posts asking about locations and "best" routes. So, I'll ask, where do you all go to best research some place you may not have ridden yet or where do you point others who are asking? I know what I need to do and I won't be going to "that" site.

 

[Mr. Lynch]

That's why they riders who know where to go to update the pages. A lot of them are just transferred over from the old wiki and have out of date info.

I've helped on a bunch and have been trying to get update maps and GPS files so new riders can spend more time on the trail and less time trying to find it!

 

[Ladmo]

where do you all go to best research some place you may not have ridden yet.

I check the Evergreen site and also search the web for the trail name in question as well as something like "mountain bike trails near X". Read everything, and go with whatever is the consensus. I like a little route finding/exploring on occasion anyway so I don't mind spending time figuring it out when I'm out there.

 

[r1de]

That's why they riders who know where to go to update the pages. A lot of them are just transferred over from the old wiki and have out of date info.

I've helped on a bunch and have been trying to get update maps and GPS files so new riders can spend more time on the trail and less time trying to find it!

Yes, and I'm sending you a huge HIGH-5 for your help so far - it's been great! We've still got a lot of pages with crufty info, but I think we're going to move forward with what we've got and continue cleaning it up over a longer period of time. Several of us working on this project have all been on vacation lately, so it's been a little quiet, but I'm hoping we can reveal a live beta version in June.

 

[r1de]

BTW, I could use mileage and elevation estimates for Teanaway: I currently just have 1 mile of trail and 1 foot of elevation listed - I was hoping that would motivate someone to give me some better values.

Turn-by-turn section could use some love as well.

Lower West Fork Teanaway

I meant to ask during the Saturday ride; I'll shoot an email to the registered riders now.

 

[Borneo]

More lunch time surfing... I got a heads up on this site so I just went to it for the first time.... Really wondering like with other sites where they get the information they can post up???? Mountain Bike Trails and Reviews

I do think it's funny that there are 81 locations to ride from my home town. Almost looks like they populated every viable ride within a 3 hour radius... WTH???? ACREE sent me the link to the Stravass heat map which I must admit is at least a little cool but I don't think I'd follow the lemmings to the brightest trails necessarily. r1de, I hate to say it but a turn by turn for the new T-way Saturday alone would take pages and pages.... The "Fu" page for Lower west Fork has the 2-3 year old version of the Sat ride BTW...

 

[moefosho]

I really like the design!
Between that, MTB Project, trailfu(new one to me), I have lots of new trials to check out.

 

[Borneo]

Just note like freakybro said earlier, NONE of them are 100% perfect and up to date. It's like religion and politics, among other things. Get a big pile of information, absorb it all, and make up your own mind... Trailfu looks like someone just went through the web scrubbing up everyone else's information without actually doing research in some cases. I seriously think some people do it just for the ad revenue.

 

[Mr. Lynch]

I usually use the map to find a new place, then try to find a local that knows the area and get a real tour. I dont mind exploring, but if your driving a few hours to check out a new location, riding around and missing the good stuff sucks!

 

[Borneo]

Hehehe. Thing is, "the good stuff" has differing requirements to different people. One of the many things about our community that really irks me is the post, "All I want is the good stuff. Can someone direct me to that?" As if they don't really care anything about the area, the history, or making up their own "good stuff". It's so sad.... The biggest reply is, "I don't have time to poke around." Which is total BS IMHO. Any time anyone says "they don't have time." it is not that they don't, it's that it isn't that important enough to them to make the time.... Yeah, it bites if you missed something cool. But, I use that as an excuse to go back.

 

[Mr. Lynch]

Very true. I'm talking about stuff like driving 3 hours to Galbraith, spending most the day riding circles on logging roads and missing all the trailheads.

 

[Borneo]

Okay. Not sure how you could do that without running across a few trails popping out. Though maybe that's why we see people pushing up Evo and Scorpion.

Navigating most places these days isn't rocket surgery. Even without the latest iPhone trail app... Just downloading and printing 2-3 maps and routes, hopefully on a topo from some sources and reviewing them the day before should work enough...

 

[Mr. Lynch]

It happens! I watched a guy lean his bike and hang his helmet on a trail sign, then walk over and ask if where knew where that trail was located. I've also seen people ride right by a trail head, and continue on a path that leads to nothing but double track, then later on you run into them and they ask how to find the trail you watched them pass. maybe it's the head down, pedal away thing some people do.

Once last year I was stopped where the summit trail meets Preston and a small group rode in via Preston and asked us where the Summit trail was. I figured the big signs all over explained it, but I guess not.

 

[verslowrdr]

The biggest reply is, "I don't have time to poke around."

FWIW I'm somewhat sympathetic. Unfortunately employers can really put the pinch on a person's free time, and in this economy it may not pay to buck too hard about it. When you're already coming in from across/out of state, getting the bead on the vital goods isn't unreasonable.

Having said that.... we've managed to explore quite a bit of previously vague local territory in the last few seasons. We spend a lot of hours pouring over various maps, websites, Google Earth, local intel, etc, then we put together a track for the GPS and give it a go. It's actually fun to head off into the wild unknown and see what you run into.

So much depends on your definition of 'good' though. We recently rummaged around more on the plateau above Joe Watt and were BLOWN AWAY by the utterly wild, remote country and the views... but the only route through happens to be on terrible jeep roads. We had a long conversation about how one chunk of MTB peeps would be griping about the lack of singletrack (and forget 'flow', lol), and another cohort would be experiencing aching perma-grin cramps in their face from the landscape.

Guess there's folks who look down and folks who look up... nobody's doing it wrong, but the catch is figuring out who you're talking to when making recommendations or gathering intel.

 

[Mr. Lynch]

that where the emphasis on pix and video come in. 2 minutes of video and a couple good pix will tell you more than any write up.