Hi VFTT. Long time no post, but a few people drew my attention to this thread.
One comment on grids: I think it was Roy S. who said "...compass users (if there are any left)...". I think pretty much all people who still depend on a compass for navigation are proficient in setting their compass to adjust for declination. Trail Bandit's north arrows are all anyone should need for this. Too many grids cause clutter and confusion, and they detract from the aesthetics of the map (a good map is not only functional but also pleasing to the eye). Choose one (I prefer one based on true north, but UTM would work fine for the Ossipees) and leave it at that.
My main reason for posting: I'm personally acquainted with a number of Ossipee Mountain landowners and because some of them associate me with trail maintenance and building (I do volunteer work for LRCT as well as other local trail-related organizations), I occasionally get calls whenever unauthorized activity occurs on their property. This can involve clearing or sometimes something as little as strange flagging popping up on their property.
The vast majority of the Ossipees is private land. The vast majority is also open to the public (un-posted) and therefore free for anyone to explore. However, there is a distinction between exploring by individuals and publicly sanctioning specific routes on private property. As a long-time board and committee member of WODC I know we have wrestled with this problem ourselves.
I personally support Trail Bandit's right to map what is "on the ground." All the information sources are publicly available anyway and anyone with marginal competence in map, aerial photography, and GPS skills can collect and use it. However, there are routes marked on Trail Bandit’s map as hiking trails (and indeed they are) that are not official by any means and are open solely at the discretion of the landowner. We, the hiking public, really don’t want to piss off the landowners.
Trail Bandit: I can put you in touch with a land conservation working group that includes landowners and landowner agents who collectively represent a huge chunk of the Ossipee Mountains. They have ideas of how you could improve your map and how you might be able to help them in their planning process. Are you interested? You can email me at
[email protected].
I know I could contact Trail Bandit directly but I chose to do it this way because this is an issue that VFTT members should be reminded of on a regular basis. Those of us (myself included) who love to wander beyond the “beaten path,” or seek out the obscure beaten paths, are dependent on the good will of the landowners. The vast majority of landowners -- in this neck of the woods, anyway -- are decent people who are happy to share their property. But it is only natural to be taken aback upon discovering clearing work going on within your boundaries or internet-wide publicity of informal paths. We should all keep this in mind.
