Wow - Black Pond "Bushwhack"

[psyculman]

Strava recently released their 2017 Global Heatmap. There's far more data in it compared to the previous one (2015). While perusing it, I remembered this thread and had a gander at the Black Pond bushwhack. It's fascinating to see how braided the tracks become in that short distance.

Switch the map to "Satellite" to get a clearer representation of the area.
https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#15.20/-71.58557/44.11540/hot/run


(Pan the map north to see the Brutus Bushwhack.)

Thank you for posting this resource, never seen it before, very useful!

 

[dailey7779]

Another well-worn (and braided) shortcut:

https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#13.73/-71.28505/44.21590/hot/run

Thanks for posting, this is so cool! I just spent about a half hour looking around at the tracks all over the White Mountains, cool to zoom in on the bushwhacks, slides, abandoned trails, and other unique spots to see if there is a heatmap line.

 

[TJsName]

Another well-worn (and braided) shortcut:

https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#13.73/-71.28505/44.21590/hot/run

The Vose Spur whack also appears scattered: https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#15.84/-71.42881/44.10178/hot/run

And just as interesting to me is how distinct some of the 'whacks' are: Nancy, Fire Wardens (Hale) and the Basin (Liberty)

Also, people using abandoned/re-routed trails like theAT on Moosilauke, getting lost on the Piper, finding they way up the North Slide on Tripyramid, trying to cross Franconia Brook, or walking across Lonesome Lake.

 

[Trail Boss]

Thank you for posting this resource, never seen it before, very useful!

I've used Strava's Heatmap to add/modify High Peaks hiking trails in OpenStreetMap (OSM). You're not allowed to use a proprietary source as a mapping reference for OSM (like Google Maps). Fortunately, Strava allows its heatmap tracks to be traced for use in OSM.

Normally, I'll try to collect several GPS tracks from online sources (like Wikiloc) and hiking companions. When drawing the trail, I'll manually "average" the aggregation of collected tracks. This ensures the finished trail will be closer to "true" than by simply tracing a single GPS track. Strava's Heatmap is an "aggregator of tracks" and saves me the time of having to collect them individually.

Having said that, the previous version of their Heatmap was far skimpier and lacked data for less-frequented trails. However, the new one almost has too much data (even so-called "secret routes" are revealed)!

The only thing that prevents me from using this new version for OSM mapping is that Strava has not yet updated their Tile Mapping Service (TMS). The URL above is for viewing the Heatmap in a browser. However, there's another one, for TMS, if you want to view it in a navigation app or in a map-editor (http://globalheat.strava.com/tiles/running/...). They haven't updated that one with the latest data yet; hopefully soon.

 

[iAmKrzys]

Strava recently released their 2017 Global Heatmap. There's far more data in it compared to the previous one (2015).

This is so great, especially for checking off-trail stuff! How do you use the tiles for background in OSM? Do you need to use JOSM for that?

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Strava Heat Maps are very cool. They have over 1 billion activities recorded (not all include tracks). Here are my personal heat maps (hiking and cycling, zoomed to NH only.)

Bicycling Heat Map

Hiking Heat Map

Tim

 

[Becca M]

re: AMC (NH Chapter) leader information: "Accepted Peer Practices" - "AMC leaders must keep to trails and may not bushwhack, or lead groups to any area more than 500' from the trail....Thus, for example, Owls Head, etc. are off limits to AMC hikes."

Owl's Head was a very popular hike but now we cannot lead hikes there, unfortunately. It is what it is!

 

[Trail Boss]

How do you use the tiles for background in OSM? Do you need to use JOSM for that?

Yes. JOSM supports TMS (Tile Map Services), WMS (Web Map Services), and WMTS (Web Map Tile Services).

Here's a list of maps it supports by default: https://josm.openstreetmap.de/wiki/Maps You can, of course, display other maps as long as they are rendered using one of the three aforementioned services.

I've used it to display NYS GIS Orthoimages (recorded in early spring; no leaves and you can see the terrain more clearly) and, for New Hampshire, you can display hi-res imagery from their Statewide GIS Clearinghouse (relevant web services page is here).

Several backcountry-navigation apps also let you display maps rendered by TMS and WMS. You could, for example, display Strava's Heatmap on top of NH's satellite imagery (just like in JOSM). Here's an example of a custom map, created in Alpinequest, composed of several maps including Strava's Cycling Heatmap, Caltopo's Slope Shading layer, and TF Outdoors.

 

[peakbagger]

re: AMC (NH Chapter) leader information: "Accepted Peer Practices" - "AMC leaders must keep to trails and may not bushwhack, or lead groups to any area more than 500' from the trail....Thus, for example, Owls Head, etc. are off limits to AMC hikes."

Owl's Head was a very popular hike but now we cannot lead hikes there, unfortunately. It is what it is!

It will be interesting if the AMC four thousand committee will remove Owls Head from the list as per club policy there is no legal way to access it Same thing for the AMC guide, do they remove the description?

 

[hikerbrian]

Becca, do you have a source for that quote? I can’t find anything like that in the AMC 2017 leadership manual. The only bit I can find on bushwhacking is, “Stay on already heavily impacted trails, and spread the group out when bushwhacking." So is that NH chapter-specific?

 

[TomK]

It will be interesting if the AMC four thousand committee will remove Owls Head from the list as per club policy there is no legal way to access it Same thing for the AMC guide, do they remove the description?

I read the post as referring to a NH Chapter policy for NH Chapter activities. If it is a NH Chapter policy, I don't see why it would apply to hikes lead by other chapters, even if the hike took place in NH, nor to things done under the umbrella of other parts of the AMC, like the AMC WM Guide, or the various lists.

I think I saw a recent hike description in the CT Chapter activity email that included a short bushwhack. I didn't go on that hike, but I got the impression from the hike description that the bushwhack, while short, would be more than 500 feet, so if it *isn't* simply a NH Chapter policy, then clearly the CT chapter hasn't gotten the news....

TomK

 

[Fuzzy]

Map shows the location of Mega(anti search text)lithia. Interesting. Not sure how I feel about that. The resource will be useful for me, that is for sure.

 

[nartreb]

Map shows the location of Mega(anti search text)lithia. Interesting. Not sure how I feel about that. The resource will be useful for me, that is for sure.

Wait, what? In New England?? First I've ever heard of their existence... Can you PM me with a few examples / photos?

 

[JoshandBaron]

Wait, what? In New England?? First I've ever heard of their existence... Can you PM me with a few examples / photos?

It's what the dudes who made Pumpelly called it.

 

[ChrisB]

re: AMC (NH Chapter) leader information: "Accepted Peer Practices" - "AMC leaders must keep to trails and may not bushwhack, or lead groups to any area more than 500' from the trail....Thus, for example, Owls Head, etc. are off limits to AMC hikes."

Owl's Head was a very popular hike but now we cannot lead hikes there, unfortunately. It is what it is!

Hummm,

You can get to the base of the Owl's Head slide easily via valid trails.

So, is the slide and bit to the (moveable) summit the "Bushwhack?" part?

Seems like the slide can't be considered a bushwhack since North Tri and many other peaks have bonafide routes up slides.

This rule seems a bit arbitrary and slightly screwy to me.

cb

 

[iAmKrzys]

The strava heatmap is also useful for finding out what trails are NOT busy e.g. try to find Catamount cross country ski trail south of Bucklin Trail (but you will find routes up Mendon): https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#14.42/-72.88228/43.61964/hot/run
Interesting...

 

[Raven]

Hummm,

You can get to the base of the Owl's Head slide easily via valid trails.

So, is the slide and bit to the (moveable) summit the "Bushwhack?" part?

Seems like the slide can't be considered a bushwhack since North Tri and many other peaks have bonafide routes up slides.

This rule seems a bit arbitrary and slightly screwy to me.

cb

Yeah, it's the slide that's the bushwhack if you follow maintained trails to the start. It's easier to follow than some actual maintained trails. For those who haven't done it, it's not really one to brag about your "route finding skills" after finishing. Pretty straight forward.

 

[ChrisB]

It will be interesting if the AMC four thousand committee will remove Owls Head from the list as per club policy there is no legal way to access it Same thing for the AMC guide, do they remove the description?

And what about that newly minted 4K in Maine, Redington?

There is a flagged trail off the summit of South Crocker heading directly to Redington. It follows the line of the old bushwhack, but is it now an official trail?

In reality, how can any four thousand footer in New England not have a trail, given the popularity of peak-bagging 4Ks?

And what sense is there in not leading a trip to a 4K peak on the official NH or Maine list?

Draconian craziness!!

cb

 

[akafuzzjones]

FWIW, Caltopo populates Mapbuilder Topo with trails sourced from OpenStreetMap. Here's the entry for "Brutus Bushwhack". It was created by someone in May 2016 and then updated by another person (twice) this spring.

It's interesting to note that whoever drew it, did not connect the two ends to the existing trails. The same is true for the Black Pond Bushwhack. I assume this is not an oversight (the most recent map editor has a history of over 90 edits) but possibly intentional. I don't know the reason but one possibility is that it prevents auto-routing (i.e. using software to automatically create a route from Lincoln Woods to Owls Head via the Brutus Bushwhack).

Thanks for this and the heat map a two total wastes of time that I don’t need when I’m on vacation and supposed to be doing stuff around the house.

 

[akafuzzjones]

I read the post as referring to a NH Chapter policy for NH Chapter activities. If it is a NH Chapter policy, I don't see why it would apply to hikes lead by other chapters, even if the hike took place in NH, nor to things done under the umbrella of other parts of the AMC, like the AMC WM Guide, or the various lists.

I think I saw a recent hike description in the CT Chapter activity email that included a short bushwhack. I didn't go on that hike, but I got the impression from the hike description that the bushwhack, while short, would be more than 500 feet, so if it *isn't* simply a NH Chapter policy, then clearly the CT chapter hasn't gotten the news....

TomK

While I haven’t activley led much with the Boston Chapter I’ve heard the same thing from them regarding the whacks to Owls Head being off limits.