Re: Silverbow

Message posted by Gary Sellani on July 07, 2000 at 04:12:45 EST:

At the moment I don't have a notebook computer, so I just buy the topo maps when I need them. I can go to the USGS in Menlo Park Ca and just pick them up. It will cost you more to print a map than to buy it at $4 a pop. Inkjet printers are a means to sell ink. The CDROMs have the advantage that you can view the maps on a computer with decent software, zooming in where you need to. I'd say the best choice would be the Garmin CD since you can upload the data right to your gps if you own a Garmin, and upload the maps if you own a GPSIII+ or Emap. Having the topo map in the GPS is pretty neat. I still think if you are driving it is best to have a hard copy map. Computers and GPSs can flake out. You will probably spend $30 in gas round trip from Rachel, so $4 for the map doesn't seem so bad.

I studied the terrain and think going all the way to Silverbow (probably Nixon Peak) is not the best plan. The reason is from that location one of the 4 runways will be blocked by a small hill at around 6000ft. The runways are at the 5400 ft level. Actually, I did the math and you can just see over the hill, so the runway won't be blocked, but the space alien behind the hill will be blocked. You could try both site and report back if the extra distance and height is worth it.

I put a few gif files in a hidden directory on my web site. Here they are with some explanations.

This file is an overview of the area. It shows the main road, which I logged on my gps with a track. The guard shack is just a bit beyond the TTRWARN waypoint. The TTRSIGN waypoint is the rocket sign. I picked three spying locations, with ttr_spy_2 being what I think is the best. It has nothing in the way and requires very little hiking if you believe the maps.

http://www.lazygranch.com/ttr/ttr_over.gif

This shows the route I think is best. You can cut over sooner like Tom suggested, but bear in mind that that route climbs a hill of sort, so you are farther away but more exposed. The map shows more streams on the upper route, but I doubt that makes a difference at the moment.

http://www.lazygranch.com/ttr/ttr_route.gif

These two just zoom in on the route above.
http://www.lazygranch.com/ttr/strip1.gif
http://www.lazygranch.com/ttr/strip2.gif

This map shows the detail around the spy locations.
http://www.lazygranch.com/ttr/spylocs.gif

This map is zoomed in on the hill I'm calling spy2. You can see the hike is pretty easy. Elevation change is only 400ft.
http://www.lazygranch.com/ttr/spy2.gif

This file contains the route in Garmin format. You can read it pretty easily. If you had the right software, you could import the file then feed it right to your GPS.
http://www.lazygranch.com/ttr/ttr.txt

Incidentally, going to ttr_spy_2 will save you 6 miles over silverbow. That is nearly 1/3 the trip. From ttr_spy_2, you are 19 miles to the furthest runway.

Given the distance, you may want to rent a lens, though you could save that for your second trip once you have the site down. The lens rentals aren't bad, and sometimes are cheaper on the weekends when the pro's aren't working. I have a friend who swears rentals are the way to go for big glass as the rental price is often only 1 to 2% of the cost of the lens, i.e. a $1500 lens may rent for $30 for 2 days. In your case, you would have to go to Vegas to rent the lens, which adds to the cost but of course is fun. Plus you could spy on Janet at the same time while you are there.

In Reply to: Silverbow posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on July 06, 2000 at 23:46:32 EST:

Replies:


[ Discussion Forum Index ] [ FAQ ]