Help...need direction!!!

V

v13

New Member
Hey Everyone,

So one could say that perhaps I don't have the best sense of direction and at this point it is getting a little frustrating. I have looked at maps prior to going for rides to discover that well, I would have done the same exact ride if I had never looked at one at all. With this said, I was wondering if there were any keen riders out there willing to give a helping hand in describing some routes to ride at Stephens and Allamuchy North. Stephens I always start at the iron gate, go around the lake to the railbed and jump onto the trails once I go through the underpass. And then whenever I ride Allamuchy North, I always seem to just end up on the other side of the mountain. I would like to be able to have a nice, long loop 13+ miles and feel like I accomplished something.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Also any suggestions for a good gps iPhone app that you have had good experience with that may help navigate my lost a#& in the woods.

Thanks in advance!
 
The allamuchy north Jorba map is pretty complete and accurate, while the Stephens one is missing a bunch of unmarked trails.
The way I learned my way around these parks was by taking the jorba map and overlaying it in google Earth (stretching and rotating it to line up rt 80, 206 and 517). Once I had that, I would go do a ride and come back and overlay the GPS track on top of the map on google earth. That helped we very quickly in figuring out where things were.
There are three major ways to get into allamuchy north, one is from the Waterloo rd parking lot, the other is from rt 516 (tranquility farms area) and the other by cranberry lake, either from cranberry ledge road or straight from 206. I would enter the park from each of these three sections and learn the trails in each zone. Then when you feel comfortable you can link them up using the white trail and some of the adjacent unmarked trails.
 
pxs231 said:
The allamuchy north Jorba map is pretty complete and accurate, while the Stephens one is missing a bunch of unmarked trails.
The way I learned my way around these parks was by taking the jorba map and overlaying it in google Earth (stretching and rotating it to line up rt 80, 206 and 517). Once I had that, I would go do a ride and come back and overlay the GPS track on top of the map on google earth. That helped we very quickly in figuring out where things were.
There are three major ways to get into allamuchy north, one is from the Waterloo rd parking lot, the other is from rt 516 (tranquility farms area) and the other by cranberry lake, either from cranberry ledge road or straight from 206. I would enter the park from each of these three sections and learn the trails in each zone. Then when you feel comfortable you can link them up using the white trail and some of the adjacent unmarked trails.
Click to expand...

Also, I've mapped a lot of the Stephens trails onto Open Street Map, which you could load onto your GPS if you own/use one.
 
I'm guessing you don't have a GPS based on your post. So step one is to buy a GPS. You should be able to get a used Garmin 705 for about $200 on ebay. Then you just go on connect.garmin.com and search an area for routes, or post on here and ask for some. Get a route of a basic loop of the park. Compare the route to the actual map so you understand where you are going on the map. After you do the ride, compare the route and map again, and try to remember what some of the trail intersections were like. Do this each time you ride, and after a few rides you will know the basic loop of the park. Then get other routes of the park, or start just going down trails you haven't been on before and see where they connect to the rest of the park. Keep the main loop on your GPS in case you get lost. Then you know the whole park.

Buying a Garmin is the best thing I have ever bought for biking, other than the bike itself. I road Lewis Morris almost exclusively for the first year, because I was afraid of getting lost, and afraid to ride with other people because I was really slow and out of shape. Once I got the Garmin I started riding everywhere.
 
If you have a smartphone, there are plenty of free or cheap mapping apps that are a decent substitute for a Garmin. I've used MotionX GPS on my iPhone, and it's pretty slick. It will suck the life out of your battery if you keep the display on all the time, but other than that, it does mapping and route tracking just as well as the Garmin, and has a much bigger screen. I have the Garmin 800, and I like it, but it's due for a major update (the 810 ain't it!).
 
These are all great suggestions though just get lost out there. You not going into the great North woods and the worst thing that can happen is you wind up riding on some pavement to get back to your car. Head out some morning with a full camelback and some food and just take the first turn or intersection in a different direction than you have in the past. What's the worst that can happen ? It'll be a grand adventure right here in NJ.
 
ryderX said:
These are all great suggestions though just get lost out there. You not going into the great North woods and the worst thing that can happen is you wind up riding on some pavement to get back to your car. Head out some morning with a full camelback and some food and just take the first turn or intersection in a different direction than you have in the past. What's the worst that can happen ? It'll be a grand adventure right here in NJ.
Click to expand...

But what if he is down in the valley and he tacos his front wheel and breaks his derailleure and while he is trying to walk out he gets repeatedly mauled by a rabid black bear and a snake both at the same time????
I managed to really psych myself out the first time I was night riding in mooch north, hehe...
 
FitmanNJ said:
Also, I've mapped a lot of the Stephens trails onto Open Street Map, which you could load onto your GPS if you own/use one.
Click to expand...

I have all of north mapped out, meant to load it into OSM quite some time ago, just never got to it

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 
rlb said:
I have all of north mapped out, meant to load it into OSM quite some time ago, just never got to it

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...

I've done a whole bunch of the NJ trail systems (but not Allumuchy North). Feel free to PM me if I can help by explaining how to get your .gpx tracks incorporated into Open Street Map.
 
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