May 2,3 & 4 - Ocala NF mapping and exploration run - Page 9

**coastiebilly** · 05-04-2008, 03:43 PM

As always, looks like a good time and wish I hadn't missed it.

skorp62 · 05-04-2008, 04:19 PM

Well I have washed the trail dust off and evaluated the marks left. It looks to me like all of my "trail pinstrips" are on the plastic around the windows, the door handles, a few on the front corners of the white roof, and all over the roof rack! It looks like I was correct about my roof rack acting as a brush guard on the top. I'll post pics later, but no serious concerns.

PaulThePhotographer · 05-04-2008, 04:41 PM

Quote:

skorp62 previously said:

got chased off of a few places,

Like to elaborate???? Where? And why??

**doublejfj** · 05-04-2008, 05:03 PM

Quote:

PaulThePhotographer previously said:

Like to elaborate???? Where? And why??

If I said that one chased us off in a jeep, with a (and I'm trying to keep a seriously straight face here) t-shirt that said "SASQUATCH RESEARCH UNIT" or some junk on it, would you believe me?

Yep, that's right... Some creep in a jeep with a laptop, reading our plates to some dweeb on the phone while we rode out. Yea, he was full of 'chit, saying that we were in a restricted area. We saw no restricted signs or anything, we just turned off onto a trail that looked fine. He certainly was pissed though, sasquatch must have rustled his feathers pretty good that afternoon...

Next time I get some joker like this, I'm going to demand he show some ID, or I'm calling the forest ranger myself to verify! If he's full of it, he's going to have a hard time making a couple FJ's move with that heap!

The second time, we didn't wait around. We pulled 25 feet into the sand behind a "forest restoration area" sign just to get some pictures in front of a lake. Some dip on the other side of the lake started making his way more rapidly as time progressed towards us, so we snapped a couple pics and went WOT out of there. The guy was probably 100 feet or less from us by the time we were riding out and when he saw we were making hasty preparations to leave, he was full-fledged steaming away a powerwalk. I don't know and don't care what he was after!

UberTruder · 05-04-2008, 05:35 PM

So wish I could have been there. Sounds like you all had fun, and I was looking forward to doing some camping. Leave it to school to screw it all up. And now all this month I have weekends off, go figure. So anyone up for anything this month? Some fiends want to go camping, but none of them have rigs, is it bad if I leave them at camp to go ride?

Anyway, glad it was a good time, look forward to the GPS overlays, Google Earth?

skorp62 · 05-04-2008, 05:38 PM

Quote:

PaulThePhotographer previously said:

Like to elaborate???? Where? And why??

Well, the second guy looked like a ranger, but he didn't get close enough for us to verify that. We were barely past the marker, just far enough to turn around and go back out, but we paused for some pics. The first guy though, I confirm that he was wearing a shirt ID'ing him as part of the "Sasquatch Research Unit" and pissed that we were back there. He claimed that "we need a pass to be back here" and kept looking at our plates. We had already hit a dead-end and were turning around anyway, so I just let it go and we moved onto to better trails.

This is the spot where he approached us. (approximately) That small U shaped trail was actually marked with the USFS 4X4 trail markers, it is worth another run sometime soon.

Trail Gator · 05-04-2008, 07:32 PM

Sounds like a good time. The Bigfoot guy sounds pretty interesting as well. Hopefully I can check out Ocala NF sometime over summer. Looks like a nice place.

fj6high · 05-04-2008, 07:52 PM

Quote:

doublejfj previously said:

I'm so surprised we didn't see you! Literally, we drove all day (10AM - 6PM). We waited at the fire tower for an hour though and nobody else showed.

We went GMRS for most of the ride because of the narrow trails, I didn't want to lose the CB antenna (skorp62 snapped his).

External antenna needed! You'd be chatting it up with us for miles.

I arrived close to 10:30 a.m at the Tower, very late! I called Jim and Left A message on his cell. What happened I stayed up to late friday night and whem the alarm went off at 6:00 I hit the snooze and I was out until 7:50. I was a mess trying to wake up with no coffee and once on 75 had to stop twice to take a major load of my mind (DUMP)

I stayed in the forest to 3:00P.M.riding everywhere! Hopkins prairie, Greens sinkhole, Power line road all the springs Salt.Silver Glen, Orange etc,etc. I followed the buried gas line to the Main compressor station. I did find some really cool stuff here and there, Right off a secondary road I found a large sand hill and it took several tries to climb it, Bunch of Moto cross guys in this area and they left off in a hurry on real narrow roads! I just wanted some directions, they must think I was a Ranger. I covered alot of trails,and poped out in some strange places.Hwy 19 past the bridge tube and canoe pickup area heading north on the west side I turned up a trail. I followed it for several miles and ran Into a scary bunch of people all set up in tents and old travel trailers! Tall skinny wirey guy with no teeth ran up to say I was Lost (no Sh!!!t) Hauled a$$ outta there! Other than that very few people were aroud. There will be another ride soon I'm sure and I won't be late!!!

fj6high · 05-04-2008, 08:07 PM

Quote:

skorp62 previously said:

Well I have washed the trail dust off and evaluated the marks left. It looks to me like all of my "trail pinstrips" are on the plastic around the windows, the door handles, a few on the front corners of the white roof, and all over the roof rack! It looks like I was correct about my roof rack acting as a brush guard on the top. I'll post pics later, but no serious concerns.

I got some spyder web scratches on the the bushwhackers and the black trim around the glass. I had to cut several large branches here and there on one trail. I had to cut a turnaround down one trail to get out of there. Next Item of trail gear to purchase Chainsaw!!!! I got a branch wedged under the roof rack and took 15 mins to cut it free using a small pair of loppers. Haven't had time to see how much paint I lost up top yet

PaulThePhotographer · 05-05-2008, 06:43 AM

You sure the t-shirt didn't read...

If not, it sounds like it should have...

Ocala does seem to have more of this than other places I have been. We had a "official" looking truck shadow us on the road while we played in one spot off road. He did it for a while. Once we lost him, we took off. Weird!