Cal City (is a GPS needed?)

[Just_a_trail_rider]

I rode at Cal City for the first time on sunday. The weather was great.

This place is so wide open, its unbelievable. I really, really exercised my throttle hand. My mod'd wr450 was truly in its element with the thottle pinned.

After riding primarily at Gorman, I can see the thrill of wide open desert riding. There is more wide open, hard packed, double and single track than I could believe.

(BTW... this place is super, super family friendly. I'll take the kids with me next time)

But I digress... my main problem is that I got lost a couple of times. Definitely my fault for not properly picking some landmarks to keep my bearings. But all of those desert landmarks look exactly alike.

I found myself climbing to the top of everyhill just so that I could look around. Luckily, I found my way back, only to get a little lost again the next time.

I'll definitely take a riding partner with me next time.

Should I get some sort of GPS? Is that what others do while riding out in the desert? Any recommendations?

[BigDesto]

If you don't know the area it's easy to get lost! All kinds of riding out there!

[don87xr600]

A $99 gps could save your life, but only you can answer what your life is worth.

[saddog]

I've ridden cal city front to back, in and out and never had any problem w/o GPS. Landmarks if you pay close attention should work... What did they do before GPS?

[Just_a_trail_rider]

I am sure that I would become much more familiar with the place and its landmarks if I rode there all of the time. However, it was my first time.

Maybe I will try the GPS until I learn how to familiarize myself with landmarks, read the sun, chart the stars, etc...

I also like the technological aspects of having a GPS device.

[saddog]

I am sure that I would become much more familiar with the place and its landmarks if I rode there all of the time. However, it was my first time.

Maybe I will try the GPS until I learn how to familiarize myself with landmarks, read the sun, chart the stars, etc...

I also like the technological aspects of having a GPS device.

Agreed cuz ya gotta start somewhere.

[Bill_P]

A GPS in unfamiliar territory is worth it's weight in gold. Simply mark "camp" tell the GPS to "go to camp" and you'll have an arrow pointing to camp all day long telling you exactly how far out you are.

Sometimes it's even helpful when your'e riding familiar areas. Like last thanksgiving out at Stoddard when we were in a complete white out blizzard and had to cross a big valley - except you couldn't see any big valley only snow. Of course that was the one time I really needed the GPS and managed to forget it. Or in the dark when you can't see any landmarks.

It's a good thing to have.

bp

[targetdrone]

Get the GPS. Cal City is an awesome place to Geocache on a bike. (Geocaching is a FREE game played by utilizing a GPS to find a set of coordinates at which a cache is hidden. See www.geocaching.com for more info.)

[johnjwc368]

I never leave home with out Garmin 5 GPS mounted on my DRZ , check out the package deals at cyco active.com, One of the best features of the unit is the Active log mode , When you activate it in that mode it leaves a snail trial on the screen of every place you have been, and you can zoom in/out on the screen to get your Bearings

You should check the web page GPSXchange.com , You can trade your GPS tracks (down loads ) for other tracks from all over the world, And its free, and easy to do,

You just down load one of your recorded trips to them and then you can pick a trip from the list of places

[kawasaki_mike]

I too was at Cal City/Ransburg on Sunday and what fantastic weather. After getting lost there the first time I purchased a $100 GPS for security reasons. It's also a good idea to have it on you incase you need to give the coodinates out should someone need medical assistance.

Mine is a hand held garmin etrek unit that works great but I'm very interested in the smaller on that can mount in the bars.

[palmdaleRider]

The Rhino Mount is idea for attaching the GPS to the handlebars. I have the pivot mount on both bikes and moving the GPS from one bike to the other takes seconds. The mount is rather high, so flipping the bike is not recommended.

[Just_a_trail_rider]

I definitely will have to get a gps.

I have checked out the Garmin RINO because it would also be nice to track my kids location. I probably don't need to, but they are 9 and 11. The only thing worse than me getting lost is for them to get lost.

I will have to search for a pretty sturdy gps handlebar mount and explore power options.

[Bill_P]

I definitely will have to get a gps.

I have checked out the Garmin RINO because it would also be nice to track my kids location. I probably don't need to, but they are 9 and 11. The only thing worse than me getting lost is for them to get lost.

I will have to search for a pretty sturdy gps handlebar mount and explore power options.

The RAM mounts are bullet proof - and crash proof. Get a Garmin Legend. The Rhino's are cool, but the batteries don't last as long and most of the guys I know who have them kind of view the tracking others with Rinos as a gimic and never use it.

[tom slick]

cal city is such an open area i would not have any issues riding wiht no gps, even in areas I have never ridden. look at the mountains, antennas, which way is down hill (overall), etc.

[vatk]

Every time I camp at Cal. City. Some dirty tired rider or two will enter the camp and ask for directions. There should be maps at camp "c". Gps is the way to go. Be carefull at the trail intersections out there. A rider was Killed last year.

[Just_a_trail_rider]

That person asking for directions could one day be me. However, last Sunday, there was absolutely no one around that I could see, even after climbing to the hilltops.

I did see a white suv of some sort way off in the distance when I did climb the hilltop. (I think it was white, but in reality, it looked like a spec that was moving) I figured that I would follow him, wherever he was going. However, he was easily 10-15 mins from my current position.

He was long gone once I got there, but I did follow the path he was taking (I think). At any rate, after another 15 mins or so, I did run across a landmark I recognized. I was going the wrong way.

Hell... at least I knew that much and I was happy. So I went the other direction for about 20 mins and eventually climbed yet another hill and found my bearings.

Yes... I will be carefully out there. Some guys out there were moving pretty fast (me included)

I would hate to actually get really lost before I decided to spend the $100. I am sure that I can delay purchasing one of the "billet" items for a month and squeeze it into the budget.