Mapping project

I started today on a project to map all the structures (benches, signs, bike racks, etc) along the Creeper Trail. I'm using the Trimble GPS system from the Town of Abingdon's GIS department. They will process the data and produce a layer on the GIS that shows where all of these things are. The GPS is quite advanced, more than the simple Garmin handheld units that I've used in the past. This one is a professional setup with an antenna backpack and data entry unit. Using the bike, I go from one structure to the next, taking notes, and a photo of everything that gets marked.

The impetus to do this is from the Creeper Trail Advisory Board, who makes decisions about new requests for memorial and honorary benches and other structures along the trail. The board is in the process of creating a master plan for new items but before that can happen, we needed a complete inventory of what is already out there. Hence, me with the yellow backpack and antenna getting lots of strange looks by other trail users.

Today I got from the Abingdon trailhead to the crossing at Meade Meadows. It took about an hour and a half. I would have kept going but was running out of daylight. Tomorrow, I hope to make it the rest of the way to Damascus if the weather is nice.