Tips for scouting off the highway

[lonesinker]

I wish I could offer good tips, I guess it depends where the location is from the highway and how easy it is to access. I think the biggy on this one is where to actually park your vehicule, I mean it depends on the state youre in,sometimes you can get ticketed for just parking on the side of the highway. Im never worried about actually finding my way to the bog just the descretion of being there and perhaps being spotted from the highway by a passerby but I think most travellers aren,t too concerned about what people are generally doing.
I see people*surveyors* sometimes doing work off the highway, berry pickers are also very popular at this time of the year and parking cars on the shoulder of the highway is generally tollorated for that reason.
Its nice when you actually spot a small dirt road that you can access and just pull in,thats always the best scenerio. If its possible to park somewhere safe off the highway, turn the situation into a hiking trip, very popular this time of the year

[bart1997]

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[Nessie]

Well, whatever ya do, where I live, you cannot stop for any reason on a freeway unless it's an emergency. Then you're expected to stay with the car and wait for help. On most highways that aren't actually freeways, it may be legal to stop, but if it would look unusual, it's an invitation for cops (or anybody in a helpful mood) to stop as well, just to see if anybody is in trouble.

I can't count the good bogs I've seen, too, that would have been perfectly accessible if only it wasn't a &*&^%$$!!! freeway or highway!

All I can say is try to get off the freeway, and hope that other, more parking-friendly, roads go around the bog. Or take note of the location and then go home. Check it out on Google Earth. Get the aerial view and zoom in!

I have more than one bog that's got a freeway on one side and legal parking on the other, because they're actually in public parks!

Nessie

[klib21]

You could bike i suppose. You'd just want to be extra careful.

[MuddyEddie]

This is where online maps can be your best friend! I use Google maps, along with my own Topo maps, to see if there are any country roads within a 3 mile (5km) hike of the site. It only takes about an hour to hike that far, and it's a good way to get your muscles warmed up and ready for some sinking!

Of course you have to be careful where you park on country roads too. Here in Texas and Oklahoma there are a lot of country roads that just dead-end. There's usually a lot of beer bottles and trails near the area, which means the spot is used by the locals and anyone parked there will not raise too many suspicions. Other roads end at someone's front porch! I wouldn't recommend stopping there, unless you have a death wish!

A few years ago I switched from using my car to seek out mud, which is great but not fuel efficient, to using a motorcycle. I ride a dual-sport bike (on road/off-road) that gets about 60mpg. Besides being much cheaper to drive, it can also get off those highways as long as there's a cow trail of some sort that is accessible. You just need to be careful that you're not trespassing on someone's property... unless you can ride well enough to outrun buckshot!

Eddie

[Billie Bonce]

Okay, i don't know the situation in the US regarding what rights people like the Police, but also Rangers, Park Service or Foresters have.
Over here, when they see a parked private car somewhere it obviously does not belong to (besides the shoulder of a highway this includes also small roads in the woods) they think it's suspicious and they will stop and look if everything is alright. I've seen this myself quite a few times.

Oh, and this is what was referred as a world of freedom, unlike our totalitarianism in the USSR.

Seriously, I always get puzzled when I read about all those worries of being caught. I'm very doubt that anybody (except for car thieves) would be interested in a parked private car anywhere. The first idea that comes in mind that the driver went to take a dump behind the trees. If there is a river or a lake nearby, then he probably went fishing. Or, a couple went to make love. Nothing illegal.

By the way, what's illegal in sinking in a bog? That's the thing that I don't understand, too.

Of course, trespassing on a private land is a different case. Fortunately, we don't have much of private land in the country yet. I'm afraid, it soon will be.

Well, whatever ya do, where I live, you cannot stop for any reason on a freeway unless it's an emergency. Then you're expected to stay with the car and wait for help. On most highways that aren't actually freeways, it may be legal to stop, but if it would look unusual, it's an invitation for cops (or anybody in a helpful mood) to stop as well, just to see if anybody is in trouble.

I'm not quite sure what is called highway and what is called freeway. We have "normal" roads with speed limit of 90 km/h, then so-called "roads for automobiles" with speed limit of 110 km/h (where tractors and horse-drawn wagons are not allowed), and finally roads that we would like to believe are equal to German "autobahn" with speed limit of 130 km/h (where some things are prohibited, including stop anywhere outside special dedicated places). To be honest, during the last 38 years we have exactly 20 km of "autobahn" - from Kiev to the international airport. And during last few years all the signs of "roads for automobiles" were removed, too. That's it. Stop anywhere, go anywhere. If you need help, it's your trouble to organize it.