< more recent | 12-18 September 2016 | older >
17 September 2016: Another solid training day, most of it spent in the 100+ degree heat without shade, as each team individually located their CPs within an increasingly better degree of accuracy. It felt good at the end of the day to have gotten our last CP within roughly six feet of where the GPS said it was. We had really learned a lot about using triangulation more precisely, reading the terrain rather than man-made features, lining up forward and back azimuths to stay on heading and being extremely precise with distance measurements…
17 September 2016: Our teams got an early start this morning, chasing checkpoints into the smaller dunes, where we were able to get a little bit of time driving in the sea of sand. But the day’s focus was more on precision navigation and locating those “black” CPs…
16 September 2016: The weekend training continued into the evening as we headed off to camp in the dunes and ended up practicing a recovery by moonlight. Maxtrax to the rescue. Worked perfectly, and the truck was up and out of the sand with no drama. An excellent day of teamwork, learning and refining our skills…
16 September 2016: Headed out to Glamis for a weekend of training with a couple of the other Rebelle teams and got right down to the business of navigating our way around the soft sand without trails. We had a series of CPs to plot and locate, and quickly found that accurate distance measurements were most important when there was no way to “identify” a checkpoint visually (this will be the case for the “black” CPs during the rally which will be unmarked)…
15 September 2016: We really got familiar with the American Girl wash today as we searched for a way to get around a mountain when the trail ended abruptly near and old pit mine. We were doing more navigational training and trying to get straight to our coordinates, but the debris from the mine blocked the route we had plotted on our map. Had to reroute another way. It was a good lesson in adapting to overcome the type of “obstacles” we may encounter during the rally. We finished up just after sunset…
14 September 2016: Team Engage got together to test out our teamwork on the trails around the Cargo Muchacho mountains near Yuma. Working in the same way we will during the rally, we plotted our points on old maps and then went out to find them in the desert. The network of crisscrossing trails and random tracks that weren’t on the maps made it harder than it seemed on paper. We had to use our map and compass skills to determine the exact location we had plotted, but it felt a bit empowering to be able to know so precisely where we were without referring to the GPS …
13 September 2016: Said “goodbye” to Sedona and headed south towards Yuma this afternoon. Getting closer to the sand dunes, the most challenging desert terrain we will face in the rally. But first more practice navigating on trails …
12 September 2016: Enjoying some favorite red rock trails around Sedona this afternoon. Taking a day off from “training” just to appreciate the natural beauty of the location before heading further south for more intense work on navigation …
THIS WEEK:
Team Engage heads back to the desert for more focused training on navigation and driving, and to practice rally skills in some of the same southwestern desert locations that the rally will be passing through in October …
COMING UP SOON:
Navigational practice via an Orienteering USA sponsored meet at Caumsett State Park on September 25th …
Competing as Team #124 in the inaugural edition of the Rebelle Rally 13-22 October 2016 …
SPOTLIGHT: TRIANGULATION
Triangulation is a navigational technique using a map, a compass and at least two known terrain features to pinpoint a position. The basic concept is simple. First, identify at least two landmarks that you can see and that are on your map. Ideally the points should be at least 60° apart. Next use a compass to take a bearing off of each point, then plot those lines on the map. Your location is roughly at the intersection of the lines. (For more on map and compass skills, see REI’s navigation basics)…
THE IMPERIAL SAND DUNES
The Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, located in the southeast corner of California, is the largest mass of sand dunes in the state. Formed by windblown sands of ancient Lake Cahuilla, the dune system extends for more than 40 miles in a band averaging 5 miles wide (map). Widely known as “Glamis” it is an off-road paradise, with an extensive open area for OHV use.
THE CARGO MUCHACHOS
The Cargo Muchacho Mountains are located in southern California near the border with Arizona and Mexico. The range runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction, southeast of the Imperial Valley and northwest of the Colorado River not far from Yuma, AZ. They are south and southeast of the Chocolate Mountains and east of the Algodones Dunes. The area is home to the American Girl Mine, and the Golden Bee and Cargo mines, as well as the ruins of some old mining towns. According to DesertUSA, the discovery of gold in the Cargo Muchacho Mining District can be credited to a stray mule. A California-bound wagon train was camped near the mountains in 1862, when the mule wandered off into the foothills. A sharp-eyed man saw something that looked like a golden nugget when he found the mule, and picked it up on the spot. Over the years, there were several mines operating in the area, and they were considered among the most hazardous in the Southwest. Cave-ins and fires were common. Living conditions were deplorable, particularly in summer, and when the mines closed the town–originally known as Ogilby and Hedges, then later called Tumco–was abandoned. The site, with just a few ruins and some very dangerous mine shafts that drop a 1,000 feet or more, is now managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
ABOUT THE REBELLE RALLY
The Rebelle Rally is an off-road navigation rally raid across 2000 km of desert in the southwestern United States. A new kind of competition, it blends the love of driving with the challenge of precision navigation…
ABOUT BARLOW ADVENTURES
Barlow Adventures provides professional 4×4 driving instruction and training in Sedona, AZ, as well as fully outfitted multi-day trips in Moab and on California’s famous Rubicon Trail. In Moab, the undisputed Jeeping capitol of the world, the Barlow team guides drivers over iconic trails, and helps build 4-wheeling skills in the context of a fun adventure through the rugged high desert landscape….
TEAM ENGAGE
Team Engage is JoMarie Fecci of USnomads and Tracey Ristow driving “Sable,” a Barlow Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, across the American southwest in the inaugural edition of the Rebelle Rally, 13-22 October 2016. The team, hailing from opposite coasts of the USA, came together to compete in the Rebelle with a shared commitment to humanitarian ideals in addition to a love of overland exploration. During the rally Team Engage will be showing its support for the Blue Heart Campaign to raise awareness and help victims of human trafficking through the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking…
THE BLUE HEART CAMPAIGN
Team Engage supports the UN’s Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking and the Blue Heart Campaign as their platform to raise awareness about global human trafficking— an issue which disproportionately effects women. Human trafficking is modern day slavery and includes sex trafficking (forced prostitution and forced marriage), labor trafficking (domestic servitude, sweatshops and fraudulent bonded labor contracts), child soldiers and organ trafficking. According to the International Labor Organization, nearly 21 million people or 3 out of every 1,000 people worldwide are victims of human trafficking. The UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking was established in 2010 and provides direct humanitarian, legal and financial aid to human trafficking victims. They provide grants to small grassroot NGOs that directly assist victims with housing, food, legal aid, access to justice, psychosocial support, medical care and training. Click here to donate directly to the Fund…
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
5-11 Sep – Sedona
29 Aug – 4 Sep – Long Island
23-28 August – Rod Hall Drive Training
15-22 August – Reno Rebelle Training
8-14 August – TFT8
1-7 August – Serbia overland
July – Serbia, Rally planning
June – Mongolia
16-31 May – Overland Expo, Mongolia
1-15 May – Paris
April – training desert prep
March – Long Island
February – California deserts
January – El Camino del Diablo
December – Long Island
November – New York
15-31 October – Moab
1-14 October – Vermont
Archive
SPECIAL REPORT
Detailed series on a solo scouting journey into some of the remotest backcountry around Moab. The six day 450-mile off-pavement trip into the Maze district of the Canyonlands National Park offers insight into the challenges of expedition planning… [read]
MORE INFO:
About US Nomads
Training
Practical Matters
In Our Words
Contact Us
SPECIAL REPORT
SCOUTING THE SAHARA IN MAURITANIA: WAYPOINT NOUAKCHOTT
The first in a series of reports from our scouting trip in Mauritania takes and indepth look at the capital city of Nouakchott, and its fishing port… [read]
FLASHBACK: GAZELLE RALLY
ON BECOMING A GAZELLE: THE DESERT’S FIRST CHALLENGE
Personal reflections on USnomads’ experience in the Rallye Aiche des Gazelles–Putting our skills to the test in Morocco on the first day out in the desert, known as the “Prologue,” there are a few surprises… [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
Details the epic journey into the timeless landscapes of the Gobi desert and beyond as JoMarie Fecci, of USnomads, joined a small international team for a 1,400 mile working expedition in support of The Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project (MBDP)… [read]
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