What type of maps do you carry when hiking in the backcountry.

Last summer while on a short (5 mile) backpacking trip I carried a 1:24,000 topo (from my Terrain Nav software), the USFS map of the Deschutes National Forest and loaded maps in my GPS.

Are there maps that you prefer? I like the maps from www.mytopo.com.

Do you cut the forest map down to save space/cut weight?


What would you carry?


Blake

www.outdoorquest.biz
www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

In Western Washington I carry Green Trails, strangely enough in Eastern Washington I tend to carry USGS, I find its more comfortable to go off trail with and plan my route. I have a copy of topo but seldom use it. I don't rely on GPS or digital maps. I like hiking especially where I know the lay of the land and can navigate the drainages if necessary. I really like to get into this and find where the terrain wants to trick me.

I seldom go mapless except in short day hikes along well known trails, and along certain hikes in national parks where the parade of humanity inevitably accompanies me.

I usually have one full-sized paper map, my GPS loaded with most of Western Canada from Ibycus Topo, and a pocket-sized map for quick reference. The pocket-map is usually either a photocopy of the most relevant section of the paper map I'm carrying or a print out of the relevant area from a government map (they can be found online here) ... sometimes I'll put a photocopy from a trail book on the flip side.

Around this neck of the woods, Gem Trek maps are the best I'm aware of and are available for many of the recreational areas. These are topo maps that include trails & other features not found on regular Canadian topos ... the ones I use are 1:50,000 maps. You can get waterproof versions too which is nice.

Other than that, there is really only the Canadian Government maps (that I'm aware of at least). I have a couple 1:50,000 of these too (we don't have 1:24,000 maps up here).

An old school reply: I am always comfortable with a USGS 1:24000 map. The topography is absolutely correct, although the cultural features may be considerably outdated. If I don't know the area well, carrying an additional USFS map within national Forests is a good idea, because their depiction of roads and trails is more current. I have several vintage USFS maps of areas I like particularly; they are useful because they depict abandoned trails and he like. For paper maps, the National Geo maps are great; they use the USGS topography and run good field checks to insure accurate trail placement.

If you want real precision, nothing beats a recent aerial photograph, used in conjunction with a good topo.

VFR Charts or Joint Ops Topo Charts. I'll carry the local state or national forest map if it's available.

I mostly bring the maps I find on web sites from the park. They are usually good enough for me to find the trails and roads in a park or forest although many times they are not that great.

None of the topo maps I have tried are all that good at showing trails.

An important thing to me is to protect your map from water. Even sweat can make a paper map unusable pretty quick. I print mine out on regular 11X17 paper but keep it in a gallon sized zip lock bag. I fold it over and trim it a bit to get it to fit. You can pay a bunch of money to get waterproof paper to print on, but a zip lock bag is cheaper.

Currently using UK Ordnance Survey Explorer Active (1:25,000) maps for Cairngorm Mountains through to the west coast of Scotland down to Loch Lomand and Trossachs.

A typical OS Explorer Active Map and surrounding maps (water resistant paper)


I am also currently testing an Ipod touch 4th Gen + Survivor Military Duty Case + Garmin Glo (GPS+GLONASS) bluetooth GPS + Memory Map electronic Navigation system with the OS Landranger (1:50,000) scale maps (Covers the whole of the UK for £25)

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/memory-map/id354675923?mt=8

Memory Map also have (1:25000) Explorer electronic version maps but £200 for the whole UK coverage is a little to pricey at the moment.

The Garmin Glo BT GPS has very fast aquisistion and is accurate (typically better than 2 metres accuracy i.e. almost as good as survey grade DGPS compared to the 5-7 metres accuracy for standard GPS) and can also be used with other devices such as netbooks/laptops/tablet computers etc.

I get all my maps from Mytopo.com now. Best bang for the buck and you can customize them. I always get them in 1:25,000 scale, or 1:50,000 scale.

The usual answer is It Depends

As is often the case, things are different in Alaska than "outside" (the Alaskan term for anyplace not in Alaska). We often have to make do.

Most of the Alaska is not covered by 7.5 minute quads. They are only available for a few areas in and around population centers. And up here, what few 7.5 minute maps we have are at 1:25000 with contours in meters. For most of the state, we only have 15 minute quads at a scale of 1:63,360 (1 inch = 1 mile), with contours in feet. A few of those have been revised in populated areas, but many date from the 1950's. (The magnetic declination shown on those old maps is way off.) I have the National Geographic Topo software for the whole state on my computer, and I usually just print one up for the area I plan to visit. For areas that I go frequently, I also have purchased paper copies of the USGS quads.

The waterproof National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps are available for some areas, such as Denali National Park. Where they are available I carry those as well. They are good for an overview, but are often at a rather small scale for convenient use, so I carry paper maps in addition. One area I spend a lot of time in is Chugach State Park, which comes right to the edge of Anchorage. Imus Geographic has published a beautiful map of Chugach Park, with very up to date trail info.

Finally, when sea kayaking, I usually also carry a copy of the appropriate nautical chart for the area, along with topo maps.

Ah, yes, sea kayaking - a whole different ball game! A nautical chart is really handy. I found a perfect solution for my home area (the Santa Barbara Channel) - a chart reproduced as a place mat, complete with sturdy lamination. It fit perfectly on the foredeck, just aft of the compass....