I've been reading this thread about some lost hunters and the after action report about the search for the Kim family. In both instances it seems like a map could have really saved the day.

Of course, a good map (that showed just how mountainous Bear Camp road really was) might have kept the Kims from getting lost in the first place. But even if they'd chosen to try to drive the road, a good map could have saved James Kim's life. According to Kati Kim, "James left us with the belief that there was a town called Galice only about four miles from our camp." Galice was actually 13 miles away. Had he known the true distance, he might have chosen to stay with his family and been rescued with them two days later.

The tale of the lost hunters in Idaho has a similar situation. Jenifer Burkey died after a failed attempt to walk to a town that a road sign indicated could be nearby. A much shorter walk in the opposite direction would have taken them to a state highway where they could have flagged down a passing motorist. In both these cases a map could literally have saved people's lives.

Despite this, I rarely see maps included in listings of survival gear on this site. Of course, this could be because, unlike other items in a survival kit, maps have to be customized to a particular locale, rather than being widely useful in a variety of locations. Or it could be that maps are simply such an obvious item that nobody feels the need to list them. I certainly wouldn't go on any sort of hike, backback, or other backcountry activity without a good topo map (USGS quadrangle or equivalent). However, I've never really taken the same precautions whn on a car trip. A state highway map or Rand McNally road atlas has always been good enough for me. The Kim family had an Oregon state highway map, but it wasn't detailed enough to either get across the dangers of their proposed route, or allow them to figure out how far it was to Galice. Carrying quad maps for everywhere I might go on a long trip by car would probably be prohibitive in terms of space (and cost). I have regularly carried a DeLorme state topo atlas (1:250,000 topo maps of the entire state) for my home states (Utah and Arizona). I got them more for trip planning purposes than survival, but after reading these stories I think they would be very useful in a survival situation as well. Not as good as quads, but a lot more practical for covering a lot of area. I'll have to think about getting some more for other states where I'll be travelling by car (according to their website, they've got them for the entire U.S.). After reading about these people's experiences, a state highway map just doesn't seem sufficient at this point.

I couldn't agree more. My wife and I have been accused of having a map fettish, but we really like to have a decent map of where ever we happen to be. The only problem is that, living full time in a RV and bouncing around the country, we just can not have a really good map of everywhere we happen to be. So we carry a US atlas and program our GPS with the area we are going to be (including, but not limited to, streets and highways, topo lines, cities and towns, gas stations, etc). If we are in an area for an extended period of time, we will get more detailed maps of that area. For our current spot we now have four different "road maps," and USGS topo. When we leave we usually donate the maps to the park we have been volunteering at...

I heartily agree that maps a not only fun, but they are vital to navigating through this world.

I see a map, a compass, a UTM grid, and a GPS as a powerful foursome, given the knowledge to use them together properly.

"a good map could have saved James Kim's life"

While I'll agree that a VERY good map might have prevented the Kims from driving down those back roads - or even from attempting to drive on those roads (I understand they did have Google maps, but there is some debate as to thier accuracy), a map alone probably wouldn't have helped much. They had a very poor estimate of exactly where they were. In my view, if they'd had a maping GPS or a GPS, UTM grid and a map, then they'd have known how far it was to the nearest town and Jim might not have tried to make the walk, but then again, he might still have tried to walk to help.

I never go anywhere without a map available. In the car, that would be a street atlas or maybe a traditional folded local map. When hiking, a topo map of the area. Hiking also requires a compass, and usually I take my GPS too. I can't imagine venturing out anywhere without something so basic. Even when I hike in the foothills and can SEE the town from the trails.

Have I ever gotten lost (hiking)? No. That's probably because I study maps of where I'm going before striking out. And if the terrain is at all confusing, I verify my location on the map frequently while hiking. That is often unnecessary. I tend to hike in the mountains where there are major terrain features that hem me in to an area where I can easily approximate a location. But I still take the maps and know how to use them with compass and GPS. Always.

A map of the area where I will be hiking is always left at home with my planned route highlighted and occasionally with a written description of my plan (e.g., "Park car at XYZ trailhead. Procede up ABC drainage, branch off at ZZZ stream and climb the NE slope of QQQ mountain to the summit, backtracking same route on my return.") It's fairly unlikely that I won't have a good idea of my location at any given time, but my goal is for OTHERS to be able to deduce my likely location should I end up not checking in as expected (due to injury, etc.)

I've been trying to find someplace that I can print maps from, and save them and add some of my own notes to before printing.

I too have been looking for something like this, and not have found any thing that is worth the ink to print it.

Me either. I play around with a lot of mapping sites, but all I can print on is 8.5x11, and with that you get such a small area, or small scale, it is worthless.

I wanted a topo of the area we are in now, no stores in the area had one, so I ended up ordering from USGS, map was $6, shipping was $5,which will give you an idea how badly I wanted it...

I still like the VFR charts. They have decent topographics, gravel to paved super highways, RR right-of-ways, Lat/Long ticks, terrain features, elevations, etc. They are on a good scale and can be gotten at virtually any airport. It's been a long time since I had to buy one but the price had always been reasonable.
Check them out!!!

Like Blackeagle mentioned above, I too have been carrying one of the DeLorme state atlases. I have found them to be very accurate, at least the one for Missouri is. Money well spent, I would not hesitate to purchase another.
Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer

smitty

Amazing. I worked in Base Ops and/or the control tower for four years, had aeronautical charts all over the place, and never thought of using one for anything but flying. You do indeed learn something new every day...