For our first topic we will cover how to obtain maps of your area of interest. When referring to "maps" I am speaking of USGS Topographic Maps. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) was established in 1879 for the purpose of classification of public lands. By far the USGS has the largest, most complete collection of topographic maps in the U.S. The age of the internet has opened up many locations to obtain maps. The most useful, in my opinion, are the USGS 1:24,000 7.5' Quadrangle series of maps produced by the USGS and these maps are easily obtained via the internet. Recently, the USGS has made the entire collection of topographic maps available for fee to download to your computer. The website can be found with an internet search for "USGS Topo Maps" or by navigating to http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/. You will then be directed to the following website:
Use your mouse to zoom into your area of interest on the map. Make sure that the "Navigate" button on the right side of the page and the "7.5 and 15 Minute" map footprints are selected. As you zoom in, a grid will appear showing the available maps.
Once your desired area is in the viewing window, click the "Mark Points" button. Using the mouse, left click anywhere in the desired map area as indicated by the outlined box.
Once the location pointer pops up, click on the marker. A dialog box with all available maps for the selected are will pop up.
Again, the most useful maps for navigating the wilderness on foot is the 7.5' Topographic Map. These are listed as "7.5x7.5 Grid" in the dialog box. On the left side of the box, under the "Buy" heading, you will notice some maps are listed in blue. Clicking on the name will open a shopping dialog to order a printed map from the USGS. While this is a option, most maps are $8.00, which can quickly become a significant amount if several maps are required for your area. For example, my County is covered by sixteen 7.5' maps, which would cost $128.00 to have the maps printed and shipped to me. Those of us on a budget need a way to obtain these maps at a lower cost. Further in the dialog box you will notice the year in which the map was produced. Newer maps will have more current information than older maps. This is important when the topography of your area changes, such as a new road is built or a new dam and lake are built. However, these newer maps may also not contain information that is listed on the older maps. In my area, many "Jeep Trails" as well as gas well right of ways and hiking paths have not been transferred to the newer maps. So, how do we know which map we need. It would be a great waste of resources to order over $100.00 worth of maps to find they do not have your favorite hiking trail shown. We have two options on the USGS site to find the map that has the information we need. We can click "view" which will open a small preview box of the map, but this image is small and difficult to manipulate. A better choice is to click the "Download" link for the desire map, which is listed as file size in the dialog box.
In this example, I know I need the 1995 version of the map, because the 2014 version does not show any of the hiking paths in this area. As I am planning a trip to hike these trails, this data is more important to me than some minor terrain or road changes. When the dialog comes up, select "Save As" to save the file to your computer. This will download a .zip folder to your computer which you can then extract the .pdf file for the map to view on your screen. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view and print these files. There are many helps on the internet to assist you in downloading and installing Acrobat to your computer so I will not go into the process. Most newer computers have Acrobat preinstalled and this is not an issue anyway.
When the map opens, you may see something similar to this on your screen. After deciding that this the map you want, all that is left is to print the file. I print all of my maps on my home printer and have found that even though some map require a lot of ink, the price per map is significantly less than $8.00. If your willing to put in a little work, this is a simple and viable option to obtain maps. Click the "Print" button to open the print dialog box.
Now we have come to the area that requires the most attention in order to finish with a quality product. Select your appropriate printer as usual in printing any other document. I have a color laser printer, but a color inkjet, even black only will also provide suitable maps. Black and white are a little more difficult to use but they can be used in pinch. Next click on the "Poster" button to enable you to print the map full size. Make sure the map prints 100% and other options as you see fit. The map will either print on nine regular 8.5"x11" pages or, to make less cut and paste later, I use 8.5"x14" "legal" paper and use eight sheets per map. The overlap is usually defaulted to an acceptable size, but you can change this if you would like. I have found that with the default overlap, once the pages are trimmed, the pages just need butted together to fit properly.
While the USGS website is an excellent source for standard maps, sometime the location of interest may be located on the edge of the map. This can cause some difficulties in navigating the wilderness by needing to reference two or three map sheets to plan a route or search for resources. Many websites exist that allow the user to create and purchase a customized topographic map. For example, www.mytopo.com, allows the user to select an area and order a map in several sizes from small to very large and on various types of paper. For example, one could order a 5'x8' map with public and private land boundaries printed over the topographic feature, however, this map would cost $180.00. On the other end of the spectrum an 18"x24" waterproof paper map with only topographic information is only $10.00. Another option is the website, www.caltopo.com, which allows user to add custom information to the maps such as trails and markers. CalTopo has a basic free account that offers a large number of tools for custom mapping, but is limited to print sizes. Two levels of subscription services are available at $20/yr and $50/yr, each level offers more options and larger print sizes. With CalTopo the user can print a .pdf file of the selected area on a home printer and have a custom map almost instantly.
This introductory lesson is intended to introduce a few of the many options available to outdoor enthusiasts to obtain maps from nearly free good quality to, even though high price, very high quality maps on waterproof stock. Hopefully this lesson will assist in the location and utilization of end user map products.
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