Emigrant Wilderness Trail Map (Tom Harrison Maps) Free Download !FREE!
The Map Market USGS 7.5 minute maps The "Gold Standard" is the USGS map series. The standard paper USGS 7.5 minute maps are unwieldly for trail use. The digital files are free and customizable, but they require some work and practice to produce usable trail maps.
Emigrant Wilderness Trail Map (Tom Harrison Maps) free download
Regional Trail Maps Public Trail Maps A most fundamental map for the first time backpacking visitor to a backpacking area is an excellent big-scale trail map. The Forest Service offers maps that cover each wilderness in their forest as well as maps of their whole National Forest. These are what I am referring to when citing, "National Forest Wilderness Maps," or "Wilderness Maps." These maps are the gold standard for field use and indispensable for travel across even the highest use trails in the Sierras. These maps offer the best combination of wide context and deep detail. Nonetheless, the Forest Service offers maps that cover each wilderness in their forest as well as maps of their whole National Forest. Those whole-forest map are much too large for field use. Forest Service Wilderness Maps I use the 1:63360 scale Forest Service Wilderness Maps for the Mokelumne and Carson Iceberg Wilderness Areas. The only problem is that they are still relatively large and heavy. This is where the private map companies have found a niche market. They very well may have a presentation/format that better suites your needs than the larger, more generalized National Forest Wilderness Maps.
Topographical maps feature the terrain of a wilderness or hiking area, through colored shading & thin contour lines to represent elevations. Park boundaries, trail routes, trail heads & campgrounds are noted, as well as major landmarks like lakes, rivers, creeks, meadows, peaks, canyons, hot springs, waterfalls & all roads (dirt or paved).
Southeast Wilderness WanderThe area south and east of Great Smoky Mountains NP has much contiguous National Forest and many trails. There are many famous wilderness areas, historic sites, water falls, etcetera. A trip beginning in GSMNP would allow reservations for camps far in advance. The BMT and many interesting sites could then be explored in the park. Shining Rock requires bear cans. Many wilderness maps have USFS detailed waterproof maps. Experience on this trip shows them to have unmaintained, difficult trail systems: thewse more detailed maps would be nice. All other scenic detours I took were also overgrown: loppers and a saw or hatchet might be handy. Planning a little extra time for such areas might allow me to leave trails better for others, or smaller tools might be used to force my way through quickly. Setting base camps and day hiking might allow more thorough exploration of local trail systems. Mapping of all interesting sites might suggest a good book, or much winter research. Appalachian Trail and BMT shelters and resupply town info would be handy.
I've downloaded all seemingly useful NPS maps. I've also downloaded all 2011-2014 USGS 7' quadrangle maps listed in the Hayduke book. These newer versions don't always include old, closed, overgrown, rutted, or etcetera, roads and trails that were covered on older versions. Therefore, I still need to consider downloading older versions where the route description includes using old roads as routes or landmarks. The USGS digital store provides all these downloads free. Although BLM New Mexico and Colorado websites provide BLM 30'x60' quad downloads free, I was not able to find them for Utah and Arizona. After collecting all such map files, I plan to digitally crop and annotate them before printing them all out. 350c69d7ab