i am planning on hiking the CT this summer and i am wondering about maps. mags gave me some advice. i am wondering about others? do you carry them? need them? i carried maps on the AT and liked them but i never acctually used them to navigate. opinions?
dirty bird
Hiked the CT this summer and it is very well marked. I carried maps because I like to know exactly where I am going and how far I have to go/have gone, etc. The Colorado Trail Foundations (www.coloradotrail.org) offers a good guidebook and databook. The databook is a good idea, most of the water sources and campsites are listed and are very accurate, minus one or two. In general, the water sources were better than listed.
Anyway, if I had to make a recommendation, I would take the databook and write any notes you find necessary after reviewing the guidebook. You don’t need the maps, but its usually good to have them for unexpected circumstances.
I printed the maps available from the CTF on CD two to a page and scanned the guidebook and printed that on the backside of the corresponding maps. It worked well, but was probably overkill.
Mike
i have the data and guide book. i was worried cause the guide book has not been updated for a while. i will think about maps. do you think the maps in the books are good enough in case of emergency?
dirty bird
I have used only the guidebook for a couple of weekend trips and they are enough.
But I love maps and feel insecure without them. Like Mike I carry way more than I need.
food
If I remember right, the guidebook maps don’t include contours, so if you are lost, it might be hard to find a visual reference to locate yourself. The databook maps aren’t great, but they could be made as good as the guidebook maps with a few notations. The guidebook is heavy to carry, especially if you don’t plan to cut it into sections.
The trail is very well marked. If you have just a little common sense you shouldn’t get lost. The only thing I found myself using maps/guides/data for was planning purposes (i.e. water, camp, length, etc.) Whatever will make you comfortable and worry-free is probably best. If you’re getting rid of real-world stress, its good to eliminate as much hiking stress, if there is such a thing, as possible.
Mike
I have an old Guidebook - the cover says 2nd Edition, but inside it says 5th edition - go figure. The maps are 1:50,000 and 80 foot contour interval. The guidebook weights 17 oz.
My Databook is the 2nd edition. Tha Wookie did the field work in one of the driest years on record, 2002. The water sources are very accurate, there are many more camping places than those marked, but the elevation profiles leave out a lot of ups and downs. The GPS waypoints are mostly accurate, but some are just whacko.
food
Good to hear some more feedback on the data book. I’m glad to hear the water sources are right on. That was a high priority.
The campsites were chosen based on site expansion potential. I.e., the most durable, resistant, and scenic sites were chosen for the book. I didn’t want to give away the jems that might get too much use. A hiker will find them as we did. But we made sure to list a good site every 8-10 miles at least for hikers to count on.
I had nothing to do with the elevation profiles, but I imagine they would right on if they used their GPS data from the map cd series. Those were done with a tremble unit and an error-correcting ground station. They should be right. But maybe the scale they chose just doesn’t show those “little bumps” in the vast jagged landscape.
The water/campsite GPS points were taken by a commercial handheld unit by yours truly and I’m not suprised that some are way off. The accuracy level was quite low in some spots due to satillaite availability, and we just had to do the best we can. One time I left it on a tree as we gathered water and remembered three miles later. It was a good way to sneek in an extra jog at the end of a long day.
Tha Wookie
You did an excellent job Wookie. Your judgement on the amount of flow and the camp sites to list was very good.
The standards used for the elevation profile should be given. I don’t care about small bumps, but if the profiles are too smooth then you can’t use them to help with decisions. A 200 foot or even 400 foot climb is not going to affect my decision on whether to call it a day or move on, but several 400 foot climbs would. I learned quickly that I needed to look at the topo.
I entered waypoints into my GPS using TOPO before section hikes. There just a couple that I entered and thought “that is not right.” The point is that if you are standing on a trail next to a CT marker, but the GPS says the trail is .2 miles away through thick brush then that may be one of the points that is wrong.
Thanks for a great job.
food
food,
I’m sure the CTF would appreciate any comments you have on their books.
take care
Tha Wookie
I already passed my comments along to them. I think they will rework on the next edition. They have the new very accurate GPS data. I doubt they will print again until the inventory runs low because it is not like they are wrong - just not useful.
food
Ounce for ounce and dollar for dollar the most useful of the CT books. Chuckled when I saw “Nate Oliver” as the person who compiled the stats. I thought “Hey…I kinda sorta know that guy”.
Anyway…good job. Found it very helpful in my planning. I also made good use of the TI maps (but, living in CO, already had many of them). I took two major alternate routes: The Missouri gulch route and the Old Hope Pass Route. If you stick to the official CT, the maps aren’t quite as useful (but always needed just in case), if you take alternate routes and/or do 14ers, good maps are a neccessity.
YMMV - literally!
Mags
You are right Mags. Sloppy wording on my part. The data book is very useful except for the elevation profile.
food
I found the guide book to be sufficient for my hike. The descriptions are very thorough and accurate. The maps obviously are pretty spare, but coupled with the descriptions, they work fine. There is enough talk about water and camping in the book to feel confident about that.
I took mine apart and only carried the sections I needed between maildrops.
The elevation profiles in my edition did leave out a number of climbs etc., but the descriptions usually would include what was left out of the profiles.
zach attack