NM Mapbook Released

imported
#1

The CDTA Mapbook for New Mexico has now been published. It is available for sale from the publisher at www.lulu.com where a search for “CDT Map” should get you to all the Mapbook products.

We received a lot of helpful feedback last year by users of our Colorado book, most of whom we met in Montana on the trail. Several felt that the waypoint tables in the back of the book added unnecessary weight. We decided to remove the tables and make them
available online. The New Mexico book is published minus the tables and we have republished the Colorado book that way as well. The
tables have been made into separate pdf documents that are packaged with the free waypoint files available online from CDTA. There are 1946 waypoints for New Mexico and 1591 for Colorado. They are broken into files of 500 or fewer so they should work on just about
any gps. The waypoints are in gpx format, so you may have to use Babel to make them work in some makes of gps receivers. Babel is a free program that converts between various gps formats.

In addition to the regular download versions, we have published e-book versions at the request of several hikers. I think they are contemplating using a smart phone as gps, phone, and e-book reader. This would be quite a weight savings over carrying printed maps,
a gps, and a phone individually. We have gotten the e-books to work in the following : Mobipocket, Adobe Digital Editions, Repligo for Blackberry, and a guru friend of ours got it working on a Ipad and Iphone. I personally am a bit skeptical of all this due to the issue of keeping such a device charged when out on the trail for long periods of time. I guess we will see.

This link will get you to Babel:
http://www.gpsbabel.org/download.html

This link will get you to the free waypoints and tables:
http://www.cdtrail.org/page.php?pname=waypoints

This link will get you the Adobe e-reader:
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/

The mapping crew will be back on the trail again in June. We still have almost all of Wyoming and a third of Montana then we will be finished. Hope to see you out there.

best wishes,

Jerry Brown (bearcreek)
GPS Mapping Specialist
The Continental Divide Trail Alliance
www.bearcreeksurvey.com
www.cdtrail.org

bearcreek

#2

That’s great news. We used the Colorado book last year and it was awesome! Only got lost once and that was no fault of the book. We’ve been doing a state per year and NM is all that’s left. Hope to begin at Crazy Cook in mid-May and hike the official route except maybe the section north of Ghost Ranch. We may just hitchhike from Skull Bridge to GR and back and do the official route there, too. I hear it’s nice.

Does the mapbook have the locations of the water boxes?

ankles

#3

Thanks for the kind words.

Water boxes are all on the maps. Also in the waypoint list available free at:

http://www.cdtrail.org/page.php?pname=waypoints

A lot of new trail has been constructed just north of Skull Bridge. It’s a nice hike.

bearcreek

#4

Got my book yesterday. It’s really nice. I’ve been debating whether to start at Columbus or Crazy Cook and was leaning towards Columbus since the Crazy Cook route has a lot of cross country. The maps are really detailed and I didn’t realize that there was so much water out there. Now I’m thinking Crazy Cook around April 15th. I’d be interested in knowing if others are leaving about then. Maybe we could split the cost of the shuttle.

j hendricks

#5

Just got my map book in the mail. It’s wonderful and I really like the format! Great job, it will be a big hit here in NM for a lot of hikers. It’s something that has been needed for a long time. It also looks like it can be easily updated in future editions as new trail is constructed…

The trail, either south or north from Skull Bridge, goes from red rock country to pines and has very scenic vistas. It shouldn’t be hard to get a ride to the Ghost Ranch since the dirt road at Skull Bridge gets a lot of traffic from rafters, hikers and people going to the monastary. You might have to wait a little bit but somebody will come along. Its worth hiking these two sections.

Westbrook