[pct-l] Maps

[Stephen Adams]

If you have a map and don't need it that's great, but I bet it gets looked at a lot to chart progress, what's coming up etc...
If you find you really really need a map, and do not have one, that would be lame.  
I've done plenty of hikes without a map along with me and usually wish I had brought one even if just to show someone some neat thing on it or help them out with how to get somewhere or so forth.  Me I just like maps, always have.  And I study them.  I could draw you pictures of the drainages of the High Sierra and Utah canyons, but when you are out there you quickly discover that the maps, with all those squiggly lines, are flat.  And the mountains are high and the canyons deep.  It is not the same.  My view on the matter is to take a map, and use it.  Keep track of progress etc... Maps are fun, and a lot of effort has gone into map making thru the centuries.  And sooner or later, for me it was recently, I had an experience where I really wished I had one.  I was in no danger at all, was not lost or anything like that, and it was only a short section I did not have covered, but sure as heck that is where I wished I had it.  I just didn't want to drive up to Bishop (15 miles) from Big Pine and get a map that covered a little bit of my planned routing.  I looked at the section on the map I didn't bring when I got home and saw that it would not have changed anything or my having to crash thru willow thickets, but being three days from the car, and having not seen a soul, it would have been nice to look at the map and say, "Yup, right here and doing great, I'm cool."  I just ran into some rough stuff I hadn't expected and at the time thought perhaps I could circle up and traverse around it.  I proved the next morning that was folly, but descending the drainage on memory and instinct, though it turned out to be quite exhilarating, was more than I signed up for.  But there I was, not expecting to, but wishing I had driven to Bishop.  Could have got some fresh bread and doughnuts too...             
On Dec 1, 2009, at 6:22 PM, Paul Magnanti wrote:

>>> Right but not having a map might turn a mishap into an ordeal or even  
>>> a search and rescue event.
> 
>>> I'm a big fan of HYOH but I don't have a problem shaming hikers who  
>>> don't carry a map. I wish I had a snickers bar for  every time a map- 
>>> skeptic asked to see my map or answer a map related question.
> 
> 
> Indeed.  People will say you don't need maps..then they'll ask to look at the maps. :)
> 
> With Half-Mile's excellent (and free!) maps, there is no real reason to not have them:
> http://www.pctmap.net/
> 
> Set to be out in total by 2010. 
> 
> (You do have to print them out, of course)
> 
> Don't forget the databook. Ounce for ounce and dollar for dollar it is a great resource. Easy to eyeball what is  coming up
> at a glance...and an easy way to eyeball water.
> 
> Over Turkey Day weekend, a few repeat offenders and I were saying if we did a long trail again, it would be the PCT.
> 
> Not because it is our favorite one (it is so hard to choose a favorite!) but because i the combo of views, solitude or community when needed,  
> and is truly a long distance hiking trail in feel and function.  (The CDT is more of a route. I loved it..but man, was it hard..esp mentally!)
> 
> When I do it again, I'll take:
> 
> Half-mile's Maps
> The Databook
> Yogi's Book
> 
> The beauty of so many different resources though is that it is very easy to make a set of information for YOU. Tom Harrison maps,
> USFS maps, Erik's Atlas, the guidebooks...it's all good. 
> 
> And they all fit different modes, criteria and what works for you.
> 
> (But do take a map!)
> 
> 
> ************************************************************
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> caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
> --Thoreau
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