Paper topo maps - trails.com

[+seattlegeekgrrrlz]

I am looking for a good electronic source of topo maps to print for our more remote caching trips. Wherever we want to go always seems to fall right in the map corner - forcing me to buy 4 paper maps instead of one- not to mention what a pain it is to follow from one mapsheet to the next. I think I would like to print my own maps. I keep running into trails.com site online. It seems pretty reasonable to me, especially to have access to maps for the USGS maps for the entire US.

 

Has anyone here used their service? What is your take on it?

 

I did a forum search and came up empty, but if there is already a thread on this, please feel free to direct me there.

 

Thanks!

[+TotemLake]

I would probably buy National Geographic Topo or Delorme Topo Quad software, both come with USGS maps. Then get some National Geographic paper. It's waterproofness after inkjet printing is legendary. What either of those maps don't cover, Green Trails maps will cover the rest. You can order those on line or pick them up at places like REI or Joe's Sports.

 

Fwiw I have the Delorme Topo Quad, but most people tend to be happy with National Geographic.

Edited January 29, 2008 by TotemLake

[+coggins]

You can give this a shot for free:

TOPO maps for google Earth

[+briansnat]

I would probably buy National Geographic Topo or Delorme Topo Quad software, both come with USGS maps. Then get some National Geographic paper. It's waterproofness after inkjet printing is legendary. What either of those maps don't cover, Green Trails maps will cover the rest. You can order those on line or pick them up at places like REI or Joe's Sports.

 

Fwiw I have the Delorme Topo Quad, but most people tend to be happy with National Geographic.

 

National Geographic Topo is great, but can be pricey if you need more than one state (except in the northeast)

[+TotemLake]

I would probably buy National Geographic Topo or Delorme Topo Quad software, both come with USGS maps. Then get some National Geographic paper. It's waterproofness after inkjet printing is legendary. What either of those maps don't cover, Green Trails maps will cover the rest. You can order those on line or pick them up at places like REI or Joe's Sports.

 

Fwiw I have the Delorme Topo Quad, but most people tend to be happy with National Geographic.

 

National Geographic Topo is great, but can be pricey if you need more than one state (except in the northeast)

I'm thinking long term for the software. Even Delorme Topp Quad is a little pricey. But the number of maps I've printed only cost me additional ink and paper and I'm able to customize my map for the exact area I'll be in. No further costs were associated with any subscription.

 

Short term, Trails.com is probably a good answer although they don't carry all the trails, just the popular ones and those that folks upload.

[MarcusArelius]

You can give this a shot for free:

TOPO maps for google Earth

 

Or online for free at topozone. There's a link to it from every cache page.

[+coggins]

You can give this a shot for free:

TOPO maps for google Earth

 

Or online for free at topozone. There's a link to it from every cache page.

Yes, that's true. But you can wrap the google ones over the terrain, rotate them, show all the caches in an area... Maybe I just don't know how to do that with TOPOZone

Edited January 29, 2008 by coggins

[+imajeep]

Trails.com is mainly reprints from various trail guides. The topos are okay, but Nat Geos are a lot better.

[+Auld Pro]

If you can afford the software, NG TOPO! is the best around. I run a pocket querie in GC.com and load it into GSAK. GSAK has a feature that exports a geocache database into a TOPO compatibale waypoint file. I then import that file into TOPO and have every geocache of the area I am going to displayed on the best topo map available. I use the maps I print out as my primary topo map for every backpacking trip I go on.

 

I have a subscription to Trails.com and use it only for the trail guides. I found using their tools to place waypoints on a topo then downloading and printing the map out to be very cumbersome and time consuming.

[+cameltrekor]

A couple of years ago, I went with an online service to print custom maps. I wanted a map larger than the 8x11 that my printer provided. If you can live with 8x11 then print your own using NG Topo.

Otherwise try an online printer or go to REI that can print oversized NGT maps.

A quick search brought up

site 1

site 2

happy trails

 

or get a Delorme book and rip out the pages and waterproof it.

Edited February 4, 2008 by cameltrekor

[+TakeTheLongWay]

I've been using mytopo.com for hiking maps for a few years before I started caching.

 

I like them a lot, very reasonable prices, and a great quality product. 24X36 1:24,000 for 14.95, printed on prefolded weatherproof paper. I have maps that are over 3 years old that are still look nearly new after repeated use on the trail.

 

Plus the ability to make custom maps of the areas you want helps a great deal. I always seemed to have the same problem in that where I hiked seemed to always end up in a corner area of a standard topo quad maps. Making you carry way more maps then you really need.

 

One other thing, that might not apply to you, is that it also let you set what kind of grid system to use when creating your maps. Since I've been in the military for so long I'm used to using MGRS maps , and greatly favor them over lat/long maps.

Edited February 5, 2008 by Limhi

[+Idahogreggory]

I still use DeLorme Topo USA 3.0 to generate all my paper maps. I print them to Adobe PDF with paper size set to 24"x24" and then take the file to Office Depot and have them out. It cost about $3 a map so I get two made and put each of them in their own zip lock bag with a small pencil and a 6"ruler. I know it cheap, but it works and I don't have to jump between quad angle maps.

[TrailQwest]

Greetings, I believe I can help add to this discussion.

 

For printing your own area maps I like and have used NG's topo - don't expect any significant level of detail though. and as has been mentioned earlier they can be pricey.

 

I find that the DeLorme gazetters have the resolution I like but generally do not have trails listed. This may or may not be an issue. I prefer to use existing trails as much as possible.

 

Alternatively, you may be able to find regional trail maps online. I'm a partner in a mapping endeavor (www.trailqwest.com) that currently has trails in several midwest and east coast states listed. We use survey grade equipment and are creating recreational trail maps for hiking, mountain biking, bridle trail trails etc. All of our maps are free as opposed to other providers. Check the site often as we're continually adding new maps. GPS downloads are available for some trails as well.

 

Here's a direct link to a trail in the greater Cincinnati area so you can see what the maps look like.

 

You can use standard paper and coat with thompson waterseal for a cheap waterproofer (it beats a buck a page from REI for waterproof paper)

 

Again, hope this info helps! Let me know.

 

Robert at TrailQwest

[+pmsrefugee]

I tried topo.com and while I liked the trail guides, I wasn't happy with creating the maps on line. I then found mytopo.com and signed for for mappass. It is about $20 per year and I can create and save my maps on line, plus I can print and download a very high quality pdf in 11" x 17" format. It is very easy to create and they have map tools too. I can also import a gpx file and display the route on the map.

 

I also am starting to use the FREE software from Trimble you can get at Backpacker.com. It has maps from users and is very easy to use. It syncs up with google earth so you can to to the map area and fly around in 3D.

Mike