Are there any hiking trail maps with geocaches marked?

[+swatmama67]

I'm not exactly sure how to ask this question without sounding like a whiner. What I'm wondering is if there is a way to overlap the map from geocaching.com with caches marked with a trail map, like those from a state park etc.

 

The idea here is that we have 2 young children, and sometimes we end up on the wrong trail. This is especially hard when there are several hiking trails. So, for example, if there is a cache on the orange trail, we might think it's on the blue trail just because it's hard to guess comparing the different maps. Then we end up hiking double the miles. Maybe this is a map reading problem....

 

It would also be helpful if there were gps locations listed on the state park/trail maps.

 

So, any help would be appreciated. And to complicate matters, I'm not very software savvy- well, i haven't ever tried it...

 

Thanks,

 

Laura

[+Wogus!]

Maybe I'm asking a silly question, but... Do you have an actual GPS receiver you're using for this or are you trying to geocache using only paper maps?

 

If you're using maps only, and you have the coordinates for the geocaches you're going to be hunting for, you could plug those coordinates into Google Earth, instead of Google Maps, and see pretty much EXACTLY where you want to go (Google Earth uses satellite imagery). Compare the Google Earth imagery with your local trail map and you should be good to go.

[+swatmama67]

I can see why that's not clear. Yes, I have a pn-20. But it doesn't show the trails on the maps. Maybe there is someway to download the maps to that? In fact, that's exactly what i'd like- trails on my gps.

 

I also have a tomtom that we use as a backup, of course that's really not that helpful on the trail at all.

[Dinoprophet]

My favorite method for this is the use overlays in Google Earth. You just need a graphic file of your map. It takes some stretching and resizing to get the map features to line up with the satellite image, but it's pretty easy to do right in GE.

 

Tutorial

[gitarmac]

I like to use gpsvisualizer.com to overlay my tracks and stuff. here is the link. You can make a file with all your caches then upload it on that site, it will make a "map" for you. You can choose between several types of maps.

[+BareFeat]

Ive been marking trails using everytrail.com they have an easy to use interface for windows mobile devices. (for marking) But you can also upload a straight kml or gpx file. All the trails I've marked do indeed have geocaches on them, and they even have a spot when your done uploading to pick the activity, horseback riding, geocaching, hiking etc.

 

Lots of people use the site i would be surprised if you find nothing near you. And if you do, do what I have done and start marking as you hike.

 

good luck

(search for my username there to see my trails)