[pct-l] Route Finding

[Ken Powers]

If you can live with 1:100,000 scale maps you can use Topo Back Road 
Explorer. That product contains the whole US down to that scale.  You can 
integrate Topo's state series with Back Road Explorer. Think of Back Road 
Explorer as having level 4 of Topo for all states. When you zoom to level 5 
for a state you don't have installed the progran simply magnifies the level 
4 map. I have found that trails drawn on the underlying USGS maps are not 
always accurate. The trails are not consistent between levels either. Look 
at the PCT behind Squaw Peak. The American Discovery Trail comes down the 
mountain to meet the PCT in 2 very different routes on those maps.


I have looked at several downloadable traces of the PCT. I plotted them all 
on Topo in one view. Then I loaded the results into Google Earth. For the 
areas I looked at the USFS trace named PCT05 is the closest to the actual 
trail. Most of the time you can actually see the trail. All of the traces 
are pretty good and would be fun to hike with. Tom Reynolds traces from Topo 
Mapxchange were probably the first traces that were available, so they won't 
have any reroutes from the last few years.


Ken
www GottaWalk com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Baily" <pbaily at webuniverse.net>
To: <Pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Route Finding


I use Topo and print maps for my hikes. You are right about the
states, but I have only needed Ca and Or to date. The postings are
indeed by users and I have found a few (not large) errors so beware.
It is best to compare them with guidebook or other maps before
leaving, and then be careful when going thru those areas. In one case
(Section L) there were two traces in different colors in the
downloaded product over a short distance. I don't know why they were
there, but one was correct and one incorrect. Nevertheless, I find
the posting and software very useful. I am not a GPS user (behind the
times, I guess) and this eliminates the need for finding and
purchasing lots of Forest Service, etc. maps.You can also use the
different map levels to have a "close-up" of the trail as in the
guidebook, and also have a view that shows what the surrounding
terrain looks like and names the mountains that you see. HYOH.

Pieces



At 06:09 PM 1/3/08, Home wrote:
>Doesn't it extend all the way north?  It's not a company plot, just a
>posting by a user of the product.  In that sense it may be more current
>than a USFS plot.  Topo requires a different set of CDs for each state,
>and can get pricey, OTOH there are five layers of maps on the sets.
>
>
>On Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:04:38 -0800, g l <gailpl2003 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Jeff,
> > This looks interesting.  Is it only available for CA????
> >
> > Wheeew
> >
> > Home <jeffreyn at sonic.net> wrote: For those who use Topo software, a
> > datafile for the PCT is available for
> > download from the publisher's website.
> > http://www.trailsillustrated.com/topo/search.cfm
> >
>
>
>
>--
>Jeffrey "57" Zimmerman
>Sonoma County
>The Left Coast
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>Pct-l at backcountry.net
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