Planning a Hike
The first step in planning a hiking trip, whether it will take a day or a month, is obtaining topographic maps of the area where you plan to hike. Like most maps, a topo map shows mountains, lakes, streams, roads, trails and other man-made objects. Unlike other maps, however, a topographic map also shows the elevation and shape of the land's peaks and valleys by means of contour lines. These are lines drawn on the map that represent lines of equal elevation on the ground. The soft V's formed by the contour lines representing a valley point toward higher elevations, while the V's formed by the contour lines representing a ridge point to lower elevations. Use this fact to help you distinguish between valleys and ridges on confusing topo maps. The interval between light contour lines is normally 40 or 80 feet. Every fifth contour line is darker. It represents an elevation change of 200 or 400 feet. The contour interval is always stated on the margin of the map.

The U.S. Geological Survey publishes detailed topographic maps covering practically every area in the United States where you might want to hike. The 15-minute series maps use a scale of one inch to the mile: one inch on the map equals one mile on the ground. Each map covers roughly 240 square miles. These maps have now been mostly replaced by the newer and much more useful 7 1/2-minute series maps, which use a scale of about 2 1/2 inches to the mile. Each map covers roughly 60 square miles. You can obtain USGS maps from many outdoor shops and also by mail. To order by mail, you need to know the name of the map you want and its series. To find that out, write to the USGS at the address in the appendix and request an index for the state you're interested in. The index is actually a large map of the state showing the name and location of each USGS map covering some part of the state. Each index also lists private map dealers in that state.

In the wilderness, paper maps like those from the USGS live a life that's nasty, brutish and short. A slightly more expensive but much more durable alternative is to buy maps printed on tough, flexible plastic sheets from Trails Illustrated. Another advantage of the Trails Illustrated topos is that they are updated more frequently than the USGS maps. One disadvantage: the scale is usually one inch to the mile, which makes it harder to decipher fine detail.

Next Page: Planning a Hike - Topographic Maps II

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