Ley maps (on top in photo) - are great because Jon updates them every year with hiker notes about water sources, trail closures, confusing parts, etc etc. One downside is he does NOT include UTM coordinates (which is for me the easiest way to translate from a known position/GPS location to the map itself). The scale on Ley maps is also a little bit larger than Bear Creek so it's a little tougher to read. That said, his notes seem pretty indispensable!
Bear Creek (on bottom in photo) - the biggest upside here is that Jerry Brown, the creator, also uploads all the waypoints/POIs from his paper maps to his website so that you can download them to your GPS. This is KEY because then you can very easily translate your position from the GPS to where you are on the map and vice versa. Also, as mentioned above they include UTM coordinates which are also great for staying found! The scale on his maps are smaller so they are a bit easier to read. Biggest downside is there are no annotations like on the Ley maps.
So which maps will I carry? I think both. I've heard other hikers have translated Jon Ley notes to Bear creek maps but this sounds like a major pain. I'd rather take a small weight penalty and have more data in front of me (remember, I'll only carry average five days worth of maps at a time). It's overkill but I'm a map nerd ... if that isn't already clear from this post!
PS if you're not familiar, here's a very helpful PDF from Jerry Brown explaining UTM coordinates and how to use his maps in general
PPS also Wired also has some great map/GPS information on her site, including step-by-step instructions to load topo maps and waypoints in your GPS!
Hey! My husband and I are hiking the CDT this year, and I'm curious now that you've completed your hike if you have a different opinion on the two maps. Any information would be most helpful. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi there, Victoria!
DeleteI uploaded Bear Creek waypoints (POIs) into my GPS, which for me made it so I didn't really need the Bear Creek maps. I loved having the Ley maps though to check out alternate routes and as a backup for the GPS.
Bear Creek are more detailed than Ley, but a bit redundant if you have a GPS with good 24K maps.
Hope this helps.
Best of luck on the trail :)
Hey, My fiance and I are hiking the CDT this summer. We are still looking into the best map/GPS solution. Would you recommend Guthooks app on an iphone (guthook uses Bear Creek) and Ley maps? The only GPS we are planning to take are our iphones. Thanks Julia and Phil Liverstrong!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey there Julia and Phil! what worked for me was the Ley maps with the Bear Creek waypoints (POIs) loaded into my GPS. Many friends used the guthooks app and it seemed to work ok. I just liked keeping my phone separate from naviagation but that's personal preference. Of course, if you decide to use guthooks you just need plenty of battery backup for the phone(s) and know how to use those Ley maps well in the case you drop/lose/break your phone. Best of luck on the trail! lt dan
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