Hiking Trail Maps

Hiking trail maps: this topic opens up an entire universe of options.

There are free United States topographical hiking maps, available for instant download and printing thanks to the taxpayers. These provide detailed information on contours and land features.

If you'd rather have someone else do the work to create customized, waterproof topo maps, try these folks. They also have a nice selection of map software, and I'll bet they can recommend something that's a good match for your hiking navigation. One more nice feature on their website: free online map viewing. Warning: You can spend a lot of time playing around, creating hiking maps for your next adventure on this site!

There are inexpensive U.S. Forest Service maps, showing numbered trails, trail heads, and campgrounds.

And there are Bureau of Land Management maps, State forest maps, National Park maps, satellite image maps ..... YIKES!! Could this be a case of "too much information"?

Let me assure you, one hiker to another, that the answer is NO.

In fact, here's another link, to a USGS national map viewer website which allows you to add or subtract features onto a downloadable map (contour lines, names, etc.). Play around with it, you'll be amazed!

If you stick to well marked trails and never consider carrying hiking trail maps, you're missing out on a lot of fun. You might have hiked within a few hundred yards of a great little lake, or a waterfall you could have had all to yourself for the afternoon. Maybe there's an abandoned mine site you could explore, or the ruins of a homestead. And wouldn't it be cool to know ahead of time where you could climb a hill to get a better view?

Map reading takes a certain skill set, there's no doubt about it. If you're going to stray at all from the trail, you need to know how to navigate using a map and compass.

And when you "read" a map, it's not like reading a book. Numbers and little drawings mean a whole lot more than words. For instance: What scale of map are you talking about? And what do the hiking trail map symbols mean? More importantly, why would a hiker care?

Luckily, there are free resources waiting for you. Try my links (underlined above) to trustworthy guides to locating, reading, and utilizing maps to locate hiking trails. Investing a bit of time BEFORE you hit the trail will yield amazing dividends ON the trail - and just might become an addiction! (Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Hiking trail maps: don't get me started! Here are more options to make you a stronger hiker, both mentally and physically.