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This is our take on maps. There are other opinions - and you'll undoubtedly develop your own.
Buying maps can be one of the significant expenses for the Continental Divide Trail. Unlike the PCT, the maps in the guidebooks are not sufficient to hike the trail, since they only show a narrow corridor and there will be times when you NEED to have the bigger picture. We used a wide variety of maps on our thruhikes: state highway maps, National Forest maps, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) maps, and commercial maps put out by Trails Illustrated (TI) and Earthwalk Press and Shearer Publishing.
Jonathan Ley, who hiked the CDT in 2001, has created a CD-ROM set of maps for the entire trail (his route and some alternatives) that has just been updated to a 2007 version. He has been very willing to share them with CDT hikers. Most thuhikers use them, usually in addition to other maps. They include trail notes from many past hikers, which are very helpful. We used the notes more than the maps. One caveat is that the maps don't show a lot of the other trails and roads that you will encounter. If you get off track (and you will) knowing where the trail/road you are on leads is essential to getting back on your desired route. If you need to bail out or if you want to create your own route through an area, you will also need to know where the side trails lead. For those reasons and more, we also carried the NF, BLM or Trails Illustrated maps as well as Jonathan's so we had the 'bigger picture' and details that simply weren't on Jonathan's maps.
For maps of the BLM designated route through the New Mexico bootheel there are at least 4 sources -
- Spirit Eagle NM bootheel maps
- Jonathon Ley's CD-ROM
- Backpacker Crazy Cook to NM SR9 map
- BLM Crazy Cook to Burro Mts
ALL of those sources are free. Jonathon's CD-ROM does the whole trail including a lot of alternate routes. The BLM site has maps for several New Mexico segments of the trail.
The Continental Divide Trail Society (Jim Wolf) also sells Mapquest's CDs of the 7.5 minute maps for the Continental Divide Region.
Before you leave, it is a good idea to mark your proposed route, and whatever alternates seem like likely possibilities, on the maps to make sure you have the entire route covered and that you understand how the guidebooks and maps interact.
You might also want to get the highway maps for each state. These will give you a basic idea of where the trail runs within the state and where the nearby towns are located. Many of the trail towns are quite a distance off trail so if you cut the maps to save weight (we did), leave a good margin. If you need to bail out for any reason, this can be really essential. If you cut your maps, make sure you leave essential information on the section that you'll carry (like mileage scales, compass declination, contour intervals, etc).
One thing to note carefully - all maps are NOT equal. USFS and BLM maps are issued for specific purposes. USGS maps (which I believe are the basis for Jonathon's maps) have different purposes. If you want to know which areas are public land and which are private, get the BLM maps, with the caveat that land swaps happen all the time, so they may not be completely accurate either. When camping outside of National Forest areas, it is a good idea to look at the BLM maps to see where the land is public and where it is private. Hikers have been arrested in the past for trespassing on private land in Wyoming, though not recently.
Our National Forest maps (including the Wilderness Area maps) were purchased directly from the Forest offices, though we were able to buy several within a state at a time. There are better ways to do this now. The Forest maps are generally not topographic, except for the Wilderness Area maps (Anaconda-Pintler, Bob Marshall-Scapegoat, Gila & Aldo Leopold), and the scale is very large (sometimes covering 100 or more miles on one map), but they're good for showing alternate trails/routes and are generally more current than the BLM maps. This can be important if you need to bail out or if the weather makes the situation dangerous so you need to go to lower elevation or if you get lost. Flexibility is key here. Although there is a lack of detail because of the scale, they were all we needed for Montana. Since the trail often runs along the Divide (which is often the division between two NF areas) we usually only carried one of the two possible NF maps (i.e. along the Idaho/Mt border.) But we used all of the maps for planning purposes. At the least, get whichever is the most current, as they are still constructing new trail in many places.
In Wyoming, we used a combination of National Forest Maps, commercial maps ( Earthwalk Press and Trails Illustrated/National Geographic), and BLM maps. Except in the Gros Ventre area, route finding wasn't that difficult. The Earthwalk Press maps for the Winds were much more detailed than the National Forest maps. The BLM route across the Great Basin is well marked and easy to follow. We used BLM maps but Jonathan's would probably be sufficient, since the trail mostly follows dirt roads across the Basin. If you use GPS, the BLM Wyoming website includes coordinates for all the water sources through the Red Desert.
For Colorado, Trails Illustrated/National Geographic puts out a good series of water-resistant maps that cover the entire trail through that state. They've become expensive ($9.95 each), but since they are topographic and smaller scale than the NF maps, they can sometimes be worth the money. We carried, but didn't use, many of the NF maps in Colorado on our thruhike. (But when we had to bail out on our San Juan hike in 1997 because of AMS, we used the NF map to find a quick way out. If you're hiking northbound, we recommend carrying the NF maps as well as the TI maps in Colorado, unless the snow levels are very, very low.)
In NM, we sometimes carried up to three maps for a section of trail (Shearer New Mexico map book pages, NF and BLM), and found that while each had errors, each of them also showed different features and together they usually (but not always) added up to an adequate picture of the actual terrain. This year we used Jonathan's maps and the NF or BLM maps.
If you really want detail and/or if you plan to do your own route creation (like maybe following the Divide as closely as possible - or maybe doing alternative routes) it might be a good idea to have the best maps you can get.
You can get both USGS and BLM maps at the USGS Store. Once in the site, click on "Enter Store" to get the list of map types - including all the National Forests, 1:100,000 USGS and BLM maps. For National Forest maps scroll down to "U.S. Forest Service" maps. For BLM maps, click on "1:100,000 - 30X60 Minute Maps" and then "BLM Surface Management."
You can also get maps directly from the individual National Forest offices, but this requires several different calls/orders. There is a website for the National Forest Store , but it does not yet offer all of the National Forest maps. The USGS Store or Public Lands Information Center are better sources.
Both Forest and BLM maps are available at the Public Lands Information Center, but some of the maps may not be the latest version. The USGS Store will generally have the most up-to-date versions of the maps. You might want to check the revision dates for whatever maps you decide to buy.
We recently ran into a website that sells recreational maps at a discount, MapOutfitter. We haven't used them, but they look like a good resource.Following is a modified version of the map list that we assembled in 1998 and then used for our 1999 hike. The list has been revised for our 2006 hike and has all the "paper" maps you'd need to thruhike the CDT - and more. Many of the maps that are listed are "paper" maps - and many of them are available in "plastic." "Plastic" is heavier - much heavier.
The list is arranged in North-to-South order except for Colorado where the NF maps are grouped in North-to-South order, followed by the TI maps which are also grouped in North-to-South order.
The list has a column for each of the major map sources. Each "source" column indicates the product names/numbers for the maps available from that particular source as well as the published revision date of the maps they sell. There are also some notes about future revisions, but keep in mind that the words "planned update" do NOT mean that the update actually happened (or will happen) at that time. Trust but verify.
(????) indicates that the revision date of the map available from this particular source is unknown (meaning - you might want to assume the worst). If the date is "red" then that map/source is "probably" out-of-date - and personally, I'd go someplace else to buy that map. But YMMV
The "source" column headers are also links to the agencies/pages that sell the maps.
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CARRY "ALL" OF THESE MAPS FOR A CDT THRUHIKE. There's some duplication in this list and the different types of maps generally overlay each other. Some maps are good for an overall view and some for more detailed information. In addition, this list doesn't cover "ALL" the different types of maps. But there are more than enough here to get you from Canada to Mexico - or vice versa. You'll have to make your own decisions as to which particular maps you think you'll want or need to carry.
There are some further map-related notes at the end of this list.
Montana/Idaho
MapsUSGS Store
Product # /
(Revision Date)Public Lands
Information Center
Item No. /
(Revision Date)National
Forest
Store
(Revision Date)National
Geographic/
TI Map Store
Product #Glacier
National
Park- - - TI #215 Bob Marshall/
Scapegoat
Wilderness111512
(1990)BOBMARSHALL
(1984)(1990) - Helena NF 112190
(2001)HELENA
(1988)(2001) - Deerlodge Area
Beaverhead NF111516
(2003)DEERLODGE
(1996)(2003) - Anaconda-
Pintler
Wilderness111509
(1995)- (1995) - Beaverhead NF
(SW Montana Interagency
Visitor/Travel) -
West205401
(1996)SWMONTANAWEST
(1996)(1996) - Targhee NF -
(Dubois RD)
West111585
(1984)TARGHEE-WE
(????)- - Targhee NF -
(Island Park Ashton RD)
East111584
(1984)TARGHEE-EA
(????)- - Beaverhead NF
(SW Montana Interagency
Visitor/Travel) -
East111510
(1996)SWMONTANAEAST
(2005)(1996) - Gallatin NF -
West111519
(2003)GALLATINWEST
(1994)(2003) - Wyoming
MapsUSGS Store
Product # /
(Revision Date)Public Lands
Information Center
Item No. /
(Revision Date)National
Forest
Store
(Revision Date)National
Geographic/
TI Map Store
Product #Yellowstone
National
Park- 0-925873-01-2
(1993)- TI #201 Bridger-Teton NF
Buffalo-Jackson RD111682
(2005)BT-JACKSON
(????)- - Bridger-Teton NF
Pinedale RD111572
(1996)BT-PINEDALE
(1996)- - Wind River Range - North
(Earthwalk Press)- - - - Wind River Range - South
(Earthwalk Press)- - - - BLM South Pass 111467
(2001)SOUTH PASS
(2001)- - BLM Bairoil 111107
(2002)WYBLM-BAIROIL
(2002)- - BLM Rawlins 111228
(1991)RAWLINS
(1991)- - Medicine Bow NF 111537
(1998)MEDBOW-NF
(1992)- - BLM Baggs 111457
(1991)WYBLM-BAGGS
(1991)- - BLM Saratoga 111111
(2003)SARATOGA
(2003)- - Colorado
MapsUSGS Store
Product # /
(Revision Date)Public Lands
Information Center
Item No. /
(Revision Date)National
Forest
Store
(Revision Date)National
Geographic/
TI Map Store
Product #Routt NF 111657
(2005)ROUTTPLASTIC
(????)- - Arapaho-Roosevelt NF
(We did not carry this
map on the trail)111526
(1997)ARAPROOS-PAPER
(1996)- - White River NF 111549
(1991)WHITERIVEPAPER
(????)- - San Isabel NF
Leadville RD111544
(2003)SANISABELPAPER
(????)(1998) - Gunnison Basin 114149
(2002)GUNNBASIN-SYN
(????)- - Rio Grande NF 111541
(1996)RIOGRANDEPAPER
(????)- - San Juan NF 111659
(2005)SANJUANPAPER
(????)- - Hahns Peak/
Steamboat Lake- TI-MAP-116 - TI #116 Clark/Buffalo Pass - - - TI #117 Steamboat Springs/
Rabbit Ears Pass- TI-MAP-118 - TI #118 Rand/Stillwater Pass - TI-MAP-115 - TI #115 Rocky Mt Natl Park - TI-200 - TI #200 Indian Peaks/
Gold Hill- TI-MAP-102 - TI #102 Winter Park/
Central City/
Rollins Pass- TI-MAP-103 - TI #103 Idaho Springs/
Loveland Pass- TI-MAP-104 - TI #104 Vail/Frisco/
Dillon- TI-MAP-108 - TI #108 Breckenridge/
Tennessee Pass- TI-MAP-109 - TI #109 Holy Cross/
Ruedi Reservoir- TI-MAP-126 - TI #126 Aspen/
Independence Pass- TI-MAP-127 - TI #127 Buena Vista/
Collegiate Peaks- TI-MAP-129 - TI #129 Salida/St Elmo/
Shavano Peak- TI-MAP-130 - TI #130 La Garita/
Cochetopa Hills- TI-MAP-139 - TI #139 Silverton/Ouray/
Telluride/
Lake City- TI-MAP-141 - TI #141 Weminuche Wilderness - TI-MAP-140 - TI #140 South San Juan Wilderness/
Del Norte- TI-MAPS-142 - TI #142 New Mexico
MapsUSGS Store
Product # /
(Revision Date)Public Lands
Information Center
Item No. /
(Revision Date)National
Forest
Store
(Revision Date)National
Geographic/
TI Map Store
Product #Carson NF 112959
(2002)NM399A
(2002)- - BLM Chama 79748
(2001)TNM0388
(2001)- - BLM Abiquiu 79376
(2004)TNM0008
(2004)- - Santa Fe NF 116273
(2004)NM399B
(2004)- - BLM Chaco Mesa 79744
(1999)TNM0383
(1999)- - Cibola NF
Mt Taylor RD112261
(2001)NM399F
(????)- - BLM Grants 80135
(2001)TNM0777
(2001)- - BLM Acoma Pueblo 79383
(2002)TNM0016
(2002)- - BLM Fence Lake 80008
(2002)TNM0649
(2002)- - BLM Quemado 81600
(2002)TNM2263
(2002)- - BLM Tularosa
Mountains81636
(1993)TNM2300
(1993)- - Gila NF 111561
(1997)
planned update
Apr 2006NM399C
(????)- - BLM Mogollon
Mountains81769
(1987)TNM2434
(1987)- - Gila Wilderness 114432
(2000)
planned update
Spring 2005NM400C1
(????)- - Aldo Leopold WA 113910
(1984)- - - BLM Hatch 81440
(1984)TNM2098
(1984)- - BLM Deming 81470
(2001)TNM2131
(2001)- - BLM Columbus 81474
(1984)TNM2135
(1984)- - Antelope Wells/
Silver City
Route MapsUSGS Store
Product # /
(Revision Date)Public Lands
Information Center
Item No. /
(Revision Date)National
Forest
Store
(Revision Date)National
Geographic/
TI Map Store
Product #BLM Silver City 81008
(1996)TNM1660
(1996)- - BLM Lordsburg 80418
(2002)TNM1064
(2002)- - BLM Animas 79437
(1997)TNM0070
(1997)- - BLM Alamo Hueco 81491
(1984)TNM2153
(1984)- -
A few points to keep in mind about this list -
- The "main" list (through "Columbus") applies if you intend to start or end at Columbus/Palomas. If you intend to start or end at Antelope Wells or Crazy Cook Monument, then you can skip the last few on the "main" list, but you'll probably want the Antelope Wells/Silver City Route Maps.
- If you intend to wander very far from either Jim Wolf's route or the "Official" trail (like maybe a wander through the Beartooths and Yellowstone), you'll want other/different maps. (See below)
- Some people use Delorme map books, either for planning purposes or, in at least one case, to carry on the trail. (No - they didn't carry the whole book!) But if you want to walk the mountains/backcountry rather than roadwalk through New Mexico, skip the New Mexico Delorme and buy the Shearer Publications New Mexico map book. It shows water sources - the Delorme doesn't.) The Shearer book is presently a 1998 version. The map book may be updated in the next several years. Check before buying.
- Most of these maps are NOT topos. And the ones that are topographic are often 50 METER contour intervals. That's just over 160 feet. The maps can and do hide a lot of detail under that 160 ft.
- If you're on a tight budget, you might skip the Fence Lake map. Unless you intend to do the "official" route through the Malpais, you'll only use one (very) small corner. It has about four miles of the trail on it - in a place where finding the trail isn't a problem.
- If you want to skip the Delorme books entirely (they are expensive) do some research and find the Dept of Tourism or the Dept of Transportation for each state and call for a "free" state road map. You'll want those maps anyway so you can carry a cut-down version with you on the trail. If you need to bail because of an emergency, it might be nice to know which road/which direction to hitch to get to a town/hospital/whatever. But DON'T carry the whole map. You likely won't have a lot of use for eastern Montana so leave that part of the map at home.
VARIATIONS:
If your route is going to be greatly different from the "guidebook" version of the CDT, you'll want some additional and/or different maps. Where you go is up to you - so have fun with it.
Created: Fri, 06 Jan 2004
Revised: 15 Nov 2009Copyright © 2004-2009 Spirit Eagle
