Map Recommendation for Off-trail Travel - Upper Kern

[Balsamroot9]

Hello All. I'm new here. In days gone by, I did a great deal of off-trail travel and am plotting my return to the Upper Kern in a week or so (Shepherd P. to Great Western Divide to Miter Basin - staying off trail as much as possible). I'm used to using a 1:63,000 scale with 80 ft contour intervals for general navigation (will print some 7.5 minute series for tricky areas).

My planning mapset is the old large USDA John Muir Wilderness & SEKI Wilderness. I love it and am having a hard time locating something similar now that it appears to be out of print.

What are people using these days for general off-trail navigation and overall peak/landform identification in the field? Ideally no coarser than a 1:63,000 scale with 80 ft contour intervals (in other words, if pushed, I'd choose more detail than that, not less). Also, I'd prefer a map that emphasizes topography the way the old USGS maps did.

I need to order something asap. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Also, does anyone know if the ranger stations in Bishop or Lone Pine are open (covid) and whether maps can be obtained there?

Many thanks everyone.

[balzaccom]

I use Acmemapper.com. Allows you to print in many different scales, and only what and where you need. And it's all free.

[Balsamroot9]

Thanks Balzccom. I'm really hoping for a pre-made map. My printer is old, ink is not waterproof and I live in a rural area with no printing services available. Thanks for the suggestion though -- it's good to know as a back-up.

[sekihiker]

I use Acmemapper.com. Allows you to print in many different scales, and only what and where you need. And it's all free.

above link does not work - use instead: https://mapper.acme.com/

[TahoeJeff]

Here is a site that displays all the govt. maps published by date and scale:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/ ... /-118.2751
It should be centered on Miter Basin.
Click in the center of the image, and a slider on the right will display all the maps.
(may be helpful, may not)

[SSSdave]

Anyone going off trail will be much better off with 7.5k USGS maps. From your post, I'll guess you are not computer or image savvy or maybe don't even have a computer just a smartphone with a screen?

If you are and have a desktop with a monitor, just bring up caltopo dot com and do some screen captures of the map and save as jpg's to a USB thumb drive. Then take that USB drive down to a FEDEX Office where you could print whatever out on either 8.5x11 or 11x17 sheets. Better if you can do all the scaling to fit the media size beforehand but if not, they will for you. One can also save the map jpg's to smartphone or a digital camera SDcard.

[bobby49]

This isn't exactly a solution for most people, but I still use the ancient TOPO!GPS program that I purchased over 15 years ago. It has all of the electronic data for 7.5 minute topo maps for all of California, and it is all on a dozen or so CD-ROMs. So, I can study and highlight my maps, and do custom edits, then I print a custom map on a good medium-format color inkjet printer on 13x19 paper. Then I carry the map in a plastic bag.

My point is that you are better off trying to get the electronic version of a map and then get it printed somehow. Paper maps tend to have more problems.

[balzaccom]

I use Acmemapper.com. Allows you to print in many different scales, and only what and where you need. And it's all free.

above link does not work - use instead: https://mapper.acme.com/

Thank you!

[sekihiker]

I use Acmemapper.com. Allows you to print in many different scales, and only what and where you need. And it's all free.

above link does not work - use instead: https://mapper.acme.com/

Thank you!

No problem. Got a bunch of Chinese alphabet when I tried the link so I googled the name and got a workable link.

[c9h13no3]

Caltopo.com

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