Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Map Recommendations

Hi there- I am traveling to Mt. Whitney via HM in August. Could someone recommend a good (and accurate) map to use and guide my group on this 3 to 4-day journey? Thank you.

Tom Harrison (http://www.tomharrisonmaps.com/) has a nice map of the Whitney Zone. There are the USGS 7.5 minute maps. The best way to use these is to buy the National Geographic CD that covers the entire state of California. You can print your own custom maps.

You can also get the 7.5-minute maps for free from CASIL, but it's kind of a hassle and requires a little software. Ask if you're interested.

24K USGS topo maps is what you want.


Find the required maps here and download as PDF for free, print the parts you need.

http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2&ctype=catalogEntry&carea=%24ROOT)/.do

follow instructions on the right - not intuitive at first. Once you zoom down to the map area, change the radio button on tyhe right to go from navigation to Mark Points - click on the map area and then highlight the new marker you added - in the bubble that pops up is the download link.


here's my prefered geek option: 24K topo maps as editable TIFF files found here, also free

http://www.atlas.ca.gov/download.html

naviagte in the menu that loads to

imageryBaseMapsLandCover » baseMaps » drg » 7.5_minute_series_albers_nad83_untrimmed

and download the following Tiff image files from the list (give it a moment to load the long list of files)

36118-E3 Mt. Whitney quad
36118-D3 Johnson Peak Quad
36118-D2 Cirque Peak Quad


Print the stuff you think you'll need, cut to size, edit in Photoshop to combine sheets as needed. You only need a few inches of the two southern maps.

otherwise just order the key maps from USGS - I think they are $8 a piece now.

There are other fancy options to combine satellite images or aerial photos with 24K topo maps you can find online - but they come at a hefty price. I paid over $30 for a single 24K sheet that's smaller than the USGS quads.

I'm old school, mostly because I'm old and the eyes don't work like they used to. I use the 7.5' Quads. They are a lot easier to read and find them easier judge rates of climb.

Cirque Peak, Johnson Peak, Mt. Whitney and Mt. Langley are the 4 maps you will need.

As an aside, whenever people approach me in the wilderness asking for their geographic location, they all seem to be using Tom Harrison Cartography Maps.

I'll betcha that's an artifact and just reflects the fact that almost everybody uses the Tom Harrison maps. I love the 7.5 minute maps (and despite my post I usually buy them as hardcopy and only play with the downloaded ones in MacGPS Pro), but for a trip of any length it just takes too many of 'em!

This topic is good timing for me. I have used Tom Harrison maps for awhile without any problems, though am not comfortable with them helping me out if I were to end up disoriented. I do not go off trail, but have decided to stop playing the odds and become proficient at using a topographic map and compass. I am trying to decide if I should buy the National Geographic TOPO! ($80 on ebay), or just order the USGS maps at $8 each (which could add up quickly). The TOPO! maps look like a lot of fun with all the features they have, but are there drawbacks other than the extra cost in printer ink and paper, along with having to tape the pages together? Does TOPO! work okay on an iMac? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!
Brian

Whitney,

If you do any amount of hiking/climbing in California, I highly recommend the National Geographic Topo! CD. $80? That's the lowest I've seen. Great buy.

Taping? That's the beauty of Topo! The quads are "seamless," which means all you have to do is center the area of interest on your computer, and no matter how many quads the area crosses, you printout just one map. No taping. (Depends on what scale and magnification you choose and are comfortable with.)

All this being said, I do not use a Mac, so maybe someone else here can speak up on this issue.

For long term hiking and mountaineering in Californa, National Geographic Topo! is the way to go.

For you older-timers on the Board, Topo! was originally developed in my city of birth and youth, San Francisco, and the company went by the name of Wildflower and was later bought-out by National Geographic. I still have my CDs of Wildflower's maps, but National Geographic greatly enhanced the later versions, and included all the USGS quads in California and the rest of the states.

I do not think that is the case. I think it is a combination of things. I think people, especially newbie gravitate to toward the cheap and colorful, I know I did when I was first starting out. Also, many do not know how to use a map and compass. Over the years, and especially since I began doing more and more off trail stuff, I found it a lot the USGS 7.5' format a lot easier to use...especially with a GPS. Another thing I do not like about the Harrison Maps is there inconsistency in scale, one map in one scale, another map is something else, with the 7.5' format I get 1:24000 every time.

Yes, I own a few Harrison Maps...I stopped using the for both trail use and planning.