Searching for "Maps"

Hike of the Day: Mount Falcon near Denver, CO

Explore a parkland once proposed as the summer grounds for a second presidential White House.

Link three trails on this super-scenic 5.8-mile out-and-back located 19 miles southwest of the Denver skyline. You'll pass redrock monoliths, giant rockslabs, and a crumbling cornerstone marking the proposed site of a summer White House for Woodrow Wilson (never completed). Also enjoy big views of the Mile High City and, to the west, snowy Rocky Mountain peaks.  See turn-by-turn trail directions and more at www.backpacker.com/hikes/40401. Read Full Story...

---

Friday, November 20, 2009 in: Destinations, Hike of the Day, Maps
View Comments (0)

Hike of the Day: Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park

Descend this slot canyon from Big Bend's scenic River Road toward the Mexican border and the raging Rio Grande.

Drop from the scorched Chihuahuan Desert into Closed Canyon on this short 1.4-mile dayhike in the western horn of Texas. Then scramble or wade around deep pools to views of the Rio Grande, the Mexico Border, and an optional rappel. See more trail details provided by map scout Melissa Gaskill at backpacker.com/hikes/479976. Read Full Story...

---

Thursday, November 19, 2009 in: Destinations, Hike of the Day, Maps
View Comments (0)

Hike of the Day: Hadley Mountain in the Adirondacks

This family-friendly hike climbs to Hadley Mountain Fire Tower and showcases expansive views of the Adirondack High Peaks and Great Sacandaga Lake.

Ascend 1.5 miles to Hadley Mountain, an Adirondack peak with wide-open views of Great Sacandaga Lake, the High Peaks, and Lake Champlain. A fire tower stands on the southern end of this broad mountaintop. Climb six sets of stairs to reach.... Read Full Story...

---

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 in: Destinations, Hike of the Day, Maps
View Comments (0)

Hike of the Day: Trail of Ten Falls in Oregon

A classic waterfall hike in Silver Falls State Park, the Trail of Ten Falls visits 11 cascades and tours lush forests sprinkled with vibrant wildflowers.

Map contributor Eli Boschetto of Portland, Oregon calls this 7.7-mile loop in Silver Falls State Park one of his favorite dayhikes. It's a waterfall lover's--and photographer's--nirvana, featuring spectacular views above, below, and behind cascades of all shapes and sizes. See more photos and turn-by-turn trail beta at backpacker.com/hikes/448668. Read Full Story...

---

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 in: Destinations, Hike of the Day, Maps
View Comments (0)

2,500+ Trips for Your iPhone

Send any GPS trip found on Backpacker.com and record your own trails with AllSportGPS.

About 300 readers noticed our soft launch last week, but now it’s official and we’re cutting the red ribbon: You can send any GPS-enabled trip found on backpacker.com directly to your iPhone 3G or 3GS. Our partners at Trimble Outdoors have launched AllSport GPS, an application targeted to fitness users and GPS beginners.

1. UPLOAD GPS TRAILS
Any of the 2,500+, editor-approved GPS trails on our site can be sent to your iPhone. Better yet: Any public trail created in our map tools site (www.backpacker.com/postatrip) by you or other backpacker.com users can be sent to your iPhone.

It’s easy. Say you’re in Seattle and have a free afternoon? Go to backpacker.com, send a trip like Poo Poo Point in Tiger Mountain State Forest  to your web account. Next, launch AllSport GPS and retrieve the trip’s track and stats on your iPhone.

Now, go hiking...

Read Full Story...

---

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 in: Maps
View Comments (5)

Four Corners Off By 2.5 Miles!

The national marker identifying the the intersection of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona is in the wrong place

If you've ever made a pilgrimage to the Four Corners—the only spot where you can stand in four states at once in the U.S.—I've got some sour news: You were never there. The National Geodetic Survey has determined that the monument dedicated to where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah meet is 2 1/2 miles west of the actual point.

So instead of putting one limb in each state, you were simply flailing about somewhere in eastern Utah. Our condolences.

Meanwhile, some horny toad has been sitting on a patch of dirt just east of the crowds, waiting for his day in the sun. That day has come my friend—I hope you've ordered all the tacky souvenirs and fake-frontier billboards you'll need to capitalize on it.

As for you Four Corners visitors, there's only one thing to do: Find Mom, Dad, Sis, Bro, and Grandma, pile back into the minivan/station wagon, and head back out to the real Four Corners. That, or get a life.

—Ted Alvarez

Four Corners marker is off by 2 1/2 miles (Denver Post)

Thanks, Jason

Image Credit: jakesmome
Read Full Story...

---

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 in: Weird and Funny, Maps
View Comments (6)

Reader Question: How Do I Share Trips?

Map Editor Kris Wagner shows you how to share your epic journey with friends, family, and the world

Reader Question:
I've recently posted a trip of mine on the backpacker website, but I don’t know how I can let my family view it.  If I search for the name of the trip, "barr trail to barr camp" I can find it, but I don’t want them to have to search for my hikes every time I post them.  I hope you have some answers for me.
 
Jesse via email
 
Answer:
 
Jesse: Thanks for your email. There are several ways that you can tell your friends about your posted hikes.
 

 
Read Full Story...

---

Thursday, April 16, 2009 in: Maps, Destinations
View Comments (0)

New Trips This Week: Tennessee, California, and Oregon

BACKPACKER mappers log the Walls of Jericho in Tennessee, Three Fingered Jack in Oregon and the Ano Nuevo State Natural Reserve in California. Download and go now!

With an army of over 100 contributors mapping hikes for Backpacker.com’s inexhaustible online database, our inboxes are always inundated with fresh trip reports to peruse (and salivate over at our desks). To make sense of these must-see-destinations, we’ve decided to profile three of our favorite new trips. -Brian Beer

WALLS OF JERICHO: TENNESSEE

Read Full Story...

---

Thursday, April 02, 2009 in: Maps, Destinations
View Comments (0)

Navigating by Knickers

British North Pole expedition finds their way using sexy underwear instead of GPS or compasses

Map. Compass. GPS. These traditional navigation tools remain the indispensable standbys of any expedition. But on your next inevitable sojourn into the unknown wild, ditch the Garmin and pick up a copy of Victoria's Secret: Lacy women's underwear is the latest in orienteering technology.

Just ask British Arctic explorer Pen Hadow, first solo trekker to the North Pole and leader of the Catlin Arctic Survey. In their quest to blaze an uncharted route to measure the thickness of the ice at the North Pole, they've been forced to use the sun and wind to navigate as their proximity to the pole drives their compasses batty and the cold drains their GPS batteries. Their racy solution? Affix a pair of donated women's panties to a ski pole and let the wind do the rest.

"It an entirely genuine situation. If you can get gossamer thin material and attach it your ski pole it is particularly useful for this project because we can cannot use the compass as we are so close to magnetic north and it is too cold to use the GPS."

"As such, we're currently relying on more traditional methods for day-to-day navigation, using the sun (for those few precious hours each day when it graces us with its presence), and using wind direction, as indicated by the panties…"

Read Full Story...

---

Monday, March 30, 2009 in: News & Events, Maps
View Comments (0)

Melting Alps Borders

Climate change and vanishing glaciers force Italy and Switzerland to redraw their borders

View Larger Map

Italy and Switzerland share one of the world's sweetest borders—namely, the spine of the European Alps, which is laden with high mountains and deep, blue glaciers. Make that was: Thanks to climate change, melting glaciers and the erosion that follows have altered the topography, essentially erasing the previously agreed-upon borders between the two countries.

Now, if this were a couple of centuries ago, the Medicis might've just petitioned the pope, conscripted an army of Hessian mercenaries, and marched up the mountain passes in a bid to lay claim to all that sweet Swiss chocolate and taxable peasantry. Luckily, humanity has progressed, and instead Italy and Switzerland have set up a panel to explore how they might re-draw the borders.

Check out this quote from the Swiss paper Tages Anzeiger, which I translated myself from the German:

The law plans the mechanism of an expert commission, which the new course of the border due to the natural and progressive change of the mountain points and the glacier is to fix. 

The border between Italy and Switzerland is to be called in the high mountains in the future mobile, i.e. it is to be able itself to adapt to the corrosion climaticdependent in the process of the years.

OK, so maybe that's the last time I use Babel Fish in an official capacity. Still, it's nice to see two countries coming together to politely resolve a border dispute, rather than resorting to pitchforks and plunder to resolve the matter. Are you paying attention, India and Pakistan?

—Ted Alvarez

Die Grenze zwischen der Schweiz und Italien wird neu gezogen (Tages Anzeiger)

The border between Switzerland and Italy is again drawn (Babel Fish Translation) Read Full Story...

---

Thursday, March 19, 2009 in: News & Events, Maps
View Comments (0)