Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Ski Resort Trail Maps



Publisher: The resort.  Some are available online (Sundance, for example)
Price: Free
Purpose: Navigate the hiking, biking, ski and snowshoe trails in the area.

Ski resorts have some great summer trails.  Some do not run their lifts, but are open for free parking.  For example, Brighton has trails like the Five Lakes Loop.  Some run the lifts, and allow you to buy day, half-day or single ride passes.

One of the advantages of resort trails is that they are usually more accessible, either because you can park right next to the good stuff, or because you can just ride the lift up, then back down, and see some great scenery while doing it.

Some resorts cater to downhill bikers, who use the lifts to get to the top, then jet down the trails.  But resorts are not just for downhillers.  The trail on the map above at Sundance that loops around the left (Archie's Loop) is a great cross country trail.  We also tried one of the hikes, the one that loops over to the right, going over to Stewart Falls, and it was beautiful.  We like hiking to the Falls from the other direction, but this was a fun way to see some different terrain and even though it was "downhill both ways" (you get all of your elevation with the ski lift), it was a decent hike for the kids.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Adventure Map's Salt Lake/Park City, Utah Trail Map & Guide



Publisher: Adventure Maps
Price: $10
Purchase: adventuremaps.net (You can also get them at bike stores, sporting good stores and REI, but they are rarely in stock)
Purpose: Use it to plan.  Use it on the trail.  Use it to show others where you have been.  An all around great map.
Properties: Waterproof, tear resistant, trail information on the map and small, useful trail guides on the edges for popular hiking and biking trails.  Both sides of the map are full of different locations along the Wasatch Front.

One of my favorite maps.  Trails on the map have distances and trail names or numbers.  Major trail junctures have GPS waypoints.  Useful land features are identified.  Symbols identify trailheads, parking, camping, etc.  Different styles of trails are identified and trails are rated for technical difficulty.  One side of the map has a large map from Parley's Canyon to Provo Canyon, the other has a map for Park City Trails and a map from Mueller Park to Emigration Canyon.



Utah Mountain Biking


http://www.utahmountainbiking.com
Purpose: Trail locations and details for mountain bikers.
Properties: Digital. Trail reports are in an easy to read format, have all of the details a biker needs and include a mile/gps summary.  Many have GPS coordinate files in different formats as well.

This site is more than just trail reports.  It has an active forum and quite a few non-trail pages such as race reports and bicycle maintenance.  However, the trail reports are a good example of how a website can create great maps and guides because they are specific to a community and because of the passion that goes into the effort.

If there is one thing I would like to see added, it would be overall maps of areas with links to the trails.  Here is an example.