Hiking Trail Maps

[Marmot]

Hello, I was wondering if any of you might know where I can find an online map of Yosemite that shows all of the hiking trails throughout the park on it. (usually a dotted line). There is probably some kind of online topographical map of the park that shows every major trail on one map running throughout yosemite. If any of you work for the National Park Service as well you probably have been inside the small 2 story ranger station at badger pass and there is one in there on the wall, except I was hoping to find one similar to that online to download. Thank you very much for your time!

[dan]

Here's one of Yosemite Valley hiking trails and the immediate area:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/u ... hikes1.pdf
Here's one of the entire Yosemite Park, with major trails:
http://www.nps.gov/carto/PDF/YOSEmap1.pdf (2008)

The best maps are not free though. Look for Tom Harrison maps--they are the most up-to-date. Next to that, some Wilderness Press maps are good. The official USGS topo maps are often out-dated and not accurate for trails.

[KC]

After trails.com took over topomaps.com about five years ago, I had the same problem: no more easy to access free topographic maps online. That's pretty much changed now though.

You can find some great historic maps with all the trails on them at the Yosemite Library:

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/maps/

Also, here's a great tool to access topographic maps:

http://www.usgsquads.com/index.php/map- ... /mapfinder

I realize it's not online, but Jeffery Schaffer has a good 15 minute topographic map in his book, Yosemite National Park. It features all the trails in the park. Schaffer also offers trail descriptions in his book, which I find very useful for planning purposes. I recommend it highly.

Of course, standard 7.5 minute USGS topographic maps are great and offer a bit more detail than Schaffer's map. I like to use National Geographic's TOPO! software, which I admit is not the most user friendly, to access them. TOPO! lets you draw your route, plot points, etc. so that you can gauge the length of your hike and get a feel for elevation changes. That said, generally speaking topographic maps have not been revised in a long time so they can reflect inaccurate trail configurations (but typically not far off in Yosemite).

Hope this helps.

[Marmot]

thank you both, this is very great information. thanks!

[balzaccom]

And I like this one for printing your own:

http://mapper.acme.com/

[orion]

thanks folks!