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Good maps are vital to the wilderness experience

Good maps are vital to the wilderness experience
Op-Ed By Robert Speik
Bulletin Guest Columnist
Published on January 1, 2013
Environmental Reporter Dylan J. Darling, has been doing a great job in covering information useful to folks living in Central Oregon. The following adds to his recent story “Forest recreation map getting update”.

It is essential to carry a map of the outdoors, one that covers the land from where you start, to where you want to go - and return. The problem is finding the best map for planning at home and for carrying and using on your adventure.

Maps have very different uses: there are road maps, bike trail maps, hiking maps (for on-trail and off-trail), wilderness maps, snow park ski and snowshoe trail maps, backpacking maps and U.S. Forest Service administrative maps, including National Forest Recreation maps.

Maps have very different information formats: Planimetric maps do not show land contours – they are flat diagrams. Topographic maps show land forms by simple land contour lines at convenient intervals, are color coded, very accurately based on aerial photographs and are essential to backcountry travel.

Many maps have geographic grid lines to assist the identification of points on the map (where you are stranded). Older Forest Administrative maps likely have the historic (1785) Public Land Survey grid lines to define land management and ownership in “metes and bounds,” long preceding the DOD Global Positioning System (GPS). Some maps have Latitude and Longitude grid lines, now mostly used by pilots and mariners. Newer, more useful maps used by Search and Rescue Units have lines showing the UTM Grid, best used with any GPS hand-held receiver.

Some maps are “socialized,” showing points of interest such as campground services, fuel, restaurants and rest rooms. Road maps for the car, as sold at local stores or shown on smart phones are examples of Planimetric socialized maps.

Some maps are huge and require a table to use. Some maps are sized for the outdoors, to be folded in a traditional way to fit a Ziploc bag in a pants pocket.

The Deschutes National Forest Recreation Map is a very large administrative map – Planimetric - with coded information naming management points. You can view it on line at the Deschutes National Forest website (under Recreation and Maps). There are better maps, however, to use for your outdoor adventures.

Benchmark Maps’ excellent Road and Recreation Atlas for Oregon with “Landscape Maps, Recreation Guides, Detailed Roads and GPS Grids”, is about $22.95 at Bend Map.

Specialized maps include the pocket sized Salem based “Adventure Maps”, a detailed and regularly updated chart of mountain bike trails in Bend, $11.99 at Bend Map and sports stores.

The “Geographics” socialized topographic folded map of the entire Three Sisters Wilderness, (Mt. Washington, etc.) is available for about $10.00 It has been in stores for years. It is only somewhat GPS friendly.

The "National Geographic Trails Illustrated Topographic Map" is the best local area map today. It is is a socialized topographic map of Bend and the entire Three Sisters Wilderness, a best buy at REI and Bend Map  for about $11.00. It has the required UTM Grid (NAD 27) and very detailed topo, trails and features from the USGS Quad data base. I carry this map and I count ounces. It is pre-folded, waterproof and rip resistant!

The best maps for specific backcountry adventures, including hiking, snowshoeing and skiing and bagging peaks, are the USGS Quadrangle (Quad) Topo Maps available at Bend Map for about $8.00 each. They cover specific areas -- South Sister, Elk Lake, etc. Quads are the most accurate topographic maps, scaled to a detailed 1:24,000, with important features accurate to a few feet, including trails, springs, streams, lakes, peaks, bridges, buildings, etc. They have UTM grid lines and the ability to obtain very accurate True North base-plate compass bearings from where you are to where you want to go.

Quad maps work best with your Suunto "M3D" base plate magnetic compass (about $25.00), and a current model hand-held GPS, (about $175.00 for the Garmin eTrex 20 or eTrex Venture HC, my preference, about $100.00 on eBay).

(Note that the Suunto "M3G" currently carried by the local REI, costs about $80.00 and is not required unless you are a global traveler - insist that the Bend REI store orders from their REI website, the Suunto M3D, about $25.00.)

Letter-sized examples of socialized Quad topo maps (with the UTM Grid imprinted by the Forest Service) are free at most snow park trailheads along Cascades Lakes Highway.

Dillon was concerned about the date of the Forest Recreation map. I note that land features, campgrounds, resorts, trails and trailheads change slowly over years. Even Quad maps from 1980 aerial photos are the most accurate for backcountry navigation in the Three Sisters Wilderness and the Oregon Badlands Wilderness.

Navigation with essential map, compass and optional GPS is number one of the suggested Ten Essential Systems.
Copyright©, 2013 by Robert Speik. All Rights Reserved.
-- Robert Speik lives in Bend and writes for his website www.TraditionalMountaineering.org

A suggested minimum standard media advisory for all backcountry travelers

"We would like to take this opportunity to ask our visitors to the backcountry of Oregon to Plan for the unexpected. Each person should dress for the forecast weather and take minimum extra clothing to provide protection from a drop in temperature and possible rain or snow storm or an unexpected cold wet night out. Each person should carry high carbohydrate snacks, two quarts of water or Gatorade, a topo map and declination adjusted base plate compass and an optional inexpensive GPS (and the skills to use them together). Each person who has a cell phone should carry their ordinary charged cell phone (from a service provider that has the best local backcountry coverage). A SPOT-2 GPS Satellite Communicator is an option for some. Each person should carry their selected items from the new 'Ten Essentials Systems' in a day pack sized for the individual, the trip, the season and the forecast weather."

"Visitors are reminded to tell a Responsible Person where they are going, where they plan to park, when they will be back and to make sure that person understands that they are relied upon to call 911 at a certain
time if the backcountry traveler has not returned. Call 911 as soon as you become lost or stranded. You will not be charged. Do not try to find your way until you are benighted, exhausted, or worse yet - wet. Your
ordinary cell phone call can take the 'Search' out of Search and Rescue." 

The rest of the story

Deschutes County Sheriffs Search and Rescue Volunteer Coordinator Al Hornish, a 12 year veteran of DCSAR, stated the following in an interview published on January 26, 2012 in the Bend Oregon Source Weekly: "We have grown a lot over the past decade." "The nature of missions has changed as well. There are more Rescues and less Searches, mostly because of the better technology available." Read More. --Robert Speik, January 26, 2012

FIFTEEN WEEKS
Wednesday, July 7, 2010, or nearly four months since my fall off Mount Temple. After so much time, there is much to dwell on. The negatives: the pain of so many fractures, the sleeplessness, the drugs and the messed up things they do to you. It’s easy to get stuck in the negative; yet some part of me is drawn there by some morbid fascination.
How big am I then? Not very. I made a mistake, a pretty small mistake. Or more honestly, I made a series of pretty small mistakes. I almost died for these transgressions. I would have died if it had not been for a cell phone and the chain of events it was able to put into motion. (I’ve owned a cell phone for barely six years.) I might not have died that very day, March 25, 2010, but from where we were, we were a long, long way from the medical care my injuries demanded: a trained trauma surgeon in an Emergency Room. Perhaps I would have lasted one night. Maybe not. It changes my perspective about what a day means. Carpe diem no longer seems some frat-boy cry to party. Today, means everything.  The Steve House Training Blog

Deschutes County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Deputy Jim Whitcomb, assistant SAR coordinator reports on a recent 911 "false alarm". He notes that the inadvertent activation happened in a pack with an older SPOT-1 device. Whitcomb said it was a first-generation version that’s easier to accidentally set off while in a pack. “It is important to remember that technology can be a great asset, but can just as easily be a liability,” the deputy said in a news release, urging users of such devices to regularly monitor such gear. SAR will respond to all SPOT activations, treating them as an emergency, unless contact can be made with whoever is carrying the device, to confirm otherwise, Whitcomb said. Read More,
--Robert Speik, July 22, 2012.

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