- Joined
- May 19, 2005
- Messages
- 12,709
Or at least they need better maps. 
My hiking buddy and I decided that we want to do a weekend over nighter in July in order to prep for our week long trip in August. He mentioned that he heard once upon a time about a B17 crash site in the Sierras. So I put my magic google fingers to work, got lucky, and found some GPS locations. I plugged these into Garmin Basecamp and, well, what can I say, it sure LOOKED like it was in the Desolation Wilderness area.
For those not in the know, Desolation Wilderness is part of El Dorado National Forest.
Now, I've never been hiking in that part of California, and neither has my friend, so we really don't know what's what up there. After much time peering at the Eldorado National Forest Website, including this lovely map of the Desolation Wilderness Zones, I decided that the crash site must be somewhere in or near zone 5. But it's really hard to tell because there's almost no detail in the zone map.
So on a whim last night, I ordered a backcountry permit from recreation.gov for Desolation Wilderness zone 5 for July 9th.
Then I got to thinking about it, and I decided that maybe I'd better actually talk to someone. So after multiple attempts, I finally got someone on the phone at the forest service where I learned that where I want to go hiking isn't actually in Desolation, which means I don't need a back country permit at all to go camping overnight in that part of El Dorado. So there's $16 down the drain.
All of which leads me to the point of this rant: how come the maps you find on US Forest Service website are so damn lame?
I've been looking for a detailed map that shows Desolation's boundaries and, even better, the zones, but no dice so far.
Do they sit around giggling at how hard they make this for the public?
Do I have to fork money over to someone who will then give me the magic map with all the boundaries?
Or must I go sit in some dim inn, surrounded by tough but folksy adventurers, until eventually I buy the right man a mug of grog and he sketches out the secrets of the wilderness on the back of a piece of parchment?
I mean, seriously, in this day and age of Google Maps and Garmin Topo Maps that are way too expensive for what you get, is it asking too much to be able to get a map of what should be publicly available administrative boundaries?
I am vexed, I am.
End of rant. Thanks for reading.
My hiking buddy and I decided that we want to do a weekend over nighter in July in order to prep for our week long trip in August. He mentioned that he heard once upon a time about a B17 crash site in the Sierras. So I put my magic google fingers to work, got lucky, and found some GPS locations. I plugged these into Garmin Basecamp and, well, what can I say, it sure LOOKED like it was in the Desolation Wilderness area.
For those not in the know, Desolation Wilderness is part of El Dorado National Forest.
Now, I've never been hiking in that part of California, and neither has my friend, so we really don't know what's what up there. After much time peering at the Eldorado National Forest Website, including this lovely map of the Desolation Wilderness Zones, I decided that the crash site must be somewhere in or near zone 5. But it's really hard to tell because there's almost no detail in the zone map.
So on a whim last night, I ordered a backcountry permit from recreation.gov for Desolation Wilderness zone 5 for July 9th.
Then I got to thinking about it, and I decided that maybe I'd better actually talk to someone. So after multiple attempts, I finally got someone on the phone at the forest service where I learned that where I want to go hiking isn't actually in Desolation, which means I don't need a back country permit at all to go camping overnight in that part of El Dorado. So there's $16 down the drain.
All of which leads me to the point of this rant: how come the maps you find on US Forest Service website are so damn lame?
I've been looking for a detailed map that shows Desolation's boundaries and, even better, the zones, but no dice so far.
Do they sit around giggling at how hard they make this for the public?
Do I have to fork money over to someone who will then give me the magic map with all the boundaries?
Or must I go sit in some dim inn, surrounded by tough but folksy adventurers, until eventually I buy the right man a mug of grog and he sketches out the secrets of the wilderness on the back of a piece of parchment?
I mean, seriously, in this day and age of Google Maps and Garmin Topo Maps that are way too expensive for what you get, is it asking too much to be able to get a map of what should be publicly available administrative boundaries?
I am vexed, I am.
End of rant. Thanks for reading.
I paid $16 for a back country permit. At this point, I kind of think I should get my $16 out of the permit.