I love maps of all sorts. When people discuss hiking the trail without them, I cringe. Yes, I know you can just follow the blazes, and probably not get lost. That’s not the point. Good maps are a powerful tool to enrich your knowledge and appreciation of anyplace you travel. (The examples are too numerous to discuss here.)

Many look at a map and might as well be looking at an abstract painting. Sadly this is partly because in many places there is little emphasis on map literacy in schools. For those of you who find maps mysterious and intimidating, please take the time and effort to educate yourselves. The rewards are rich and many.

Electronic maps have a place, (I use them often), but the tiny screen sizes involved make it impossible to see close detail and the big picture (context) at the same time. This is a fatal flaw for many uses, particularly for long trails. Print maps remain the best choice.

The AT is an interesting and challenging problem for mapping. A set of strip maps would cover about 1500 miles of corridor, given the many miles of twists and turns in the trail’s 2200 or so miles. At 1 inch : 1 mile, (the least detailed that would be useful) that’s a 125 foot strip. A 1 foot width would, of course, cover a 12 mile wide corridor. That’s a lot of map. Cut into 10 sections and throw in needed insets however, and you would have something very usable.

Comments? Discussion?