Perhaps I am over planning, blm, national geographic, forest service maps, maps maps. Talking with folks that have hiked in the last year or so - some have relied only on the Jonathan Ley maps, weight wise it sounds great. thoughts?????

We are carrying both Jonathan's maps and the NF maps, at least to start. We'll see which we end up carrying at the end. Reasons: Jonathan's maps show only a narrow corridor - if you end up following a different route, by choice or by accident, you'll be hiking blind. Having had to bail out on the CDT a couple of times (weather, accident) - I know I want as large a picture as possible. I remember a couple of journals where people mentioned being 'off the map'. Also, we are following some routes of our own devising - they are not on his maps. Since part of the attraction for me of the CDT is the chance to be creative, I'd rather invent my own route than simply follow someone else's. Also, his maps can be very hard to read. The route is clear, but some of the places are very hard for my eyes to see, when printed out. The other maps are better at showing alternate roads, trails, springs, etc. For us it's easier, since there are two of us to share the weight/bulk - even so, it may be that some of the maps will end up going home.