2015 Mapbook status

[bearcreek]

We’ve been getting quite a few inquiries from prospective 2015 hikers about next season’s mapbooks. Here is the scoop:

New Mexico – A new book will be printed for 2015. There are new developments in the Carson forest. Possibly some in the Silver City area as well, but that construction may not be finished this year. We have already made one trip down to NM and are going again in late September. I would advise waiting until this winter and getting the new book. The new edition should be ready sometime in November.

Colorado – no changes.

Wyoming – no changes.

Montana/Idaho – no changes now, but….
There is a fair amount of new trail being constructed in vicinity of Butte, but it won’t be ready until spring. We had hoped it would be finished by now, but it is not. The USFS has suggested that we come up to do the survey early next summer. Our plan is to go up in late June, gather the data, then publish the changed maps and waypoints which we will immediately make available for hikers to download and use. This should work fine for NOBO hikers, who generally don’t make it up there until late summer but it might be a close call for SOBO hikers who get an early start.

[10-K]

We exchanged an email today about this.

It'd be nice if Guthook could be in the loop so he could get his app updated ASAP. I'm not sure of how you guys work together but if there were some way he could get his hands on the updates might he be able to release an update quicker than you can prepare the maps?

[bearcreek]

Montana Segment 2 has changed between mile points 2.0 and 9.0. Since we are not going to publish a new MT mapbook until early next summer, I have provided replacement maps online. To download the new maps, go to http://www.bearcreeksurvey.com and take the Map Updates link. Use these instead of Mapbook maps 7 and 8.

If you are wondering what the Bearcreek maps look like, here is a chance to see a sample without incurring any cost.

A few waypoints have also changed, but if you have already set up your gps for Montana, I would suggest not worrying too much about that right now. The new trail is reported to be easy to follow. Just remember that it leaves the old route at Mile 2.0 and rejoins it at Mile 9.0.

The new waypoint file has been added to the zip file on the website. It is called MT2014New.gpx Use it instead of MT2014B.gpx


best wishes,

Jerry Brown

[10-K]

Ordered the MT and WY maps today....

[bearcreek]

Still have a bit of data to collect in NM - that is happening in the next two weeks. After I get it processed, it will go to the Guthook folks and they will revise the apps in time for 2015 hikers. We will post here and on the other forums when that is done. The updated NM mapbooks will be available sometime in November. We are going to update water sources based upon this year, which was one of the driest in recent history. Plan to still list the ones that dried up this year but will identify them as being unreliable in drouth years like this.

Things are looking better for next year - lots of late summer moisture and hopefully that will continue through the winter.

[bearcreek]

There have been requests every year from hikers wanting to purchase Mapbooks in a downloadable format. I have finally had the time to get it done. The CO, WY, and MT/ID Mapbooks are now available in electronic downloadable format. http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/bearcreek1035 This should give users lots of flexibility for producing only the maps they need, or to print maps at a larger scale than the printed books. The print versions are also still available.

A similar book for NM will be available once we finish with the changes there.

[10-K]

I just ordered mt and wy -does that include the downloadable version or is that a separate purchase?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bearcreek]

I am relocating the e-book versions from Lulu to the bearcreek website. The format required by Lulu creates files that are just too large to download efficiently or to be usable on anything other than a PC. I will post when this gets done - probably a day or two.

[bearcreek]

OK - it is done. The Mapbooks have been optimized so they can be downloaded to PC's smartphones and tablets. They are Adobe PDF format, so you need to have some sort of Adobe reader on whatever you download to. To buy digital versions of the Mapbooks go here: http://www.bearcreeksurvey.com/pdf_maps.htm

The New Mexico book won't be available until mid October but the others are there now.