Don't you wish there was some master volume we could buy once and be covered for life?

i'm having a hard time finding a local store that carriers trails illustrated or any trail maps for that matter...my camp store is a good hour away...and i get burned buying stuff online all the time...

if anyone knows of a chain store that carries them, some store type i'm not thinking of? or some other solution for me that would be great

I think REI sells them - or is that one of the places you got burned?

What about a local bookstore? I've been to one or two that have a limited assortment, usually in the travel section.

Right now I am using digital-topo maps.

Digital topo

It is a free site that combines google maps with USGS maps. I will generally zoom in with google maps, and then hit the "My Topo" button on the top of the screen. Then I move it around until it has what I want, and I hit the "Landscape" button located under the map window. This will produce a nice picture with a scale on it. Then I copy and paste onto a word document and print it out.

That is a neat little tool. Cheers for posting.

Good info, now if the tech challenged crowd/individual can work thru it.

the directions via the post were pretty straightforward and worked for me...granted i work in IT

there is still something to having a nice finished map tho...maybe its me

and when i get burned its not by the retailers, but rather deviants in my neighborhood that tend to take packages left outside front doors...

why they don't require signature is beyond me after all the reports i've made...sigh

Isn't there a GPS that can hold all the topo maps for the USA and Canada within its memory?

It's called a computer with LOTS of memory. Not very portable!

Netbook with a GPS attachment? Looking at ~6-8 hours of run time, and about 1.5 pounds carrying weight.

You could potentially do something like this:
http://www.rei.com/product/797251?prefer...r:referralID=NA

With a MicroSD slot built in, it is feasible that you could load up all maps.

Yep,

It can be found in the cockpit of most commercial airplanes.

well i have a big pack, i'll put the airplane next to the desktop computer.

i must have a sign on my forehead, what does it say? oh, you can't tell me, then i would get the joke and couldn't zing me.

where's the smiley for the finger?

All in good fun, Patrick! This is supposed to be a G-rated site, so no fingers except for this one.

oh, we're havin fun...

ok

one of those high dollar Garmin GPS units with those high dollar microSD cards ought to have most topo maps on it, from what I can see in the write-ups. Don't know if they are practical, useable, useful, etc.

anybody got experience with those things? if someone were to leave home and hearth, would one of those things get him (her?) from NY to Canada by foot? (not as a means of transportation, but as a means of navigation). (Figured you'd tell me to take the train, Ms. Mouse)

If you had a specific trail, or specific area (like eastern US and Canada, or east coast US and Canada) you could probably get it all on a GPS. But the WHOLE US and Canada is pretty big.

Pat-rick,

Sorry about the teasing. I knew that my reply was lame.

I tried to imagine travel where you could not download enough to get you to the next download. Airplane was the only travel that would require the entire US.

Thru hikers tear out enough pages from their trail guide to get them to their next resupply then put the trail guide in their bounce box. When they retrieve their bounce box they mail home the used pages along with notes for the trail journal then rip out more pages.

Indexing all the US quads is a substantial task even if you had the storage capacity.

Well I just can't shake this idea of hitting the road as a homeless backpacker. I get a grand a month SS retirement and spend 3/4 of it on this house, where I am bored out of my mind and sleep too much. As a lifestyle, well, ...

The Garmin Colorado and Oregon get poor reviews for readability. I've looked on line at the 62st, $550, and MicroSD cards for $129 each. Each card covers a section of the country. I don't know enough about GPS to know if that would be all I need to get anywhere I need to go. If it had information to allow me to find trails across states, and ways to find stores in cities, or resupply places, that would be cool.

What the heck is a bounce box?

If I do this, I will not have a home. I will leave the home. The pack will be my home.

I thought, a 1.5 pound Netbook, with solar power, and a GPS, what would that provide in terms of connection to the greater world, and how much would it cost. See, I have a lot of time on my hands. Well, it's retirement, it's supposed to be like that. But I am stagnant here. Don't have enough money to get anything going unless I get on another wavelength. (Instead of doing something in a week, do it in a year.) Or two.

OK i'm having fun now.

What the heck is a bounce box?

It's a bit of jargon, It means a parcel, a box or sometimes one of those buckets with a tight lid, where you put items that you might need, but don't want to carry everywhere you go, because covering every possible need makes your pack too heavy.

You send this parcel ahead to a spot you know you will be able to retrieve it, such as to General Delivery at a post office. When you arrive, you remove any item you need, replace or add other items while you are in a town, then you "bounce" the box ahead to the next destination, usually about two weeks further on.

I hope that makes sense.

Pat-trick - I'm going to wade in here as a techno-neophyte.

One question I've got, when it comes to using electronic devices like laptops to stay connected to the world, is how you will connect to the Internet. I know that, most places I backpack, there is no cell coverage, so I'm wondering if you'd have the same problem with internet and email access?

I'm not trying to discourage your plan, and if you did like most long-distance hikers I read about, you'd be spending a night in a motel every 10 days or so, so you'd definitely have access there. And, the laptop might be worth having along just because of the ability to keep a journal, store photos, etc. But I could see problems with connectivity, if that's an important issue for you.

Ok, so I just wanted to tell you, Pat-trick, that I am envious of you.

We've talked many many many a-time about just living in the woods. He took a course on pack guiding in the Can. Rockies & grew up on a farm in crowsnest area. I have lived in a stinky city for 26 years now, but am willing to whatever it takes to live off the grid. I've learned how to do river laundry, he is teaching me how to trap, I know how to fish and clean those too. We have built so many log cabin/lean-to-type things.

I know we could do it. I could do without everything. Anything.

Book Recommendation: Dances with Marmots. "George Spearing, Dances With Marmots - Pacific Crest Trail" I love these types of books, very inspirational and motivational!

aimless, thank you for the bounce box description.

Pat-rick, you are either going to be hiking or foraging/hunting, but not both. They both are full time + jobs. You either will be going to town for resupply and have the opportunity to download the next batch of maps or you will not be moving and will not need additional maps.

Consider storing the maps on a flash drive and only loading what you need.

And tagging along with what Food saying, don't forget about public libraries in towns you may go through. If you find something that works well (google maps with the overlay previously described), you could use it at the library and see if you could print out the maps you need or save them to a jump drive.

Many of the hikers on the AT update their journals and check their email using public libraries when going into town for supplies.

Can you hook up a jump drive to an I-phone? Won't those new i-phones have enough memory to handle some of this?
My phone is 3 years old so I have no idea about this new stuff.

thanks aimless for the bounce box explanation.

Glenn, I'm just tossing ideas around. I have no idea how to live out of a backpack forever. The library idea is a good one. I'll want to resupply, not wanting to forage for everything. But I don't see me pounding the trails all day, either. Maybe a little of both. Pack grains and beans, use my wood stove, augment with vegies, follow bear tracks to the blueberries, I don't know! I'm probing you guys to help me figure it out.

Maybe I would stop somewhere now and then to get involved in something, stay a while. Maybe I'd take a job as a trail guide. Maybe stop at the library to write up something, download maps for the next section of my life. Maybe I'll stay here in this little house until I croak. Who knows. But it's an interest that won't go away, and I hate giving most of my money for a roof over my head. And this computer is an evil thing - it wants my soul. Just like the TV used to. Last night I went to sleep listening to the rain outside my window, and wondered what it would be like out in it, in a tent. It would be wonderful, that's what it would be. It's just hard for me to imagine being "out" there, permanently, or until I stop somewhere. I've got to check out the Long Distance HIking forum here, something I haven't done yet. I appreciate all the replies, thank you all.

I have kicked around the idea of buying a van and leaving the world behind.

I am sure most of you are aware of the cities of nomads that fill the deserts of the southwest during the winter. Living free on BLM land.

Summers of course would be spent wandering the mountains. When not living on the trail, National forest lands do have restrictions, but most allow free camping 100 feet off a road for usually up to 14 days. As long as your Van isn't parked in the same spot for weeks (or as long as your back country permit), you are good.

You would always have a spot to call home (van) that can get you around anywhere for cheap, live life on the road and trail, but be able to visit family on holidays and whatnot.

That is quite a big step though, and I have never wanted to leave my loved ones enough to actually go through with it. But I can always dream, and maybe one day the stars will align and I can make this happen.

Pat-trick, in my jobs in Nevada and California, I've seen older guys pedalling a bike with all there earthly goods or using an old beater van/motorhome to move with the seasons. They glom onto a town where they are treated well or get to know folks and find a place to park for the summer. You need to sell your house or tell the landlord adios and make a move. Get a small loan on something and park the thing and only move when needed to save on fuel/wear and tear. Camp out in the warm months and rent a place in the winter if needed. I know a vet who has a small income like you and he uses his older Toyota 4X4 with a camper as his home and stores his new Harley in a storage unit in the winter.