When headed out for a hike at a local public park, don’t get
caught surprised by the unexpected
– or boring – terrain. Let topographic maps help plan your
excursions
To take advantage of the remaining warm, sunny Saturdays in the South Valley, residents may find themselves standing at a trailhead in one of the local public parks, ready to explore but unsure of the terrain ahead. Will it start out easy and end in a sheer uphill climb? Or maybe it’s too easy: flat and unchallenging. What’s an outdoors enthusiast to do?
With a little planning ahead, South Valley residents can get a topographic map and know exactly what the trail ahead has in store for them. Topographic maps, commonly called topo maps, show the terrain of the land using lines called contour lines.
“When the contour lines are close together, that shows a steep area. It’s not flat,” said Lisa Varney, a park ranger at Mount Madonna County Park. “When you see that lines are close together, you know you’re going to either be climbing or descending. As the lines get further and further apart, they show an area that’s more level and flat. Topo maps essentially give you a bird’s-eye view of an area. They show you how a bird sees the world.”
On the free topo maps available to the public at Mount Madonna, the entrance and area where people enter the park is delineated by a box. In this area, contour lines are far apart, showing that the entrance and grounds surrounding the park office are flat. Outside the box – where many hiking, biking and equestrian trails are located – the lines get moderately closer together in some areas, and very close together where the terrain is steep.
Currently, the Pinnacles National Monument doesn’t offer topo maps to the public. The way the United States Geological Survey has mapped the area splits the park into four, with one part of the area displayed on four different maps, said Carl Brenner, supervisor of interpretation and education for the park. The park staff hopes to have the whole area on one map shortly.
“Topo maps aren’t just for hikers or the rangers,” Brenner said. “We use them for a wide variety of things. It hasn’t happened recently, but when hikers get lost and we have to send out a search party, we look at topo maps and see where they may be. Most hikers would take the path of least resistance and try to find shelter, so we find where that path of least resistance would have been.”
Researchers use topo maps to plot where wild pigs are congregating in the park, and where exotic plant species are popping up in the area and how these new species may spread, Brenner said.
“When we get ready to do a prescribed fire, we need to know the lay of the land so we can figure out how the fire is likely to progress, and we do that with topo maps,” he added. “We also use them to monitor the raptors in the park. We figure out what cliffs they’re on and where the best place is to monitor the birds from.”
For people whose homes sit on several acres of property, topographic maps can also help determine where erosion may occur during the rainy season.
When looking at a topo map, use the legend to figure out how many feet separate the contour lines. For example, if the lines are spaced at 100 feet and two lines are very far apart, a hiker can tell that the 100 feet is spread out over a long distance, making the area flat, Varney explained. If you see two lines very close together, you know the 100 feet covers a smaller area, meaning it must be a steep area.
“Topo maps can certainly give visitors to parks a good feel for the terrain of a trail they’re going to hike,” Brenner said. “They’ll know if they have some serious climbing to do or if they’ll have an easy hike. They’re a great tool for anyone who enjoys the outdoors.”
