[cdt-l] update... heading south in June

[cdt-l@mailman.backcountry.net (Jonathan Ley)]

Hi all,

I'm planning a southbound hike this year & thought I'd update=20
anyone who's interested.

I made a couple posts about my map project a while back. I've=20
just about got my maps done, they look pretty good...
There are a few places where I'm not exactly sure where the=20
trail goes (the guidebook is a little hard to follow from Seattle). =20
Hopefully it'll be close to where I think it is (where I've mapped). =20
My maps basically include a ~6 mile wide corridor along the=20
length of the trail (I've erased other stuff to save on ink).=20
They're all shrunken 1:24000 USGS maps (so the effective scale=20
is about 1:60000). (one 8.5x11 map covers an area of 7.1 miles
by 9.467 miles square) I've drawn the trail as a semi-transparent
red line over the trails, roads, (and a dashed line where it's=20
x-country). I've also mapped out some alternate routes, but not=20
all of them. I'm printing these on an Epson=20
ink-jet printer (not sure of the model) at 360DPI on=20
high-res paper.  I've found that the paper is really important,
the ink doesn't "bleed" when the paper gets wet & the detail is
really crisp (so I can read all that micro print on the maps) So far,=20
I've printed about 100 of them on one ink-jet cartridge & am=20
still going (a lot better than I'd estimated).  I'll have about 200
maps when done. (the paper costs ~$0.10 per 8.5x11 sheet,
and I found an on-line source for ink at $6 a cartridge). For NM=20
south of Grants, I switched to shrunken 1:100000 maps,=20
as I figure the trail is on a lot of roads, etc. =20
I'm heading through the Gila, into Silver City,
and someplace south from there.  I have the DeLorme NM=20
map too (which shows priv/pub property) for the 'end'.=20
It's been a very time consuming project, but I don't have a=20
job & the weather here has been yucky lately, so it hasn't
been too bad.

(I did discover that topozone is missing a=20
bunch of quads in MT, but they're supposed to get it fixed
soon!  This affects about 20 of my maps)

I'm planning on the Jim Wolf alternate route for the=20
divide basin in WY.  I'm planning on a couple cutoffs, like=20
through Mack's Inn and bypassing much of Rocky Mtn NP=20
(where the official trail parallels a highway anyway). =20

I just made a rain poncho based on the Green Pepper pattern...
I figured out a way to secure it around me so it covers my pack
and doesn't flap around.  It weighs about 1 pound (1.9oz coated
ripstop).

Other than that, I'm hoping for a start date of ~June 6-9,=20
hopefully the weather from now till then will cooperate (think
warm thoughts!).  I'm starting with at least one friend from=20
the PCT '99.

-Jonathan

PS: Thanks Ginny & Jim for your posts a while back!


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