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| Topographic maps Finding maps of the area you plan to explore can at times be a bit difficult, and you don’t always want to spend the time and money it takes to get quads from the U.S. Geological Survey. Here in Michigan there is a ready source of topos on the Web through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Web site. |
| Chapel Rock area Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore |
| At the MDNR Web site for online maps, a simple point and click system allows you to select the county which then displays the quads located there, you then locate the map you would like. |
| The maps are offered in PDF form and you can download them free of charge. It may take a bit of time if you are on a dial up, but high-speed users will have no problem. What can take time is finding the exact map you want, they are accessible thru a large scale map of the state, and then you have to more or less look and move from quad to quad to find the exact area. |
| Not bad for free, and depending upon the quality of your printer, you can get a pretty acceptable map you can use on the trail. Just be aware of the fact that as with most of the topos offered, they haven’t been updated for a while and if printed on a ink jet printer, they will run if they get wet. What I do is cover them with the self- stick laminating sheets you can purchase in office supply stores. So check out the site and get a head start on looking over the next place you want to explore. LARRY DIVIZIO MichiganHiker |
| Click on the map to go to MDNR online maps |