How to Explore the Back Country With Benchmark Maps
- 1). Use your Benchmark atlas to select an area to explore. This decision-making process has everything to do with your own abilities, desires and schedule. For example, the maps identify as a green line the 2,650-mile-long Pacific Crest Trail, which links the Mexico and Canada borders via desert and mountain country in California, Oregon and Washington. If you want to hike a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, you could use a Benchmark map to decide on a good route--say, one passing near a lake in the High Cascades. The maps also identify a plethora of other recreational sites, such as wildlife-viewing areas and boating access points. These types of maps can further hone your geographical focus.
- 2). Navigate to your particular trailhead or access point with the Benchmark map's road grid. The recreation-map series grades the roads it depicts based on surface, so you can gauge the probable quality of your driving route. Keep in mind: The more primitive, unpaved roads may make reaching many back country areas more difficult to traverse in rough weather, and many routes may be impassable in winter. Always check ahead with the appropriate agency. Usually, your state's department of transportation or natural resource, or a public-lands entity like the U.S. Forest Service, will provide details on road conditions along your planned trek.
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Safe wilderness travel requires a detailed topographic map.lost walker in the wilderness image by scalesy from Fotolia.com
Use a more detailed topographic map for your actual back country exploration. Benchmark atlases are not suitable for backpacking and wilderness hiking, as they do not contain the level of detail required for safe and accurate orienteering. They also do not display contour lines--the tracings of elevational gradient--that are particularly important for cross-country route-finding, gauging the difficulty of a particular hike and estimating your rough altitude without the use of a GPS or altimeter. Depending on your activity, good large-scale references for back country exploration include USGS quad maps, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management district maps, and maps specifically depicting a particular park or recreation area, like the Trails Illustrated series produced by "National Geographic." Relying on a more generalized road map like a Benchmark publication for wilderness treks is dangerous, as landscape features obstructing travel and very rough tracks like abandoned logging roads may not be shown.
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