About Halfmile’s Pacific Crest Trail Maps
My Pacific Crest Trail maps are created with GPS data logged while I hiked 2,200 miles of the PCT in 2007 - 2011. For most of the sections, a Garmin GPSMap 60Csx was used. The GPS was always on as I hiked and recorded the exact location of the trail.
GPS data from Craig Stanton’s 2007 hike and other PCT hikers was used with permission, for the final 193 miles of the PCT that I have yet to hike.
The GPS data was imported into National Geographic TOPO! software and Adobe Acrobat Distiller was used to create the final printable pdf maps.
The maps are multipage .pdf files and require only the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view or print them. All maps are in 1:31,680 scale (1 inch equals 1/2 mile). They have UTM grids and use the WGS84 map datum.
Prior to importing into TOPO!, waypoints and tracks were edited using Garmin's Mapsource software. Two types of GPS waypoints are shown on the maps. The first are half-mile points calculated using the Mapsource filter function. The second are waypoints I recorded with my GPS while standing near trail landmarks such as water locations, road crossings, etc.
The waypoints on the printable maps are the blue dots and they are also available to load into a GPS or to view in Google Earth.
Waypoint Naming Convention
Waypoint names beginning with WR are water report locations.
Waypoint names beginning with WA are water sources not on the water report. Almost all of these are north of Kennedy Meadows where the water report stops.
Waypoint names beginning with CS are camp sites.
Waypoints that are only numbers are half mile waypoints where the number is the number of miles from the Mexican border.
If you do not use a GPS these blue halfmile waypoints are still useful, as they accurately measure trail distance. The waypoints are also a convenient way to communicate your location back home to friends and family who can view the same waypoints in Google Earth.
-Halfmile