Yesterday I had an urge to do a little shopping and it was going to take either gear or chocolate to satisfy. Since I already had a stash of chocolate in the pantry and some gear on my shopping list, I felt safe in rationalizing a trip out to REI.
Over the last few weeks of hiking and snowshoeing, I have managed to bust 2 snow baskets off my poles leaving with me only one which was causing me to be a bit lopsided in the powder.
I have this thing that every time I go to REI, I pick up a new Green Trails map. Sunday’s hike had me with no map (which I hate!) because we were hiking somewhere new to me and I ran out of time on Friday to go pick one up.
I ended up finding the one I should have had along with another 2 I didn’t have yet, the snow baskets and some new OpSaks. I love these for carrying my food and my “bathroom” kit. I highly recommend them for odor proofing your smelly items, I have never had a problem with rodents as long as all my stuff was in them.
I have a confession to make. I have a thing for maps. It’s a little of an obsession actually. You can never really have enough, I think. I know there’s this thing called GPS but I really love maps. They feel more concrete to me.
You might be wondering why there is a cat food bag in the picture. A while back, I decided I needed a better way to store my maps in the car and I wanted something a bit easier and more waterproof than a cardboard tube. While searching my house, I came upon the wonderful material of a cat food bag. If you have ever tried to rip one of these bags open, you know they are tough.
I put together an envelope for my maps using a bag and some packing tape and it as been a very handy way to keep my maps organized. Just make sure you clean out all the cat food crumbs!
And it has to be a cat food bag, all the dog ones I see are just regular laminated paper. It has to be the plastic weave kind of material. If you don’t have a cat, you probably have a cat lady friend you can bum one from. Or if you ask really nice, I probably have one (or 5) to spare. Just PM me.
How To Make Your Own Trail Map Storage Case
- You will need a cat food bag, packing tape and scissors.
- Choose your favorite pattern.
- Open up the bottom and sides completely so the bag lays flat and is wider.
- Fold over the new wider bottom edge to create a “hem”.
- Tape the bottom closed.
- Trim the top to fit 2 inches past your largest map.
- Seal around the top edges with more tape (but don’t tape it closed).
- Put your maps in order and…
- …slide them in!
I have both Green Trails and Custom Correct maps (which are bigger), so I cut it to fit the largest maps.
I store my map bag in my car and for each hike, pull out the appropriate map and put it in the plastic sleeve that Green Trails makes for its maps (they call it a map sack). I picked mine up at the ranger station in Skykomish off HWY 2, who also sells Green Trails maps. Metskers Maps is a great place, too, and you can order it online at the Green Trails website.
Now that you know how to make your own trail map storage case, don’t forget maps are one of the 10 essentials and a good idea even if you are heading somewhere familiar or highly populated. You can find more information on my Getting Started page about getting started with your 10 essentials.
You can also read here where I talk about how I carry my 10 essentials on a dayhike: I Prepare For Failure.
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