[dkemp]

Hi there. I use Caltopo on my pc. I use the Measure, Line Distance method, and drag my mouse along the route. This 'snaps' the line to the trail to compute trail miles. But its wonky right? It doesn't always snap correctly, and I have to stop and recenter my map to keep going. Sometimes it messes up, uhg. So I break it into chunks and use addition. Calgon, take me away! I'm planning a backpack, at least 30 miles, all on trails. This method works but its kinda tedious. How do y'all compute trail miles?

[hikerman77]

I use GAIA GPS. It is free or you can get premium. I use the app on my phone and also on my computer. With the computer you can map your route and save it, it will also load to your phone to use during your hike. Works in airplane mode while you hike so you don't burn battery down.

[RobinBaker]

Try CalTopo's "MapBuilder Topo" Layer. It has mileages marked for each trail section. I'm not sure where you will be hiking, but the MapBuilder Layer for the Eagle Cap Wilderness area shows trail mileages. I'm not sure about other areas. This information comes from Open Source Mapping, so it depends on whether anyone has supplied the trail mileage information for a particular area.

[fjoro]

I use CalTopo on a Mac, so keyboard functions might be different, but: -Choose Add ("+ Add" button at the left menu) > Line -Make sure “snap to line” is on. There are several options for this, OSM works well for me. -Click on your starting point to begin -Draw your line. If the line loses your trail, you can click once to anchor it to a point where it’s correct and usually continue from there. -Double click at your end point to finish. Sometimes I run out of screen! Recenter and right click on the line. A small menu pops up. Expand the “Modify” option. There should be an option to “Extend.” Click at your first end point and keep drawing the line. There’s also an option for joining two lines, or you can split a line into smaller segments. When you’re done, right click on the line again and choose “Profile.” That will give you distance and elevation, among other stats.

[rossb]

@Fjoro -- I think that is what dkemp is doing. It is what I do as well. The problem is, it is clunky. The "snap to" option requires you to select a point on one of the existing routes. It is easy to be a little bit off. You can be hovering over the route, and in the split second it takes to click the mouse, move the cursor just a tiny bit so that it is no longer over it. Then it just draws a straight line. If this is a long line (with many points) there is no way (I know of) to easily get rid of that bad point. Thus it encourages people to make chunks, as dkemp mentioned (I've been there). I have to admit, it is a very clever tool, it is just very finicky. I think if "undo" simply deleted the last point, it would be fine. Still a bit finicky, but folks would manage to work with it. @RobinBaker -- I've done that before as well. It is handy. Green Trails maps have the same thing. Just add up the various pieces. I usually jot down the numbers. One idea I had would be to create maps and charts that are similar to what road atlases have (or had). The first is what is called a weighted graph. For atlases, the points are typically cities, with the lines being mileage. In the case, the points would be forks, or other major point (e. g. lakes, camps, mountain tops, etc.). You would have some landmarks (e. g. mountains) but it wouldn't be drawn to scale, and the lines would be straight, when real trails aren't. You could have both mileage and altitude gain/loss on there. The other is to have a spreadsheet, with the same sort of thing. Again, these are modeled after atlases. You have columns and rows full of city names, and you simply line up the two to get the distance. It would require a fair amount of work to assemble these, but it could be based on existing data (or data people add). Once you have this sort of thing, it wouldn't be that hard to build tools from it. The "points" would show up on the map, and you could select two (or more) to figure out the distance (similar to how Google figures out driving distance). But the weighted graph would be valuable just as another source of information -- it would be another way to look at things.

[Navy salad]

I know what you mean, it's very easy to mess up when you're trying to capture a particular trail. All I can say is, it helps to take your time and be very careful going along. I've gotten much better with practice. Regarding "running out of screen", what I'll do is capture as much of the trail on a given screen as you can, then zoom out (using the scroll wheel), use the arrow keys to move the direction you need, then zoom back in and repeat.

[fjoro]

[dkemp]

Thanks folks! Hikerman I use OnX for GPS/offline maps. But it does not compute trail miles; it only does point to point "as the crow flies". I will check out GAIA. Robin it seemed like MapBuilder didnt always tell me the distances. Sometimes it does, sometimes not. But I just learned if I zoom it reveals them, thanks. fjoro, just tried the Add Line method. It's working better for me, thanks. BTW my effort with caltopo disagreed with a guidebook by more than a mile, hmm. I'll try it again.

[dkemp]

My intended route is Suiattle (I know its closed right now) to Miners Ridge, Suiattle & Cloudy Passes to Lyman Lakes, and out RR Creek trail to Holden. Needs to be 30 miles (for Scouts Backpacking merit badge), which I think it is.

[Randito]

GaiaGPS and other mapping products will give a mileage measure and even an elevation gain/loss measure. But take these measurements with a grain of salt, the trail path in the digital database often has some variation from actual trail position on the ground. Almost certainly the measurements will be different and likely less than the distance you would record using a GPS while walking the route and also different/less from a distance you might record using a pedometer.

[hikerman77]

Gaia is pretty accurate, but i can also record my hike as I go and it will give a better idea of the hike you just did with distance, elevation and speed. I don't think any program is perfect, but Gaia does a great job.

[Bosterson]

[fjoro]

[thunderhead]

[thunderhead]

I should add that low walking speed really hurts the gps integration method of calculating distance. It works much better as you speed up.