Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Best Source for Topos

After reading Steve Roper's incredible "Timberline Country," I'm planning a High Route jaunt from South to North and would love to acquire the original 15-min maps he worked from, as well as the more detailed 7.5's.

Can anyone recommend a good source for original USGS topos?

Nat Geographic Topo! (California) ? Contains full set of 7.5 & 1:100k for entire state. Note, that 15-min maps got replaced by 1:100,000 series a while ago.

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Best bet is to order directly from the USGS. You can find the maps, a directory, and ordering info on their website. Takes 1-2 weeks to get them, but you can get maps for anywhere in the USA. Since I have collected many topos over the last 30 years, this is the method I use to get those strange ones I don't have - I can't justify the cost of software, a good printer, and good paper.

There are still a few outdoor retailers who stock USGS topo maps; check on the USGS website to see if there are any in your area. Only limitiation on this is the retailers usually only sell the more popular maps. There used to be one in Orange County near Angel Stadium, but it went out of business in 2007.

Larger REI stores have electronic map kiosks where you can print a custom map (on waterproof paper) of an area you'll be visiting. The kiosks use National Geographic's TOPO! software. Cost is about $10/map; not a bad deal if you're an infrequent purchaser of new maps.

> can't justify the cost of software, a good printer, and good paper.

as long as one forgets about good printer/good paper part it actually becomes cheaper - letter size laser printer printouts cost few cents a pop. thus, once-in-a-lifetime purchase (at a price equivalent to a dozen or so of quadrangles) provides infinite supply of disposable, custom made topo maps covering entire state :o)

Thanks to both of you.