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- #ONTOUR LINES WARN YOU OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS. HOW TO#
- #ONTOUR LINES WARN YOU OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS. FULL#
- #ONTOUR LINES WARN YOU OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS. SERIES#
Noting how the contour lines are spaced out is also helpful for determining where peaks, saddles, gorges, ravines, ridgelines, and cliffs are located, and what it might be like trying to navigate that terraine.
#ONTOUR LINES WARN YOU OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS. SERIES#
If a map with a 20 foot contour index illustrates a landmass with a series of ten tightly spaced concentric lines, you can expect that 200 foot elevation gain to occur more rapidly than ten contour lines of the same scale being drawn over a broad area of the map. Not only does a topographic map indicate where elevation changes occur in the landscape, it will also tell you how steep or graduate those changes will be. For example, a map with a contour index of 20 feet will show elevation changes in 20 foot increments. The contours on your topographic map show you where on the landscape elevation changes occur, and the contour interval tells you how big a change is represented between contour lines on the map. These details are essential to reading your map correctly.
![ontour lines warn you of dangerous cliffs. ontour lines warn you of dangerous cliffs.](https://l450v.alamy.com/450v/cfe9gp/warning-signs-posted-on-rocky-cliffs-above-pacific-ocean-la-jolla-cfe9gp.jpg)
Take special note of the contour- and index-line intervals and magnetic declination.
#ONTOUR LINES WARN YOU OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS. HOW TO#
How to Read Contour Lines On a Topographic Map The legend will also include other data you need to properly read a topographic map and use it to navigate. The legend of a topographical map, like on any other type of map, will let you know what symbols, colors, and different types of lines represent, from rivers and roads to campgrounds, sno-parks, and waterfalls. Once you know the scale represented on your map, you can start to take in the other information. A topographic map of the whole United States, for example, may be several feet in length and width, but not contain nearly the navigable information that a pocket-sized map of just Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina might. The larger the scale, the less detail is represented on paper. The smaller the scale, the more detail the map has. The scale on any topographic map will tell you how many miles, or fractions of a mile, one inch represents. First, look for the map’s scale, which will let you know how much detail the map contains. It was also for outdoor enthusiasts to navigate more safely and confidently when armed with the knowledge of how to read a topographic map.Ī topographic map can be easy to read once you know the details. But the payoff wasn’t only for the federal government planning out how to use resources, or geologists in search of minerals. Powell’s topographic map project was a huge, ambitious undertaking. And all that heavy equipment had to be trekked into the backcountry by mule. The contours of the land, based on measurements collected by surveyors, were etched into huge sheets of copper that could later be used to print and reprint the first topographic maps. Surveyors had to do much of the measurement work by hand, using aneroid barometers to calculate altitude, as well as steel tape measures and compass traverses for spatial distances. Topographic maps were invented by a man named John Wesley Powell, a Union army veteran and geologist who in 1884 convinced Congress to authorize a painstaking cartography project in which Powell’s team would systematically create topographic maps to better understand the resource potential and hydrology of the western landscape.
#ONTOUR LINES WARN YOU OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS. FULL#
But one thing’s for sure- knowing a full range of navigational skills, including how to read a topographic map, will help you stay on course no matter what the earth’s electromagnetic field, or the weather, or the terrain, is up to.īefore getting into the technical knowledge of how to read a topographic map, here’s a little history. Researchers are still trying to sort out why magnetic north is wandering around like the hikers its supposed to guide. That might not sound like much, but consider the fate of Geraldine “Gerry” Largay, the 66-year-old thru-hiker who, after going missing for over a year, was found dead just about a quarter mile from an access road that would have gotten her back onto the Appalachian Trail and to safety. Magnetic North- the direction your compass is designed to point to-is suddenly moving around as much as 25 feet a year, a variation which can lead hikers as much as a quarter mile off course. Over the past twenty years, scientists have observed a startling shift that’s making it trickier for everyone from hikers on the trail to the U.S. This article was brought to you by Primus, the makers of camping cookstoves that are reliable and easy to use even in the remote backcountry, high altitudes, and the farthest-flung destinations.