Paper Maps

How to read a topo map and use it on the trail with contour lines, landmarks, scale, and GPS coordinates. *My Favorite Paper Maps:* https://rei.pxf.io/5k5xXD *Gear I'm Using Now:* * inReach: https://hkgy.co/inreach * Hiking App: https://hkgy.co/app * Watch: https://hkgy.co/watch * Shoes: https://hkgy.co/shoes * Pack: https://hkgy.co/backpack * Rescue Insurance: https://hkgy.co/insurance *Full Hiking Gear List (What I Use Now - Tested & Not Sponsored):* https://hikingguy.com/gear *Links:* * Website: https://hikingguy.com * Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/hikingguy * Monthly Hiking News (free): https://www.patreon.com/c/hikingguy/ * Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/Hikingguy How to read a topo map starts with understanding contour lines, map symbols, scale, and simple trail navigation. This video is for hikers and backcountry travelers who carry a paper map and want to use it confidently if a phone or GPS battery dies. It explains the basics of topographic maps, including index contour lines, elevation changes, and how line spacing shows slope steepness. It also covers how contour shapes reveal landforms such as peaks, saddles, drainages, gullies, creek beds, spurs, and shoulders. The video also breaks down common topo map color and line conventions. Blue usually marks water, with solid blue for more reliable flow and dashed blue for seasonal water. Green indicates vegetation, while white or light brown suggests more exposed terrain. It also explains how thicker and thinner solid or dashed lines often distinguish roads, paved paths, and trails, and warns that shaded boundary lines are not trails. For trip planning, it recommends choosing a true topographic paper map, checking the map legend, and paying attention to map scale such as 1:24,000 or 24K. It shows a simple way to estimate hiking distance with the printed scale and suggests drawing your route in pencil, protecting the map in a bag, and navigating from landmark to landmark on established trails. The video also shows how to locate yourself on a paper hiking map using latitude and longitude in DMS format from a phone, GPS unit, inReach, or watch. It notes that some maps may use UTM instead, and that electronic navigation is convenient, but paper map skills remain an important backup in the backcountry. 00:00 Why Paper? 00:14 Contour Lines 02:09 Reading Symbols 03:47 Scale 04:16 Navigating 05:10 Measuring Distance 05:37 Locate Yourself --- *Disclaimer:* Some of these links are affiliate links where I’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. I only recommend gear I actually use and trust.