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Links
Hiking Clubs: http://www.sierrapotomac.org/events.htm - Sierra Club's Potomac Region Outings (PRO, formerly known as Metropolitan Washington Regional Outings Program, MWROP). 2-7 hikes and other events per week. Organizes 50K and 100K marathons on the C&O Canal.
http://www.maryland.sierraclub.org/hc/outings.html - Sierra Club, Howard Co., MD.
http://www.nvhc.com/sched.html - Northern VA Hiking Club, very similar to MWROP local club.
http://www.centerhikingclub.org/schedule.html#Schedule - Center Hiking Club, another hiking club from the D.C. area, with a bit more moderate hikes. After the hikes the group usually goes to a restaurant in the general area of the hike.
http://www.amc-dc.org/ - Appalachian Mtn. Club, D.C. chapter. A lot of hikes and canoe trips in the Eastern MD.
http://www.wanderbirds.org/schedule.htm - Wanderbirds. A bus club. Best suited for linear non-loop hikes (bus drops you off at one spot and picks you up at another several mils away). Cold beer after the hikes. Price per hike is > $20. Meet on Sundays.
http://www.capitalhikingclub.org/ - Capital Hiking Club. Another bus club. Price per hike is > $20. Meet on Saturdays.
http://www.mcomd.org/PublicScheduleAbbreviated/tabid/83/Default.aspx - Mountain Club Of Maryland, a Baltimore-based club. Most hikes are in the Shenandoah N.P. anyway. Some are north and east of Baltimore.
http://potomacappalachian.org --> Calendar- Potomac Appalachian Trail Club - not many hikes there, but that's OK. The club maintains 99.9% of the trails in the Greater DC Area. It owns a lot of cabins and shelters on the AT, Tuscarora Trail and other trails. You can rent cabins at very competitive prices, and use shelters for free. PATC produces the most accurate maps of the trails in the Greater DC Area, and it updates them often. It makes some of the best guide books as well.
http://scwdc.org/ - Ski Club of Washington D.C. Hiking, skiing and other activities.
http://www.wvhighlands.org/ --> Outings - WV Highlands Conservancy. Publishes the best guide-book on Monongahela Nat. Forest and often updates it. Check the CD-ROM version on this site.
http://www.satc-hike.org/hikes.html - Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club. Some hikes and backpacks in PA.
http://www.neohbackpackingclub.com/tripcalendar.aspx - Northeast Ohio Backpacking Club. Most backpacks are in PA.
http://www.meetup.com - put your zip code and type hiking or backpacking in search.
Biking Clubs: http://www.bikepptc.org/ - Potomac Pedalers Touring Club. The largest DC biking club. Very competitive. Don't be late - they leave 5 minutes before the official ride start.
http://ohbike.org/ - Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club. Friendly club. Relatively flat roads of the South-Eastern Maryland. Farms, old stores, Amish Buggies...
http://www.frederickpedalers.org - Frederick Pedalers Bicycle Club - Wed. and Sun. rides.
http://www.baltobikeclub.org/ - Baltimore Cycling Club.
http://www.bikevirginia.org/ - Bike Virginia. Not a club, but rather a very pleasant biking event. Highly recommended. Also organize Peanut Ride and other rides.
http://www.onelesscar.org/ --> What We Do --> Cycle Across Maryland. Also an event.
Mapping Software: http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/ - choose Topo! State Series, and Topo! Update. Topo! Backroads Explorer does not have the best scale but covers the whole US and is better than nothing, particularly when doing a trip to a far-away state and it's half the price of the State Series.
http://www.gpstm.com/ - GPS Track Maker. Allows you to see your GPS Trace in Google Earth. Allows you to put scanned maps and see your trace on top of them. Supports lots of GPS models and datums.
http://www.garmin.com/cartography/ontheTrail/ - Garmin's software. Poor design, 1:100,000 scale except a few national parks, high price. But it's the only way to see maps on the screen of your GPS and it allows you to save traces and upload them back to the GPS. Garmin is slowly adding 1:24,000 (or 7.5min.) maps for sections of the country. D. C. area is not there yet.
Google Maps-Based Online Services and Sources of Traces for the US and the World: Want to go anywhere on the planet and need a GPS trace of your hike, backpack, bike ride, canoe or kayak trip? Chances are you'll find it on one of these web sites. All traces are in *.gpx format that the software above can easily import and so can Google Earth. One word of warning: these traces are created by users, some of whom may be dishonest and just draw them by hand, some of whom may have cheap GPS units with poor reception, etc.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ - free/fee online service for creating and sharing GPS bike traces based on Google Earth. It has a very good database of user uploaded GPS traces from all over the world. Good search engine. Allows to create your own traces by hand. Has an option of trace "sticking" to the road! Gives the distance. Can upload to the *.gpx file and to *.kml (Google Earth) and make elevation profile. Can make queue sheet.
http://www.bikely.com/ - similar to above. Can upload to the *.gpx file and to *.kml (Google Earth) and make elevation profile.
http://www.everytrail.com/ - probably the largest one of these. Run by a guy from Spain, not that it matters. At this point, my most favorite of the sites in this group.
http://localhikes.com/ - used to be a good site even though I found the interface a little awkward. It allows to download traces in National Geographic's Topo! format. In addition it shows photos from the hikes and hike descriptions. This site hasn't been updated for years and some traces seem to have disappeared into oblivion. For example, I tried to download some traces from PA and 50% of the links to the traces were broken.
Traces Utilities: http://www.gpsbabel.org/ - We all know that there is a huge number of incompatible mapping software formats (for each GPS brand plus a number of independent programs). If one buys a mapping program and somewhere sees a trace in a different format, he is out of luck. In addition, a lot of mapping programs can only upload waypoints, but not traces. Finally, a lot of times there is a need to convert waypoints to tracepoints and visa-versa because of the limitations of the GPS. This little utility solves ALL these problems. And it's free. Huge thanks to Robert Lipe. Longer description of this utility at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPSBabel
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ - a web site that converts the formats left by gpsbabel to the *.gpx or formatted text. It can create an elevation profile based on the data or on the Digital Elevation Model servers. Also, see a good collection of links. Free as well.
Paper Map Resources for the Greater D. C. Area: http://www.patc.us/store/ - the most up to date printed maps and guide books of MD, VA, WV, PA, DC including AT, Tuscarora Tr., Catoctin Tr. They also sell Appalachian Conservancy maps, Mason Dixon Trail Maps. Not the whole states are supported. The maps and guide books are primarily, but not always representing the trails that PATC maintains. Obviously, not the whole state's hiking areas are covered.
http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps - National Geographic Map Store. Topographic Trail Illustrated Maps for many states in the USA and also maps for other countries. Trails Illustrated maps usually have an inconvenient scale of 1:100,000, but for well blazed trails that's all you need. Often this is the only source of current topo maps, e.g. big chunks of George Washington and Jefferson Nat. Forest outside of the AT (they cover some AT as well). Obviously, not the whole state's hiking areas are covered.
Maps by State (more on the state's and park's individual pages on my site) MD: http://shopdnr.com/trailguides.aspx - great maps of MD State Parks with current trails. Waterproof and inexpensive. Work well with PATC guide books. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wmamap.html - location, descriptions and free maps of MD Wildlife Management Areas. Maps are pathetic. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/boating/ - put ins and water trails information. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/outdoors/hiking.html - hiking places belonging to MD, not just parks. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/outdooradventures/selfcentral.html - different outdoor activities in central MD, by activity, 2003 http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/all.html - state public land by area http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/tawesgarden.html - garden in the DNR headquarters in Annapolis
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/trailguide/ - Garrett Co. state trails, not very useful, but gives an idea of what's available.
http://www.montgomeryparks.org/ - Regional parks of Montgomery Co. web site. http://www.montgomeryparks.org/PPSD/ParkTrails/trail_maps.shtm - Very good hiking maps in *.pdf format of Montgomery County's Regional Parks. http://www.co.ho.md.us/RAP/RAP_HowardCountyParks.htm - Howard Co. regional parks info. Not much there.
WV: http://www.wvstateparks.com/recreation/bypark.htm and http://www.wvstateparks.com/parkmaps.html - great printable *.pdf trail maps of WV St. Parks and Forests..
http://www.fws.gov/canaanvalley/CVNWR-trails.htm - Canaan Valley Nat. Wildlife Refuge map.
http://wvscenictrails.org/ - Allegheny Trail Guide. ALT goes from AT in the south to the PA border in the north. Poorly maintained with lots of road walking, but has some interesting stretches.
http://www.wvhighlands.org/ - CD guide has maps of Allegheny Tr., Dolly Sods trails and the whole Monongahela N.F.
PA: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/index.aspx http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/index.aspx - select region, select park, download and print a very good free *.pdf map of a state park or order it free from the PA DCNR. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/index.aspx - all PA is divided into state forests. Printable maps of the forests from this web site are of very low quality. But that's OK, because you can call DCNR and order up to 6 maps of forests free with free delivery per call. Also it's a good idea to request hiking trail maps for a particular forest by calling it. They are photocopies of poorly hand-written maps but that's better than nothing. There are free good topo maps of long trails available from PA DCNR as well. Quehanna Tr. map comes to mind.
VA: http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/ - state parks. Maps so-so. http://www.dof.virginia.gov/stforest/index.htm - state forests. Bad maps if exist. http://www.dgif.state.va.us/ - wildlife management areas. Maps are so-so. http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj/ - George Washington and Jefferson National Forests - few bad maps, but shows closed areas due to bears or natural emergencies. http://www.nps.gov/shen/ - Shenandoah National Park. http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/upload/wilderness_shen_map.jpg - its Wilderness areas http://www.shenandoah.national-park.com/ http://www.brmconservancy.org/ - Bull Run Mtn. Conservancy http://www.nvrpa.org/ - Virginia Regional Parks - only Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun Co. http://www.uvrpa.org/naturalchimneys.htm - Natural Chimneys Regional Park
USA: http://www.railstotrails.org/index.html - lots of resources on rails-to-trails. http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/ - Nature Conservancy saves unique places.
Individual Hikers' Pages: http://www.habitualhiker.com/ - Leonard Adkins. The best guide books from the best expert in the field. I used a lot of Leonard's hikes from the guide books in the "50 Hikes in ... " series, featuring MD, VA (Northern and Southern), and WV to plan my trips. I like to read his hike reviews in the Blue Ridge Outdoors. His 2 books about wildflowers have the largest pictures of the most common flowers of our area. They helped me memorize names and characteristics of wild flowers like no other book. Leonard is the best selling author of the Guide Book to the Caribbean's.
http://www.midatlantichikes.com/ - site by Mike Juskelis with detailed descriptions of 200+ hikes and backpacks that he led for the Howard Co. Chapter of Sierra Club and WV Highlands Conservancy. Lots of Topo! traces.
http://www.hikingupward.com - Tony Van Vugt's page with lots of traces. His choice is Garmin Software. Use GPSBabel to convert it to any other format.
www.pahikingtrails.com and www.georflf.com the second link will be faded out in a few years - real traces in various GPS formats from hikes and backpacks in PA (as the name implies).
http://risy.smugmug.com/Hikes - Richard Stromberg's photos. His photos are mostly flowers, which he identifies, but also photos with maps having overlaid traces.
http://picasaweb.google.com/eric.shereda/ - Eric Shereda's photos from hikes and other activities. Primarily, from backpacks in WV.
http://www.bobpickett.org - notes from hikes and backpacks. Lists of plants and animals from different places.
http://www.maryannhoncharik-photography.com/ - Mary Ann Honcharik's photography. Very good work with a pro camera and pro software of the Northern Monongahela National Forest, WV, primarily, Dolly Sods, Roaring Plains and Blackwater Falls.
http://www.pbase.com/dsjtecserv/dolly_sods - another pro photo album of the Dolly Sods.
GPS: http://www.garmin.com/ -the only manufacturer that makes a few good GPS receivers, namely: GPSMap 60 and 76 CX and CSX. Don't bother with other brands or other models of Garmin, including the new "state" models, unless you are planning to use an external antenna.
http://gpsgeek.com/ - antennas and car adapters
Shopping: http://www.gpscity.com/ - used to be good, now slow, overpriced, but still with good selection. Use it for the information.
http://www.amazon.com - prices can be very competitive.
Nowadays, I use www.pricescan.com, www.bottomdollar.com and www.nextag.com to get an idea about the price of an item I want to buy and then confirm it with www.newegg.com and www.amazon.com.
www.techbargains.com - part of the www.pricegrabber.com - as of 12/23/2007 - one of the best ways to find lowest prices for a high tech item.
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