Effective Planning of a Remote Terrain Hike and Getting Your Bearings With and Without Maps

A) Tired to travel in developed regions, which were described many times and have a lot of exact maps?
B) Want to be a pioneer?
C) Love tropical forest and deep gorges of rivers which names you haven’t ever heard?
D) Planing to go strait between certain points outside your home country?

If you’ve chosen at least one item, the article below will for sure help you.

It’s not an instruction for beginners. You can find a lot of materials considering the art getting your bearings. You probably have also heard this from your alpinist instructor. This article concerns specific problems in planning and getting your bearings that arise in really remote region (outside your home country) and gives you some methods to solve these problems. Also the article accents the algorithms of using maps from different sources which are of different quality and number of details.

What Problems Will You Encounter When You Plan a Route in a Remote Region?

• Topographic maps are absent or outdated and low-detailed
• Different maps are contradictory
• Many places that you are going to visit haven’t ever been visited before and you can’t use the description of your predecessors and use their photo in getting your bearings
• Many mountains, passes, villages etc. has different names. E.g. locals can’t recognize the name that you read from the map, they know completely different name of the same object. In China it’s not even easy to pronounce the name in correct way due to difference of vowels tones

Which Maps Types Can You Consider for Planning and Getting Your Bearings?

1. You can download for free many outdated USSR military topographic maps from poehali.org.

These maps are available for many places in Asia and Europe. They have scale from 1:100 000 (sometimes) to 1:500 000 (almost full coverage) and even 1:1 000 000 (they are quite useless in hiking). Maps of 1:200 000 are the basic for your planning and they are available for quite a few places, but if you find a map of 1:100 000 you shouldn’t miss your luck! All these maps are a bit outdated (issued between 1960 and 1990) so many recent objects like cities, power plants and roads are not there. And e.g. in China there’s quite fast construction speed. The information about natural objects like elevation, water objects, glaciers and mountains is quite reliable (except the woods which have been sawn down in many places near Tibetan border). The maps are very detailed and you can often see separate houses, springs and other out-of-scale objects. But you may be disappointed with a vast shortage in reliability. You can assume that village is disappeared due to some natural disaster but if the whole highway is completely absent it means very hard mistake of the map authors. The reliability is especially low in roads. A highway on the map can correspond to completely pathless terrain. Some passes dislocated and the trail that passes one saddle on a map can not exist at all, with the real shepherd’s trail going trough one of neighboring passes (that does’t have a trail on a map)

USSR military map 1:500 000. Amnye Machen region (China, Qinghai)

USSR military map 1:200 000. Amnye Machen region (China, Qinghai)

The main problem with russian maps is that you need to learn cyrillic alphabet, but that’s not that hard. Probably you can do it in couple of hours. The use of these maps is great!

Here is a simple table to read cyrillic names and words easy. You just need two hours to be specialist in the russian alphabet.

U.S. Army Map Service issued similar topographic maps but only 1:250 000 scale and they are available only for some regions. They are available for free download here: Texas University Library. The number of details depends on the region and the way of mapping very much. Outside the map border the reliability chart is available. Most of these maps are dated back in 1950-1970. And for China there are local captions as long as in latin. Generally these maps are like the USSR ones 1:200 000. They are older but have much less mistakes. For example I didn’t notice any misaligned roads when we used a map of Lesser Sunda islands.

2. The satellite image of any land is available from Google Earth, which also contains elevations. Generally they are available in two resolutions. On a low-resolution image you can see ridges, some information about vegetation, big villages, rivers and some greater roads. High-resolution image also depicts minor roads and rivers, separate houses as long as the details about forests and vegetation. Small streams, trails and even minor roads hidden under branches can’t be seen at both images. Besides, images created in winter miss information about glaciers and rivers – they are just covered with snow. You can easily see saddles of passes and approximate steepness of slopes, so it’s convenient to mark passes, valley junctions, peaks and write their coordinates to use in GPS.

Google satellite image. Amnye Machen region (China, Qinghai). The left side contains the region of more detailed imagery. Small squares correspond to panoramio images (see below).

The level which contains names of villages contains too few details so sometimes it’s impossible to know the name of some village on a satellite image. Vice versa panoramio level (it contains users pictures made from the certain points) can help you to recognize the places, that are visited by tourists. A number of pictures always corresponds to good road, few pictures is the sign of a trail at least. No pictures at all mean that this place isn’t visited by tourists (but the trail used by local shepherds and villagers can still exist, and that are the places we like to visit most).

3.The elevations of every point of land between 60 degrees south and 60 degrees north was once measured by satellite altimeter during NASA SRTM project. The files with vertical resolution of 20m and horizontal resolution – 90m can be downloaded for free. Contours of elevations allows to see streams and river valleys easily as long as the micro-structure of ridges and even different saddles inside a pass. You can chose to generate contours for uploading to Garmin GPS. I especially like this easy method of getting my bearings. For mountain slopes I prefer contours spaced by 30 meters elevation. An easy way to prepare elevation cotours using SRTM data (in russian)

Contours spaced 30 m elevation from SRTM. Amnye Machen region (China, Qinghai)

4. Local bookshops often have road maps and tourist maps. They are recent, reliable, but all of them has very small number of details. They hardly contains something more than just automobile roads and towns. Many rural roads and trails for sure aren’t included at all, i.e. the most important information for hiking and alpinism is absent.

You can make a pictures of a road map in a bookshop with your digital camera to see it on a route from the screen if you are not keen of copyrights (you’d better have extra battery for a camera). The same you can use for guidebook and downloaded topographic maps (pictures can even easily be taken from the laptop screen). We use this method because sometimes it’s not that easy to find a printing office in a town. The roadmap isn’t so useful on a trail to buy it and bring extra weight in a backpack. Besides maps can be inside a backpack in a drybag and my camera is with me in most cases.

5. The last but not the least is free vector map for Garmin GPS. They are available for many countries in the internet. Their quality very much depends from the author. Generally the number of detail is the lowest but they have very good reliability, and also they are recent. If you are lucky to have a road on this map, you can be almost sure that it’s not a mistake.

Free China vector map. Amnye Machen region (China, Qinghai).

So I want to sum up all pros and contras of these maps:

For route planning we can evaluate the use of every map by two parameters:

When we want to plan our route we first use the most detailed maps available, and then check all possible way using the most reliable maps.

The Example of Complex Maps Use to Develop a Route:

Goal: reach Salween middle stream (possilbly near the town of Gongshan) from Deqin using the most simple trail but we want to avoid a vast roundbout by the highway (more than 800 km). Season: November.

USSR military map contains four trails which cross the range between Mekong and Salween valleys i.e.: passes Chu, Daja, Jay and untitled pass near elevation point 3915 m (near the southern border of a map). US military map contains only several trails through the last of them. Probably there’s also the last part of a trail, which descends Salween from Jay pass (the sheet that should contain first three passes is unavailable). Google map contains faint trail near the last pass and region of the first three passes imaged with low resolution and it isn’t possible to see a trail (if exists). Free map and road map contains no information about roads over the range.

USSR military map for planning the way. In fact we used 1:200 000 maps (the map 1:500 000 on the picture is just for demonstration, 1:200 000 map is too big for the web).

Chu pass is too far to the north, untitled pass – too far to the south. The closest way is over Daja pass but the way over Jay is 200 meters lower. Besides there are some proposals of trekking over Jay pass. We recognized slopes around Deqin and saw snow over 5000 m. approximately. We decided to check the Jay way.

According to USSR military map west of Jay pass the trail descends in the tributary valley of Salween then climbs again on the side range and reaches Salween just south of Ooly village. According to the US map the trail after the pass goes to the south almost level on a main range, passes the elevation point 4390 on a map then descends to another tributary valley near Baihanluo village. It reaches Salween near Quinda village. The reliability according to the chart is low and I used the characteristic shape of Salween turns to match this map to the others. The trail in Baihanluo also probable as there is one Panoramio image of the church in the village and the references that trekking way includes this village.

Intermediate decision: We try to cross the range using Jay pass. On the pass we should find the best (more used) trail to descend.

We started to go. When we were going along Mekong, we met a group of tibetans on the driving road. They had blankets attached to the frame of wood, which was self-made in a way of backpack. We proposed they were pilgrims.

- We come Nu-Jian (this is a local name for Salween)
- We’re also
- Daja pass?
- Yes
- Meili kora? (ritual circuit around mt. Meili?)
- Yes
- Daja pass?
- Yes

A conclusion: The tibetans want to circuit mt. Meili (the local name of mt. Kawakarpo, on a map above it’s peak 6773 m) using Daja pass which is the closest to the mountain. They don’t have snow equipment and they use sneakers so the pass can be easily passed in this season. Ritual pilgrimage is widespread in Tibet so we expect to have a good trail over the pass.

Final decision: We make our way over Daja pass and hold to the best trail.

The result: The trail is in a good condition all the way. There are numerous markers i.e. prayer flags. We have even seen several big shelters with small shops. The terrain west of the pass is very rugged. It’s narrow gorge with steep walls completely impenetrable on the bottom. The trail make its way much higher that the bottom of a valley. In case of no trail the terrain can hardly be passed at all.

Map and GPS in the Getting Your Bearings

The basic approach which is used by alpinists and hard-trekkers in Russia is drawing vector ridge map. It includes manual vectorization of USSR military raster map and later correction using recent Google satellite images. In the popular mountain regions the map can be useful to the followers, and many maps have been already vectorized by predecessors. The article “How to make a ridge map” (in russian) contains good explanation of the manual method of vectorization.

Outside the home country you can hardly find the map which is ready. Of course if it exists this is good luck and you can just upload it into your GPS. But if not (most probably) you need three full days to vectorize only one standard sheet completely and a bit less for a ridge map. Our new projects in mountains are quite often and we have few extra time so I propose the different method. I make a map combined from free GPS map (from the internet) and elevation contours from SRTM. I also bring a printout of USSR military map and a recent roadmap (in my camera). The shape of ridges ad valleys allows me to correlate GPS map and military map (and also I often have coordinates on a military map). The simple automated method of creating vector map for GPS with elevation contours based on SRTM data was described in my recent article.

So I getting my bearings and see microstructure of a terrain using GPS map and the other useful information (about roads, springs, villages etc.) I take from the military map. So we have every needed information to plan and adjust the way.

“Blindfolded Way Through the Elevation Contours” – Travel in the Region with No Maps.

It’s uncommon to travel in the region if no maps. But if you want to be first somewhere like we do and have much experience it’s of course possible. Even in the worst case you can use Google image and SRTM elevation map. This data can be successfully used when you travel in unknown region. What do you need to note in this case?

1. Vegetation (you can check it on a Google Earth image). You can easily go through any pass in grasslands of the Northern Tibet but in the forest it can be impossible to pass if no trail (especially if the slope is steep) The worst type of terrain is felling, young growth and bamboo thicket. Some slopes and narrow gorges can be impenetrable at all.

2. SRTM “blank spots” often correspond to impenetrable terrain like very narrow canyon with steep walls and vertical rocks, and also there can be sharp ridges.

3. The lowest pass or the lowest saddle of a complicated pass is common to be easier and have herders’ trail. Even if it’s a bit steeper it is covered by snow less time in a year. Often the trail (if exists) goes through this pass.

4. In the uninhabited upstream of some valley the best trail probably go to the best pass. Otherwise in the inhabited downstream areas the best way often leads to the fields, mines and villages and upstream trail is not distinguished. If possible it’s better to ask locals the way having the names of the rivers as best references. In rural areas it’s important to check the reliability of answers, see whether locals understood you and whether they seem to answer with a confidence.

5. River gorges with steep walls are often impenetrable on the bottom because of many side rocks of the stream. If there is a trail it is often very high above the river (several thousands meters). In some terrain it’s more probable to find a trail on the ridge top. If the valley appears impenetrable it’s better to turn back or try climbing the slope to find some trail.

6. Animal trails, which are closer to the rivers, are often very narrow and dangerous over the steeps.

7. It’s better to plan enough food to turn back in case it is needed. The death from starvation is actually not that probable. 20 or 30 days that are needed to die are often more than enough to reach inhabited places. In the most remote and suspected regions you can leave a set of cheap food (i.e. several kilograms of rice) on the way back. If you succeed to complete the way without turn back it will be just left unused.

8. Appropriate evaluation of dangers. Often some experienced travelers forget about the danger if they are really need to go through. We can climb a dangerous slope, clinging the small branches of bush if we hope to reach the road soon. I don’t propose to be afraid of everything. It’s much worse to stay on the same slope with shaking legs and hands. But it’s folly to climb or descend the glacier with no appropriate equipment. Sometimes it’s better to make a roundabout or turn back.

9. If you need to swim a rapid river you should repack your backpack to be the largest possible volume. Don’t compress anything! Everything should be in tied plastic bags (or better in drybags). The rest volume of bags should be filled with dry leaves, dry hay which don’t allow the bag to deflate in the water. You can also add empty (closed) plastic bottles if you find it on a bank. As a result backpack can float. You can pull it when swimming or push it with a rope. Once I tied the backpack with a rope to my waist and it’s better to have a knife just in case. If you start fording a river with an intent to swim later, you should unfasten a belt of a backpack and hold it only on one shoulder to separate it just before swimming (you can’t know for sure at what moment) It’s not that convenient to go in that style but it’s also hard to free both shoulders from a backpack when you swim. If you decide this you have to be trained before. Don’t forget to hide your trekking pole inside a backpack and use a wood stick to ford to leave it and have your hands free when you start swimming. If you see a rapid or whitewater downstream it’s better not to swim at all. You can also read a vivid story about our blind trekking here (in russian). Actually we had a map but it contained very hard mistakes.

Enjoy your travel!