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Maps (best for finding streams/lakes in SW Washington?

1912 Views 25 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  Paul_
I am having trouble finding lakes and streams in South West Washington. I have tried to utilize the US forest service maps i.e. one is from Gifford Pinchot national forest but it was printed 22 years ago and I can't believe that it's as accurate as it needs to be in order to be relied upon ie (road/trail,closures, bridges out, campground closures etc.)

All recommendations appreciated.

Troutangler
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Gazetteer might be helpful.
SF
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Another vote for the Washington Atlas and Gazetteer. I've had one for decades.
Gazetteer might be helpful.
SF
Old school, but effective.
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Download Google Earth. Overlays for GE are called .kml or .kmz files. There's tons of them available for free. Start with the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) from the feds.
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These days ya gotta get into the internet based computer web program scene these days for the big maps
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Hi Jim,
thanks, do you have a URL or site name you can share?

Troutangler
Hi Jim,
thanks, do you have a URL or site name you can share?

Troutangler
Google Earth in on Google.com and is one of their free apps. Google Maps is also a must.
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Google Earth in on Google.com and is one of their free apps. Google Maps is also a must.
Thanks Jerry
I am having trouble finding lakes and streams in South West Washington. I have tried to utilize the US forest service maps i.e. one is from Gifford Pinchot national forest but it was printed 22 years ago and I can't believe that it's as accurate as it needs to be in order to be relied upon ie (road/trail,closures, bridges out, campground closures etc.)

All recommendations appreciated.

Troutangler
Try www.gaiagps.com. It's free, at least most of the useful stuff is, and you can print your own maps from it.
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A 2nd on Gaia GPS. I have the premium version which has hundreds of maps, and you can import Google earth into it. However you can get most of what you need with the free version, the Gaia topo map being super useful
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Try www.gaiagps.com. It's free, at least most of the useful stuff is, and you can print your own maps from it.
Wow. Thanks very much John.
I'm off to a good start with this!!!

Troutangler
A 2nd on Gaia GPS. I have the premium version which has hundreds of maps, and you can import Google earth into it. However you can get most of what you need with the free version, the Gaia topo map being super useful
Sagebrush, THANKS!
CalTopo is useful
I dont know if you can do this in the free version, but you can download the entire state of the Gaia Topo onto your phone for offline use. You can also create tracks to follow, or record your driving/walking and place pictures in waypoints. I place waypoints in lakes and rivers to remind me of great little "honey holes". That being said, I still carry a paper map in the car just in case something happens with the phone.
There isn't a whole lot to find... some but not a lot..
Does the gazateer tell you which forest/logging roads have gates?
I've been wondering this since google maps doesn't seem to recognize a lot of roads that I frequent
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