Map printing question

[Scott Jennings]

Hi everyone. I'm gearing up for a summer trip and am wondering where folks from the San Fran Bay Area have had maps printed from TOPO!-type software. Were you able to get it on waterproof paper, or is there a durable alternative?

Thanks,

Scott

[Elena Lee]

just print in on paper and put in the large zip lock bag

[Mary D]

The waterproof paper is a lot heavier and bulkier than ordinary paper inside a gallon ziplock bag! It has gotten to the point that if I have to buy a map on waterproof paper, I instead use my scanner to copy the relevant sections onto ordinary paper.

[Mat Tallman]

Saving weight on paper is all well and good, but when I need to consult my map during a rainstorm, the ziploc bag's got to come open, and the map is going to get wet, which if I printed it at home, probably means the ink is going to run, and the map rendered useless. Do you people carry a spare for such conditions, or….? Laminate them?

[Scott Jennings]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll certainly consider the regular paper + plastic bag option, but I'd like to have durable map sets that can be reused for multiple trips. I'm more than willing to carry some extra grams if it means I don't have to send tattered paper to the recycler at the end of a trip, only to re-print for the next excursion.

Cheers,

Scott

[Michael Moccia]

Rite in the Rain paper prints nicely with a Color Laser printer to produce a durable / water resistant map. It’s a pricey setup however. If you have the paper print out an inkjet copy on normal bond and then go to a UPS store to copy the map on the color copy using the Rite in the Rain stock.

http://www.riteintherain.com

Many sizes, sources and printing tips at the site

[Tohru Ohnuki]

If you know someone who has either a dye-sub or color laser printer, those processes make printouts on regular paper that won't run like an inkjet. As long as you don't let the paper get so wet that it loses strength it's fine. It also has the benefit that it accepts ink for marking…

[Mary D]

Mat, I position my maps each morning so that the side I need that day can be read through the plastic! There's never any need to open the ziplock bag during the day.

[Jeffs Eleven]

http://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3656654

other sizes, too

[Elena Lee]

Mat i've done search and rescue training during winter in the pacific northwest… guess how much it rained – always and non-stop. and we had to navigate the course so the maps were out , all time. this is how everyone did it. take a map, take a gallon ziplock , put it inside straight , do not fold. push all of the air out when you seal. you may have to trim the map to fit the ziplock. keep the map in the bag and do not take it out. you can position two maps on both sides. now they make these ziplocks with double zipper line, freezer bag style. much easier than worrying about laminating, printing on rainproof paper, etc., in my opinion.

[Mat Tallman]

I suppose the map I used on my last trip (Trails Illustrated topo) must be higher resolution than some of the maps everyone else is using, or my recollection is just poor. It doesn't seem like, if I stuck it in a ziploc, the entirety of one day's travel would be visible, but maybe if positioned so that you could see both front and back of a folded map, it could work.

I'll have to give it a go, those trails illustrated plastic material maps are a good deal heavier than paper…although perhaps not that much lighter than paper + bag.

The rite in the rain paper mentioned above is intriguing too, although I have no access to a laser printer, aside from a Kinko's or similar.

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