On this page I'm providing GPS waypoints (a set of coordinates with names) for the Pinhoti, Sipsey, Cheaha Wilderness, and Oak Mountain. I also aim to provide tracks although that might take a little while.

The waypoints can be used in three ways, they can be downloaded into your GPS so when you are on the trail you can follow them, they can be placed on a topo map allowing you to see the trail and print maps with the relevant waypoints on them, or you can just print out a list of coordinates and places to use with paper maps. Below the waypoint and track files are directions for each use as well as a detailed review of mapping software.

Pinhoti

Cheaha Wilderness

The Software

There are big differences in these software packages including price, accuracy and usefulness of the maps, and ease of use for the graphical interface. You can get Topo USA 2.0 for $85 including shipping, covering the entire USA on 6 CD's. However, Topo USA has the Delorme interface which I find unacceptable and very difficult to use and the quality of the maps are not acceptable. You might be able to get decent road information from Topo USA but certainly don't rely on it for a trail map, I was very disappointed in it. Delorme's TopoQuads and MapTECH Terrain Navigator contain the same information, both including very good topo maps and lots of digital information allowing for all the other goodies (profiles, searching by name, measuring distances, etc). There are two big differences: Price - TopoQuads costs $100 per state and Terrain Navigator costs $150 for Alabama and Georgia; Interface - Terrain Navigator is easy to work and has most of the features that you'll want and TopoQuads is awkward, slow, unfriendly, and includes novelty features without having the important stuff. With Terrain Navigator it is easy to create maps using routes, waypoints, or tracks. The maps can easily be saved, printed, and output to external files (with some limitations). The CD's contain 100,000:1 and 24,000:1 maps. You can upload to your GPS and download from it with both pieces of software, but it is much easier to do this with Terrain Navigator. With TopoQuads everything is more difficult. There are more levels of zoom, however they aren’t very useful. Opening a file is a nightmare. Changing CDs requires you to close and restart the program. You can't output a digital image from TopoQuads without a screen capture facility. Both products have demo's at their web sites which might be helpful as well.

Creating the maps

Now that you have your software, you want to add the waypoints or tracks to a map. Unfortunately they don't make it easy to move from one software package to the other as each one uses a completely different format. My waypoints are available in MapTECH and Delorme format as well as a text format that will work with GPS Utility. To open up a MapTECH file is very easy. Simply download the file, open MapTECH Terrain Navigator, go to the 'Markers' menu, and then 'Import.' Find the file that you downloaded and double click. You can then use the Goto command under the 'Markers' menu to go to any of the downloaded Markers. Opening the file in Delorme is much more difficult. You need to copy the file that you downloaded into the directory 'C:\Delorme\DeLorme Docs\Navigation', assuming you have the software installed in the directory 'Delorme' on your C drive. Otherwise find the 'Delorme' director and proceed from there. Once you have copied the file, then open the Delorme software and go to the 'Navigate' window. If you click on the directions button you will see the file you just copied listed. You can then click on any waypoint and use the 'goto' button.

At this point the waypoints will be placed on the map on your screen. This is not the same, however, has having a trail map. The waypoints simply are dots placed at intervals along the trail. In order to get trails you need to download the tracks and put them into the software. I will have the tracks uploaded for the MapTECH software before too long, unfortunately I haven't yet figured a way to get them into the Delorme software. When the tracks are uploaded you will then be able to print out maps at any detail you want with both the trail and the waypoints. Tracks are uploaded in the same manner as waypoints.