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Just got back from a 3 day pack trip in the San Jacinto mountains here in SoCal and thanks to the instructions I received my GPSr worked perfectly.  I was able to merge the Southwest TOPO info and the hiking trails from My Trails in Mapsource, send it to the GPS,  and the information from both maps displays on the GPS.   It was great being able to see exactly where i was at in relation to the trails in the area.  Also nice to be able to confirm my suspected location when navigating by map and compass.

Thanks again for the all the info.

babj-

Thank's so much for the instructions - that's just what I was looking for.  Doesn't seem like Garmin blows their budget on printing instructional manuals and thanks to sites like this we can find the help we need.

Tim

Do I use MKmap and MKmapGUI for this or is there a better option.  Also, there are several .img files in the two map folders that I want to load onto my gps, how do I know which .img files to select to combine?

I have a GPSMAPS 60csx.  I dont think you can open more than one map at a time, but I thought I read somewhere that you could combine both into a single .img file somehow - does that sound right?

Thanks for the info everyone.  I think I'm slowly starting to get this.  I downloaded the Trails 100K which looks like it is an overlay for other maps showing just trails.  I also loaded the SW US TOPO map which has just the right amount of detail I was looking for but no trails.  Can I open both of these maps at the same time adding the trail info to the SW TOPO map?  Can I do this in Basecamp?  That would be just what I was looking for.

The maps I can see in Basecamp show the TOPO lines and what could be trails, but nothing that shows where these trails originate (i.e. the end of a road) and nothing to indicate that you are even in the right area or on the right trail.  I was just looking for something that shows a little more detail markings like "trailhead" "Pacific Coast Trail" "Big Bear Peak" "Millers Lake" etc. just so I know that I'm for sure looking at the right trail.

J - thanks for the info, I think I'm slowly starting to understand what I can and can't do with my given setup and information.

babj615 - my problem is I know how to enter the a position on my GPSr (or download it) I just don't know how to obtain that position by looking at the CA Topo map I downloaded.  I can see the general area that we are going, but have no idea where exactly the trailhead, fork in the trail, stream, or destination valley is so I can drop a waypoint.  What I was hoping to see is a map like the one I can buy at my outdoor outfitter that clearly shows the parking area, dotted line with a fork in the trail, and even spells out the name of the valley we are headed right on the map.  I'm pretty sure during my several hours of GPSr research I saw a demo where a guy clicked on the start of the tailhead then clicked on his destination and the sofware filled in the actual route then he made some waypoints along the route.  I think it would be really cool to be able to look at the GPS on the trail and show me where I'm at on the route and how far to my next waypoint.

I'm not too worried about loading the whole map on my GPSr, I would just like to be able to download or enter a set of waypoints in key locations from the information I entered on my PC based map.  If I tried to do this right now I would be totally guessing on the spots where I'm putting my waypoints and I know that is not the right way to do it.  I played with it more last night and found that my map detail was set to "low" or "normal" so I turned it up to high which did help a little bit because I can now see what I think are trails (or streams) but certainly not enough info to confidently plot a waypoint (a simple marker legend in the corner of the map would help)  I'm sure the free maps that are available provide enough information for someone who is experienced with this to plot some accurate locations, but for a first time user I'm finding it pretty tough to do.

Im beginning to think the technology to obtain this kind of data is out there, but a user-friendly graphic interface to put this data to use just isn't there yet.

Ok, I downloaded California Topo and I can view it in Basecamp but how the heck does this help me plot a course to where I want to go?  I think I can see mountain range I want to go (only based on the highways) but I certainly have no idea where the trailhead is or where the valley is that we want to hike to and camp. 

Here's my goal after opening a map in Basecamp or MapSoarce and locating the general area we will be going next weekend:

1) Mark the location of where we will leave the vehicle at the trailhead.
2) Mark a waypoint at fork in the trail where we have to keep right
3) Mark a point on the trail where we are by a stream so we can fill up on H2o
4) Mark an approximate area in the Little Tahquitz Valley where we want to camp.
5) Download this informaton to my GPSr so when we arrive in the parking area I can turn it on and it will show me that I'm at my car and my first waypoint is 2 miles away in that direction.

Is this a reasonable goal or am I asking too much?  Sorry, I've been at this for 3 nights now and again I'm very frustrated.  Will going out and buying the Garmin or Nat Geo maps going to help me with this? Im way past the point of caring about how much anything costs, I just want something I can see a recognizable start and destination point.

What HUGE piece of the puzzle am I missing?  Any advice much appreciated.

The links to the tutorials are just what I needed - THANKS.  Really cleared up some confusion I had about MapSource and Basecamp - I know understand that those are just the portals to view the maps and not the whole mapset itself. 

So with that being said, do most people end up buying the Garmin Topo maps or are the ones you can find online sufficient.  I'm strictly using this GPS for hiking/packing SoCal and Sierra trails.  Can anyone recommend a downloadable TOPO/Trail map that would be good for my area.

Thanks again.

Tim

Hello,

I am new to GPS other than my Garmin in my car.  I just bought a GPSMAPS 60CSX and installed Basecamp on my PC.  I keep seeing tutorials and screenshots of cool maps with trails and the ability to click a start and end point and Basecamp plots a route that you can download - just what I'm looking to do.

I'm going hikng in Idyllwild next weekend so I type that in the Find, but in my Basecamp all I see is is a white screen with a few black lines for highways (no topos, trails, etc.).  I think I'm missing a big step somewhere.  I tried downloading a mapfile from this site but it was a .img file that Basecamp doesn't recognize.  Do I need to buy Garmins West Coast Topo or something?  I don't mind spending the money if that will get me what I want, but I've read some pretty bad reviews on the Garmin 24K series Topo maps (West Coast at least) and I'm not sure if that's even what I need to do.  I don't want to do anything too fancy, just be able to plot a course on my PC then download it to the Garmin and perhaps upload my trip to see where we actually hiked after the trip is done.  Sorry if this has been discussed already, but I'm frustrated and just need someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong.  Thanks in advance for any input.


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