Reminder for US Hikers: Always check your map overlays. – August 29, 2022 at 10:17PM

Came back from a recent hike using the Caltopo MapBuilder overlay and learned the hard way that it doesn’t always reflect the current state. I knew this before but was stupid and didn’t double check. Fortunately it was in mostly open land with easily recognizable landmarks and plenty of backstops. Honestly it was pretty fun doing the off trail hiking but reminded me how bad it can get. I met a few people along the way that needed help because the different apps they were using showed it as a maintained trail (it was more like an unmaintained broken up in many areas).

So before you plan out your trip, make sure to check the USGS overlay or one provided by any of the US land agencies (e.g. Forestry, BLM).