Map App

A application developer has a map application for USFS and BLM campgrounds, iTunes Web page, which costs all of $2 in the iTunes app store. And while it's cheap, I have to say it's only about worth the money you pay for it.

The app is based on Google Maps and indexes of US Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campground in western states. For that the app does a good job as well as providing links to additional information about each campground.

What I found to dislike about the app is that it doesn't save a start map and place when you open the app. It resorts to the  world maps, then a map of North America based on your current location. You have to go to the "set current location" window to click the place you set for your preferred place.

This could be resolved by just saving the map and location information. The second is that, despite having a checkbox for "walk/hike in" campsites, it doesn't have any. All the USFS campground are all drive-in sites. Or at least the areas I've looked at.

The main area I checked was Mt. Rainier NP. All the campgrounds are accessible by car, and only those on maps of the Forest Service forest or Wilderness Areas around Mt. Rainier NP.  This is in part because the backcountry campsites are only on other maps but are listed in guides and other publications.

This means detailed information isn't readily available to put into an app like this one. So if you're looking for backcountry campsites in USFS forests or BLM lands, this isn't the app for you. Your best bet is USGS topographic maps and hiking books.

The last minor inconvenience is that it leaves the icon on your dock. If you don't want it, you have to trash it and keep remembering to remove it everytime you close the app. This should be a user setting or not keep it and let the user put it there from the applications folder.

Aside from these things the app is good for what it does and if you travel a lot and use car accessible USFS and BLM campgrounds, this is a good app for $2.

Updated Book

Peggy Goldman has updated her book, "Washington Scrambles", published by the Mountaineers and available in both print and e-book (PDF) formats. The book has 8 scrambles in Mt. Rainier NP, most of them in the northeast quadrant of the NP.

The book has an 18-page introduction and overview of the scrambles, all of which are non-technical hikes and scrambles, but some hiking and scramble experience is preferred. The chapter has advise for the various possible conditions for the hiker, weather and other factors.

The book has an overview of the presentation of the areas and scrambles in the book. The scrambles for Mt. Rainier NP are:

Echo Rock and Observation Rock - Northwest
Mount Ruth - Northeast
Goat Island Mountain - Northeast
Banshee Peak - Northeast
Governors Ridge and Barrier Peak - Northeast
The Palisades and Marcus Peak - Northeast
Tatoosh Traverse - Southeast
Mount Wow - Southwest

The book has excellent descriptions of the trail and scramble with map with each scramble. The book covers the whole state where only about 20 pages are devoted to scrambles in Mt. Rainier NP which makes the e-book nice if all you want is a specific area than the whole state.

New Book

PhotoTripUSA Publishing recently released Greg Vaughn's new book, "Photographing Washington, A guide to the natural landmarks of The Evergreen State", found here, which has a chapter on Mt. Rainier NP. It is an excellent book for the photographer visiting the state and wants an overview of the expanse of photographic opportunities.

I only glanced over the book to focus on the introduction and the chapter on Mt. Rainier NP, but I can say based on the sections I did read with familarity with the places he does a good job giving the places photographers want to see and photograph.

With respect to Mt. Rainier NP the book focusing on the common places, mostly the easy accessible visitors areas and stops with descriptions of the most common trails to what most people photograh in the NP, scenic landscapes and the obvious wildflowers.

The chapter is divided into 15 sections, but really 14 since on is on the Wonderland Trail which itself is the subject of several books, two excellent recent ones, not mentioned in this book. The chapter pretty much follows the roads in the NP with the northwest area.

The chapter starts with the Nisqually Entrance to Paradise, then proceeds along the Stevens Canyon Road to the eastside north-south highway (123-410) and then describes to places along on that highway to the White River Road to Sunrise to the Yakima Park area.

The chapter then describes the Carbon River and the Spray Park - Mowich Lake areas before adding a section on two west side opportunities, Gobbler's Knob (lookout) off the Westside Road and the Glacier view vista on the adjacent wilderness area south of the NP.

The chapter's real focus is really focus are those two interests, scenic views and wildflowers with good descriptions of when and where including trailheads and trails. The shortcomings of the chapter are the obvious details, which is expected since it's only 30+ pages with photos.

It also lacks what I would consider the obvious maps, but then the author mentioned the on-line and print resources for these, two of which I highly recommend two maps on the NP by Tom Haseltine, the south side and the north side which provide better descriptions.

But in the end the chapter is a great place for the first time or occasional visitor or photographer to the NP.

Webcams

I have updated the Webcams for those in Mt. Rainier NP to add the new one at the Carbon River Ranger station looking northwest across the Carbon River, or so it appears until I can get confirmation of the actual location of the Webcam.

In addition the NPS has upgraded some of those in the Jackson Visitors Center with new High Definition (HD) cameras for a wider, more detailed view. The popup windows for the images from these cameras and the one at Camp Muir are smaller than the actual image, but you can click on the image to enlarge it.

Outside of that, there's a lot of news for the winter season which I'm working to update the news, access and conditions Webpages, but other issues have intervined causing delays in the work. I apologize and will get things on-line soon.

Google Maps

Well, I've been late with work on the Mt. Rainier photo guide for a number of reasons, one of which I forgot, or it makes for a nice excuse, which is that Google discontinued their map api version 2 yesterday, Wednesday November 20th (2013) as promised.

I had hoped to find a Google Map API version 3 programmers, see work description to convert one of the existing maps from version 2 to version 3 (at $25 per hour, tenatively 4 hours maximum but negotiatable). The work is still open as I haven't found anyone and I've struggled learning enough to convert them myself.

Anyway, it turns out Google wrote and implemented a version 2 to version 3 wrapper for simple maps, like mine, so the maps will continue to work for awhile. And I will look at learning version 3 again, but in anyone knows a Google map programmer for a short work assignment, please let them know to contact me.

Anyway, I'll get back to the November-December updates soon as I'm feeling better to resume work again even with Apple's new OS-X 10.9 Mavericks which screwed up a lot of small things which I'm waiting for the expected 10.9.1 and 10.9.2 updates and Adobe updates.

Have a good Thanksgiving holiday.