MAP Californias Lost Coast Rec (Wilderness Maps)

Easy to read and fold.

If you read the reviews of this map there's obviously a lot of controversy. Unfortunately the publisher doesn't allow you to take even a peek inside on the Amazon website so you have to buy it to see for yourself. If you are used to USGS maps you are going to think this is Lost Coast for Dummies. One the northern side (King Range) the topo lines are at 500' intervals and on the south side (Sinkyone) they are at 250'. The roads and trails are limited to only the parks--King Range and Sinkyone--whereas the Lost Coast covers a lot of ground to the east as well that is not picked up. The chatty narrative about sights and hikes refers to points that are not marked on their map (e.g. "From Usal Beach to Anderson Gulch is 5 miles with 1,100 elevation gain"--however "Anderson Gulch" cannot be found on the map). The map doesn't distinguish between jeep roads, horse/bike trails and hiking only trails (a big issue if you are looking for places to mountain bike and don't want to break the rules). I studied several state park maps online so I know the difference, no thanks to this map. I can't understand how anyone would be thrilled with this map. Why couldn't they have just copied a USGS topo map and overlaid the roads and trails? Being what it is, this is definitely better than nothing and there is no way you want to be out there expecting to rely on your cellphone to tell you where you are. I'm giving this 3 stars because they printed it on plastic and it is the only one I could find--thank you for providing something!UPDATE June 5, 2017: I want to re-review the map on the backside of our Memorial Day weekend mountain bike trip to the Lost Coast. I'm updating the map to 4 stars because it was invaluable in providing us with a high level perspective on where we were and where we wanted to go. As is typically the case, the trip you plan while looking at the map in your living room become becomes a delusional fantasy when you get to the trail and encounter reality. One of my sons brought a gps and map so we could always be sure where we were, but the gps scale was too small to get a handle on the day-trip loop we were looking to accomplish so the map was essential (Highway 1 to Usal Beach up Hotel Gulch Road, back to Usal Road and to Hwy 1). It was 24 miles, 4,800 climbing feet total--a hard ride but worth it! We got to Fort Bragg and nobody had a map of the Lost Coast, so if you are thinking about your own hiking or biking adventure there I recommend you be sure to put this in your backpack.

This map at best will tell you where you are when you pass the major stuff like the punta gorda lighthouse. Otherwise you'll have a hard time figuring where the heck you are, even if you're an expert map reader because nothing on it is particularly helpful. There is a much better map if you prefer the paper over GPS or don't want to be completely tech dependent. Stop at the BLM office in Whitehorn on your way to Shelter Cove and pick one up. It's so worth it and the people selling them are nice. Then you can take Ettersburg Road to get to Mattole Beach if that's where you're starting. You can also have the BLM mail it to you. Just go on their website for details and I think it's $5. This particular map was honestly a waste of money, but I bought it because I wasn't sure if we'd have a chance to stop at the BLM office and we had procrastinated too long without having them mail the map to us. Amazon has 2 day shipping so Amazon won. So I just bought it because it's better than absolutely nothing. If you want an even more accurate map, download the backcountry navigator app on your phone and download the GPS for the lost coast section of choice. Mark the waypoints on where to get onto the bluffs and where to come back down to the sand so you don't get cliffed out. You'll end up doing much less guessing, which is good if you're on a tight schedule like we were. Another thing I didn't think about was that on a map, they don't map all the different creeks and streams. It's easy to mix up water sources and you may think you're farther along than you are, so again, GPS is helpful in this situation. If you have an iphone use the Gaia + offline topo maps package. Less user friendly but still useful since iphone doesn't offer backcountry navigator. GPS was the most useful of them all because we were able to figure out when to go up to the bluffs and when to come back down. So, so much nicer on the feet when you can spend as much time as possible OFF the sand! We just bought the map to get the 'big picture', plan our stops, and as a backup in case something happened to the tech.

This appears to be best map available for the southern portion of the lost coast trail. It has topo lines, although only every 250 feet, instead of the standard 100. It also shows important information, like the official campsites, and gives some nice background information for the area. That said, I doubt the topo map's accuracy and the map is missing some important information, like leaving out some of the creeks/streams. For instance, Bear Harbor is a wonderful place to camp, but this map doesn't show the creek that flows through there.If you're hiking the northern (King Range) portion of the lost coast trail, get the BLM map. It is much more detailed and accurate than this map. However, if you want to hike the southern (Sinkyone Wilderness) portion, this map looks like it's your best option, as the BLM map doesn't cover it.