I'm new to Minneapolis and looking forward to multiple BWCA/Quetico trips over the next few years. We lived in Michigan before and tripped in Algonquin Park in Ontario.

Ontario Parks puts out a large overview map of the whole park and it includes portages, campsite locations, etc. Is there something like this for the BWCA. I'd love to hang a big, detailed overview map on my basement wall and dream up trip routes for the summer. Perhaps there's one for BWCA and one for Quetico? Would love to hear some options. Thanks!

I bought a very large vinyl map at a store in Ely this summer. I think it is maybe 6 feet by 4 feet. It shows all of the bwca and all of quetico. I think I got it at Spirit of the wilderness, but not for sure. Just call any outfitter and they can probably steer you the right way. The only down size is some of the lake names are a little fuzzy because of the large map size, but it is a great map.

BWCA maps can be bought at any outfitter but you can also get them at places like this online

Here's what I use for trip planning for the Q: Chrismar

There was a thread about this guy's maps who is selling them on etsy.

I remember that people on here were happy with them and I am planning to buy one for home and one for our cabin.

Hard to get a sense of what that Etsy map entails. Would it be something like this: http://www.algonquinmap.com/buy.html?

Jeff needs to do a BWCA/Quetico map!

Thread with discussion of wall maps, including discussion of the one from etsy and it includes posts by the guy who makes that map.

It won't show portages or campsites but you can get custom maps made at reasonable prices from http://mytopo.com/.

I've been looking at getting a couple wall sized maps to help plan for a trip next summer. You can get them printed up to 5x8 feet. You get to choose the size, scale, material (paper or waterproof) and folded or rolled. Great way to get maps for your trips because you can get the exact area you want on one map.

Alan

If you have a lot of wall space, go for it. Most folks see a wall at an outfitter and get all excited to re-create it, forgetting that they have a space that is about 1/10 that size. Myself included.

I bought two from the map maker from Madison, WI that sells on Etsy. (and posted here before)

Good quality, 2 different sizes, and different materials to choose from. Expensive but worth it IMO.

I put the map of Woodland Caribou on the wall, fun to dream about it, and it reminds me of my trips there. Same with the Quetico map. Both maps from Ontario parks.

I made my own from map program printouts, not much more expensive, can be personalized/customized, one investment and you can size and choose specific areas/locations.

30 inches by 70 inches, shows camps, portages, trails, PMA boundaries. Delorme North American Topo was used (other mapping programs available work as well), personal info files added, my program can print a 9 sheet single map layout so this required 3 layouts, 27 printed sheets. Assembled and taped together. If I ever decide to purchase an GIS/Esri mapping program I could have it printed commercially on a color plotter, one file one sheet wall sized.

You may be better off posting this in Listening Point or Gear if looking at options and opinions.

butthead

I made a large wall one in the garage from the book shown. I also like the National Geographic maps. they are cheaper (you'll need two of each) and they are a little more detailed with campsites. but the one I did also includes Quetico.

your choice. but those are the two options I got for you.

The Fisher e-27 map is 34 by 54 and printed on nice heavy paper.It can be custom ordered larger(up to 42" by 66"). It shows BWCA and Quetico lake names and most portages.The standard size is 50.00.

That's a great idea, I have that map book now I need a wall ha ha

quote cyclones30: "I bought two from the map maker from Madison, WI that sells on Etsy. (and posted here before)


Good quality, 2 different sizes, and different materials to choose from. Expensive but worth it IMO. "

I also have two of these. I got them laminated and they look great! Quite large, but amazing for trip planning and remembering.

quote cyclones30: "I bought two from the map maker from Madison, WI that sells on Etsy. (and posted here before)


Good quality, 2 different sizes, and different materials to choose from. Expensive but worth it IMO. "

I'm getting the large size in the fabric material from Santa. It is on his sleigh right now on the way to my house. I had to do a custom order to get the 77x40 in the fabric material. He had to make it in two pieces. He initially sent the wrong size (the smaller 51x29 inch) in two pieces, but the customer service is excellent and the large one is on its way. I even get to keep the "mistake" map! I can't wait to get them on the wall. I think I'll frame the smaller one and put it on the wall of my cube at work.

I saw someone had a large wall map of the BWCA on ebay for sale. Just do a search of BWCA and it will show up.

quote Goldenbadger: "

quote cyclones30: "I bought two from the map maker from Madison, WI that sells on Etsy. (and posted here before)



Good quality, 2 different sizes, and different materials to choose from. Expensive but worth it IMO. "

I'm getting the large size in the fabric material from Santa. It is on his sleigh right now on the way to my house. I had to do a custom order to get the 77x40 in the fabric material. He had to make it in two pieces. He initially sent the wrong size (the smaller 51x29 inch) in two pieces, but the customer service is excellent and the large one is on its way. I even get to keep the "mistake" map! I can't wait to get them on the wall. I think I'll frame the smaller one and put it on the wall of my cube at work. "

You sound pretty confident your on the " nice" list... :) I was telling housty9 I once had a wall big enough and with bulletin board stuff I was able to put a complete set of the bigger maps on. It was great!

quote Goldenbadger: "

quote cyclones30: "I bought two from the map maker from Madison, WI that sells on Etsy. (and posted here before)



Good quality, 2 different sizes, and different materials to choose from. Expensive but worth it IMO. "

I'm getting the large size in the fabric material from Santa. It is on his sleigh right now on the way to my house. I had to do a custom order to get the 77x40 in the fabric material. He had to make it in two pieces. He initially sent the wrong size (the smaller 51x29 inch) in two pieces, but the customer service is excellent and the large one is on its way. I even get to keep the "mistake" map! I can't wait to get them on the wall. I think I'll frame the smaller one and put it on the wall of my cube at work. "

Same thing happened with me. The first one I ordered didn't have the portages on it, so he let me keep it and sent the correct order for free. GREAT customer service.

quote nctry: "

quote Goldenbadger: "

quote cyclones30: "I bought two from the map maker from Madison, WI that sells on Etsy. (and posted here before)



Good quality, 2 different sizes, and different materials to choose from. Expensive but worth it IMO. "

I'm getting the large size in the fabric material from Santa. It is on his sleigh right now on the way to my house. I had to do a custom order to get the 77x40 in the fabric material. He had to make it in two pieces. He initially sent the wrong size (the smaller 51x29 inch) in two pieces, but the customer service is excellent and the large one is on its way. I even get to keep the "mistake" map! I can't wait to get them on the wall. I think I'll frame the smaller one and put it on the wall of my cube at work. "

You sound pretty confident your on the " nice" list... :) I was telling housty9 I once had a wall big enough and with bulletin board stuff I was able to put a complete set of the bigger maps on. It was great!"

I must have been nice! It came in the mail today. Bear is dreaming of his first trip to the BWCA. He'll have to wait until Willow steps down.

Where do people get the maps (images) from, to print them up? I have access to a printer to do a wallmap, but would need images.

The person selling these maps created the images from various databases using GIS software and a lot of time. There are online databases if gps locations of portages and campsites and government mapping data for lakes and towns and roads. But it takes a lot of work to put it together into a good looking and useful map.

Agreed. This is NOT a trivial exercise.

Just wondering where you can get images from, and not worrying about licensing issues.

I'm assuming something like USGS, but really don't know, and am looking for some links.

I expect what he got from the USGS are the digital map data such as digital elevation models (DEM) and line data for the streams and such. I doubt that he obtained things as images. Then you use a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program to assemble the maps and then probably a graphics package to adjust things in the end to make them look nice.

You can also download USGS topo maps as pdf files. From there you could tile the images to make larger maps. But then you don't have portages and camp sites. Also, the place names will be the wrong size for the new maps scale.

This is a good place to start exploring the USGS maps and data .

And there are no copyright issues for US government products, including the USGS maps and data. So, have at it.

I had my wall map mounted on a 7 1/2' x 5' vinyl banner and hung it with closet rods.

Impressive!

The closet rod mounting does look nice and you can take it down to use, if that is more convenient. I may have to think about doing it that way.

quote andym: "The closet rod mounting does look nice and you can take it down to use, if that is more convenient. I may have to think about doing it that way."

And I can easily take it down if I want to hang it somewhere else or if I happen to want to paint that wall or something. The closet rods are 1 5/8" diameter. 1 1/4" would have been much better. They are an extremely tight fit and I really had to work and finnagle to get them through there. Slightly tapering the end of the rods would have helped a great deal. But once I got them through, it works perfectly. I had a local sign shop order the banner and adhere the map to it. They did an excellent job. It would have been full of bubbles if I would have tried to do it myself.

quote Goldenbadger: "I had my wall map mounted on a 7 1/2' x 5' vinyl banner and hung it with closet rods. "

Where did you get the map put on the vinyl banner and how much did it cost?

Most sign companies can do something like that.

I had Trim Design in LaCrosse, WI do it. It wasn't cheap. I don't remember the exact amount, I would have to try to look it up. But it was over $100 for the vinyl and having it applied to it.

I had Trim Design in LaCrosse, WI do it. It wasn't cheap. I don't remember the exact amount, I would have to try to look it up. But it was over $100 for the vinyl and having it applied to it.

I went with the low budget option.

quote butthead: " If I ever decide to purchase an GIS/Esri mapping program I could have it printed commercially on a color plotter, one file one sheet wall sized.

butthead"

If you don't want to fork over the money for a decent GIS program you can rent a sub meter gps unit and the software for the computer from any Trimble dealer. It used to be called "GPS PATHFINDER". Worked pretty well. Of course this was 10 years ago so mileage may vary.

quote GoSpursGo: "


I went with the low budget option."

Nice job!

quote BWPaddler: "

quote GoSpursGo: "



I went with the low budget option."

Nice job!"

Thanks! Lots of folding and thumbtacks haha