Maps
I was on a walk in downtown Haines and passed by the Pioneer Bar. The bar was closed due but peering through the windows it was a relic, exactly what comes to mind when you think of an old Alaskan bar. On the front steps a collection of bits and bobs had been thrown into cardboard boxes that read “free!”. The items in the boxes were as classically Alaskan as the bar: a leather belt with a knife sheath, something made of fur, two plates with a moose pattern. I wasn’t tempted by anything, until I caught sight of a huge red book: The Alaska Atlas & Gazetteer.
I have been mulling over Julie’s copy for the last few days. In the evenings after dinner I would return to my camper home and turn on the radio to listen to that evenings snow. Sunday’s were best with two hours of jazz, but generally the radio was soild. I would light the stove to boil water for a cup of tea, peppermint usually. Then I would spread out all the maps Julie had loaned me and learn.
Amazing what a map can teach you. I had been studying them so intently that I could now name peaks, rivers, valleys, glaciers and ice fields. I would plan fantastical routes and then report them to Julie the following morning over breakfast. Plans like, we should just hike all the way to Glacier Bay National Park, not likely but exciting to dream up.
I was ecstatic to have a copy of my very own, and I will lug this massive books of maps around with me forever, it is my most prized souvenir from the summer I spent in Haines, Alaska.
While not nearly as romantic as pouring over a paper map with a cup of tea on a crisp summer evening, the sun setting and radio playing, I have started playing around with virtual mapping programs. Some are quite complex but I have been using CalTopo to create maps of the area surrounding Haines because looking at a map is the best way to provide context.
If you read this and have a favorite mapping tool, send it my way!