Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Note here from loyal reader Pete:
Hi,
Pisgah Map Company has just published a new locally made trail guide for the southern section of Pisgah National Forest. It covers Bent Creek in detail as well as the entire area between Asheville and Brevard. It covers a similar area as the National Geographic map that has been used by outdoor enthusiast in the area but we believe it improves on the map in several significant ways:
Bent Creek (the most used area) has an enlarged scale with much more detail
All trails clearly labeled with names and numbers
Better layout of the entire map the reduces flipping the map when out in the woods
16 popular mountain bike rides described
Locally made right here in Asheville with over 20 years local knowledge of the National Forest
It’s available in bike and outdoor shops all over Asheville and has been very well received by hikers and bikers all over town. We haven’t had much press yet as we have been focusing on getting it in stores but we are starting to get the word out.
If you are interested in covering this I can provide an image of the map cover and a clip of the map too if you like.
More about Pisgah Map Company:
Our company, Pisgah Map Company, is made up of myself Pete Kennedy and Jack Mohr. We are a small, local company focusing on GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning Systems) and have found a niche in doing regional cartographic work. A couple of other notable maps we have produced include the Waterfalls of NC map and a Blue Ridge Parkway ‘map quide’. These two maps were created these for someone else and we are credited as the cartographers on them. The WNC Trail Guide I emailed you about is our first map to be completely produced, published and owned by us. The map is available at 20 retailers around town and Brevard. We are hoping to be in stores across the state by the end of the summer.
I am also a full-time faculty member teaching GIS and GPS at A-B Tech and have been doing these projects to keep my skills current for classroom teaching. I’ve been teaching GIS for over 10 years.
Jack and I are both avid outdoorsmen and have been dreaming about doing a local trail guide for many, many years. Our hope was to make a local trail guide that encourages people to get out and enjoy a healthy lifestyle through recreation in our beautiful National Forest. People who get out and use the natural resources of WNC will naturally become advocates for conserving these resources.
Hey –
This map is fantastic. The Bent Creek section is much larger and more detailed than anything else currently in publication. If you hike/bike out that direction, it's phenomenal. The map seems to be available at most local outdoors shops.
Check it out.
I work at Second Gear, the outdoor gear consignment shop on 444 Haywood in West Asheville, and we sell a lot of these maps.
They're definitely the best reference for Bent Creek. They're also a better trail map than the National Geographic maps of Pisgah Forest. The National Geographic maps do have slightly more information about the roads surrounding the forest, but these Western NC Trail Guides from Pisgah Map Company have much more detailed and intuitive information about the trails. So, if you've got a hike coming up in Pisgah or would like to head to Bent Creek, I'd check these out.
Another great Bent Creek reference, FYI, is Trish Brown's recent book entitled "Asheville Trail Running" (review of the book in the Mtn Xpress: http://www.mountainx.com/features/2011/012611swapping-tarmac-for-trails).