Question
116 Part III Maps and Images In Greater Depth 9. Plan a hiking excursion: British Columbia offers some of the mo st rugged scenery in North America. If you like hiking. leafing through a stack of Canadian topographic maps will inspire daydreams of amazing wilderness experiences (úif you the many logged out areas, that is!). Figure 6.20 shows a portion of the We This park is in the Cariboo Mountains, which are part of the Columbia Mountains. The blue lines and numbers define the 1-km avoid Ils Gray Provincial Park in central British Columbia. : the actual map key is handily printed on the back of the original map. Let's say your goal in visiting this part of the park is to combine geologic exploration with back-country you portage 13 km from a lake to the south and paddle some 25 km until you reach the end of Hobson Lake, the large lake shown in the southwestern corner of Figure 6.20. For more information and photos, visit www.wellsgray.ca a. First off, most of the map area is covered in green. What does this mean? b. Your goal is to climb the large hill with a number of lakes on its top (near "FP GP"),. What is a represent ative elevation the area with the many small lakes? What is the height of this area relative to the lake that you arrived on To get to this hillop, you need to beach your canoe and hike. northeastern end of the lake? Based on the map symbols, what is the landscape like at the c. Do you think it would be an easy hike across such a landscape? Why?
Explanation / Answer
1) Different publishers & cartographers use color coding to indicate some specific features on the map. Green colour is used to show the elevations in the map. Usually dark green colors are used for lower elevation & light green colors are used for higher elevations. In the above map light green color is used that implies the elevation on most of the points on the map is relatively high.
2) The representative elevation of the area can be determined by observing the index contour value of the particular area. It seems to be around 7200 ft (may be less accurate due to the low resolution of the image) & the highest elevation is around 7600 ft.
3) Northeast end of the lake seems to be a very steep valley by observing the map.No, it would not be a easy hike because the terrain is very steep & it will require a good training & confidence with all the safety measures to hike on this terrain.
