When talking about mountain hiking, one of the key aspects is having a hiking map that shows us the path to follow. Reading it correctly is not something to be taken for granted but it is important for safe excursions, and without the appropriate preparation you could find yourself facing difficult paths without wanting to. Let’s see what the main elements of a topographic map for hiking and how to read them to best enjoy your treks.
The scale of the map and its orientation
The first thing to look at when we are faced with a topographic map for excursions is to look at the stairs (i.e. how much the distances on maps correspond to real distances) and its orientation, so which way it is located north of us.
As for the scale, there are usually “standard” values, such as the paper 1:25.000 Where 1 centimeter of the sheet corresponds to 250 meters in reality. This is essential to get an idea of the length of the path.
As regards orientation, in many cases the north is up but, to be safe, it is always better to check. Remember that to orient the map correctly and therefore understand which way to go, you can always use a compass: just align the north of the compass (which is a fixed point) with that of the map you have in your hand.
The types of path
The key element of the hiking maps are the lines which represent the pathsusually colored red or black. There are various types of these:
Although the exact definition of each symbol may vary slightly from map to map (always see the legend), as a general rule the continuous line represents paths wide and quite simple to travel (also indicated with a letter “T”, tourist).
There dashed line (“E”, hiking) indicates instead narrower paths and which require more experience to tackle.
Same reasoning also for the dotted line (“EE”, for expert hikers), which indicates even more challenging routes, and for the crosses (“EEA”, for expert hikers with equipment) which instead represent via ferratas or equipped routes.
Be careful, nothing prevents you from going along a single path different types of symbols alternate: for this reason, if we want to go on safe excursions, it is important to look at the entire route before setting off. Also, keep in mind that, especially for the simplest paths, there are almost always signs white and red flags of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) which indicate the correct path to follow.
The contour lines of the maps
Another fundamental element for understanding the difficulty of a trail is also the correct reading of the level curvesor contour lineThese are lines that connect points located at the same altitude. But what use do we have for this information?
First of all, they allow us to understand what the landscape shapes: from the image above we can see how the various lines are the representation from above of a mountain, and therefore we can know in advance where the points on the rise and those in descent.
Also know that the closer these lines are to each otherthe more the the slope of the path at that point will be high. Therefore, always taking the image above, to reach the top of the mountain a path that involves climbing from the right side rather than from the left will be less steep.
The colors on the hiking map
Finally, to indicate the main types of terrain present along the route, many topographic maps use colors designed to be immediately recognizable even for those who are not used to reading this type of map:
- green for wooded and vegetated areas;
- grey for areas with rocks and debris;
- sky blue for lakes, rivers or streams.
