AERIAL PHOTOS: Links to Aerial Photos are located on our Trails Pages. Trail descriptions provide links to Terraserver aerial photos that zero in on all trail locations in the Black Hills Area except for one small trail in the Badlands. Included are links for the entire lengths of the Mickelson and Centennial Trails and the other establish trails of the area. Each aerial photo is accompanied by topographic maps for the same location at Terraserver.
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| PHYSICAL RELIEF MAPS: Our main Map Pages includes numerous "Phys Relief" maps at our own Web site. These maps are made using the National Map GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and are copyrighted. Though perhaps not adequate as trail maps to include in our backpacks, these maps help us plan hikes and visualize the mountains and canyons our hike will take us through. |  |
| FOREST SERVICE MAPS, such as the sample to the right, are provided here for the length of the Centennial Trail, for Black Elk Wilderness, and Custer State Park. Several of our Trails Pages employ these maps to locate various trails in that area. Forest Service offices also provide free topo trail maps for some trails within Forest Service boundaries. Some of those Forest Service topo maps may be downloaded from the Forest Service Trail Guide page. Or order the large FS map from Black Hills Parks or from the Forest Service. |  |
| TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS: These contour maps are usually abbreviated as "Topo." Those available here vary in quality. However, we provide links that zero in (via the TopoZone Web site) on all trails in this region, including the full length of Mickelson and Centennial Trails. Often the trails are not shown on these topos but can be derived from the large Forest Service map and transferred to the topo for a working trail map. Additionally, all links on our Aerial Photos page connect to topo maps via Terraserver. Topo maps for some trails can be downloaded at the Forest Service Trail Guide Page, linked also in our map lists by individual trail. |  |
| COLOR TOPO: Our own copyrighted productions at the Map Links Page, these elevation maps, superimposed upon USGS topos, give elevation a greater impression. Like physical relief maps, color topos also are planning maps not intended for the backpack itself. Our best quality color topo map is a large 1750 by 1200 pixel representation of Black Elk Wilderness and Norbeck Wildlife Preserve trails. |  |
| ROAD MAPS: Most of our own road maps are on physical relief, but we also provide links to simple and more detailed road maps provided at Web sites for the Forest Service and Black Hills, Badlands, and Lakes Association (BHBLL). Links are also provided for other commercial servers such as MapPoint and so on. City map links are provided to a local realtor. By "road map" we indicate that travel information such as highway number is provided but physical features such as mountains are generally lacking. |  |
| DIAGRAM: We use this word to designate simple maps that show administrative boundaries, topo map quadrangles, or geologic areas. Our links labeled "diagram" indicate maps that might otherwise be labeled "road maps" because of their simplicity, but here roads may not be shown at all. We are interested in trails. |  |
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