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Haven't been out in the wild for so long! Been an incredibly hot and dry summer over here in the Idaho/Washington area. Girlfriend of two years and I broke up, so haven't had anyone to go exploring with. Also, been on 12-hour graveyard shifts for over 2 years, so that has hampered my adventures. Had an epiphany last month and decided that quality of life was more important than career ladder climbing and applied for a position in my company that paid less, but let me have normal hours and weekends off. So excited! I have one more shift next Thursday and only working 6 pm to 12 am, then getting up at 7 am the next day and driving to Seattle to visit my son, his girlfriend, my daughter, son-in-law, and three grandsons. I start my new job on Monday the 4th and will work from 2:30 pm to 11 pm, Monday through Friday. I can go to church again, see daylight again, and have a somewhat normal life. I lose around $400 a month in pay, but am re-financing my home to save that amount monthly. Supposed to get some rain on Monday, and have my UTV already loaded in the trailer and ready to hit the woods and look for BF sign on Tuesday. In the last month, I have been going to a local gravel pit and doing some shooting. Started a YouTube channel with gun videos and will be filming on my trip into the Idaho woods next week. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChARtpWQdYQzB7d1XyF8U8Q

There are a gazillion maps out there to access on GAIA or other mapping softwares. Choosing among the many depends on what you're looking for. There are several major formats I use all the time. A topo map is a must have. Another is one that provides trails and lean-to locations. A third one provides uploaded hikes/bushwhacks from people who have already hiked in an area. The last is satellite imagery. Beyond those four types are very specialized maps that can be a valuable resource. One example is a map showing state or Federal land boundaries. Cell service coverage maps I've found to be reasonably accurate. The ones I use regularly from GAIA are: 1) OpenCycleMap 2) US Topo 3) World Imagery 4) USGS Quad Index I'll also use uploaded hikes from All Trails that will show the course someone took to get from Point A to Point B. Maybe they bushwhacked and already found a way to circumvent an obstacle or determined they couldn't find their way through. Recently, the All Trails helped me get through a large cedar swamp that would have been a much slower, trial-and-error process. I'll also carry a printed topo map of the area I'll be going to just in case my smartphone is inoperable for whatever reason. Before I go, I will draw magnetic north lines on the printed map so when I'm in the field I never have to orient the map and can take readings on the fly. Two is one and one is none. Which maps have you found helpful?

Targeting the Colockum herd. Where I hunting Elk last year is on fire outside of Yakima. I probably talked to about 15 bulls saturday night and saw probably 10 head. One bull was within 100 yards and was just pounding on a tree. Definitely gets the heart pumping! New area, but looks similar as last year. Lots of basalt cliffs and meadows, but this place burnt around a decade ago. And spectacular views of the Cascades. Opening day is Saturday!

At fish camp on the Kasilof beach. Before the fishery was over, there was a virtual forest of upside down trees in the beach, some quite large. No equipment used. Just a bunch of fishermen screwing around between tides, wasting good energy better used in other ways.

If being crazy about bushwhacking is wrong, I don't want to be right!! Yes, with AllTrails Pro (paid version is only $20/year right now) you find a map someone has uploaded to All Trails, then download the KML map which goes directly to Google Earth and allows you to save it from there. Here is the process below. You find the route then click on Download Route, you can then choose from a number of formats (in your case Google Earth KML), then, voila, the route is now in Google Earth where you can save it there. For $20, it might be well worth it for you to sign up and begin dowloading routes to GE.

^^^^ Yeah, I've found some interesting stuff on All Trails. I'm startin' to think there are a few people out there as crazy 'bout bushwhacking as I am. I wish there was a good way to download those, say as .kml extracts, to move to google earth so all my stuff is together. Maybe there is for paying members? Most of my interests of that sort lie in the Sky Lakes, Mountain Lakes, Wild Rogue, and Kalmiopsis Wilderness areas in SW Oregon. Many of the trails I'm looking for were fairly heavily used pack trails, often supplying fire lookouts, in the years before roads were built into the areas. Some were for cattle prior to wilderness designation. A few were even old military wagon trails from the mid 1800s .. and a substantial percentage of those began as trails used by native tribal people crossing the mountains to forage for seasonal foods in the years before Europeans arrived. Lot of history being lost ... fading away under brush. My personal "mission" is to suss out those old trails and trace them with GPS so someday the history can be revived. edit to add: however, relative to bigfoot, I suspect those old trails, no longer used by us, represent low-effort routes for crossing some of the mountain passes and traversing some of the very rugged canyons. Even when groundwork is mostly gone and some brush has begun to intrude on the trail, it's still easier than a 100% bushwhack. Many times I've found myself wandering around a mountainside and noticed that the walking was easier than it seemed it should be. After while I'd realize I was on a truly lost trail with blazes on some trees and maybe a sawed stump or log far from where any logging ever occurred or any European-descended person ever lived. Finding that sort of thing truly floats my boat. One of the trails I'm currently looking for is so far gone there is no ground work, however, if I just walk up the ridge the easiest, least brushy way, I occasionally run into very old stumps .. sawed flat, not broken by wind, and I know I'm still on the trail. I have made it about 2 miles up that one and have 6-7 miles to go. MIB