National Resources Canada has recently updated their Toporama online topographical viewing software. You can now get topographical maps for all of Canada with scales as low as 1:40,000 for free. It’s still a pain in the ass to have to copy and past all the sections together if you want a get a usuable trail map, but the maps are far better than what Garmin Topo Canada provides. All the trails and most of the campsites for the major National Parks seem to also be marked on the Toporama maps.

Now if only you could download the full maps like USGS allows in the states…

Update:
After reading the License Agreement for Digital Topographical Data it looks like there is no reason I can’t post a copy of the Yoho National Park topographical trailmap I put together.

So here it is:
Yoho National Park of Canada – Free Downloadable Topograpical Trail Map – Scale 1:40,000 (hint hint Google…)

Update 2:
Might as well post one for Kootenay National Park aswell.
Kootenay National Park of Canada – Free Downloadable Topograpical Trail Map – Scale 1:40,000

We just returned from a three night trip to Kootenay National Park last night. Everything went really well, the weather was perfect, the trails we in good shape, and everyone had a good time. I took along my heart rate monitor on this trip to get some data on how elevation affects calorie comsumption. I’m basing the distances on the official Kootenay trail map, but I have my doubts that those distances are accurate. While the straight point-to-point distance may be correct, I don’t think the map distances account for elevation gain properly (or at all). I’ll be taking along the footpod for my heart rate monitor for the upcoming Yoho trip, so I’ll be able to refine the data.

Day 1: 6.6 km
Numa Creek – Gradual uphill – 1 hour 55 minutes – 750 cal

Day 2: 7.1 km
Tumbling Pass – Approx. 1330 ft elevation gain – 3 hours 51 minutes – 1713 cal

Day 3: 9.3 km + 16.8 km
Tumbling Creek – Mostly downhill – 3 hours – 1000 cal
Helmet Creek Loop – Approx. 800 ft elevation gain – 4 hours – 1934 cal

I think most significant is how much slower we were moving with any serious elevation gain. Next trip with the footpad I’ll be able to see what our actual speed is.