BRT Insights - WW Kayaking & Hiking

Plan your trip to Death Valley or take a virtual tour from the comfort of home.

Summer weather at Death Valley National Park is incredibly hot, so its a good time to take a virtual tour of the park, and possibly to plan a trip to the park to see the wildflowers next spring.

Maps of Landmarks in Death Valley National Park.

• Map book: California Maps - Atlas & Gazetteer by Delorme, 2008.
• PDF map: DVNP Map pdf.

• Acme Mapper online map user instructions. Click and drag to reposition this interactive map.
• The tool on the left zooms in and out. Point on the red markers to see the names.
• Map=roads. Satellite=satellite map. Terrain=3D shaded topo map. Topo=topographic map.
• Full-Screen online interactive map - Death Valley National Park.

Ubehebe Crater (A) Scotty's Castle (B) Titus Canyon Road (C) Mosaic Canyon Road (D) Sand Dunes (E) Hell's Gate (F)

Salt Creek Road (G) Mustard Canyon Drive (H) Harmony Borax Works (I) Furnace Creek Campground (J) Furnace Creek Visitor Center (K) Borax Museum (L)

Zabriskie Point (M) Dantes View Road (N) Golden Canyon trailhead (O) Artists Drive (P) Natural Bridge Road (Q) Badwater (R)

Links for Virtual Tour and Trip Planning Resources

Street Views of Death Valley provide dynamic, interactive, 360 degree panoramas showing the scenery along the main roads in the park. This includes excellent views of some scenic drives (e.g. Artists Drive, Mustard Canyon Drive). For many other locations Street View only shows the drive to get to the site (Golden Canyon Trailhead, Natural Bridge Trailhead, etc.).

Acme Mapper is the finest online interactive mapping system! It provides Google street maps, Google satellite maps, Google terrain maps and USGS topographic maps in a convenient user-friendly interface. It is definitely worth a little time to learn how to use Acme Mapper.

BRT Photos are photos from my camping trip to Death Valley in spring 2005 to see the seasonal wildflowers.

Img Search searches for photos in the Google Images database. Beware that this system misclassifies lots of pictures, so don't assume that every photo there is from the location that you are searching.

3D and Panoramic Photos & Videos (see below) provide stunning views of Death Valley using various imaging technologies.

Southern Death Valley - going south from Furnace Creek

I have clustered these attractions geographically to help plan locations that you may want to visit on various daytrips as you explore the park. We made our base camp at Furnace Creek Campground when we visited the park in spring 2005.

Street View Furnace Creek Campground (J) Furnace Creek Visitor Center (K) Borax Museum, Furnace Creek (L)

Acme Mapper N 36.466266 W 116.86622 (J) N 36.460725 W 116.865455 (K) N 36.457013 W 116.865154 (L)

BRT photos Campground. Borax Museum.

Img Search Search Search Search

Zabriskie Point and Dantes View are along roads that run through the south-east part of the park.

Street View Zabriskie Point (M) Dantes View Road (N)

Acme Mapper N 36.421029 W 116.808823 (M) N 36.220719 W 116.72668 (N)

BRT photos

Img Search Search Search

These landmarks are all on the Badwater Road, the main road through the southern end of the park. Hiking the Golden Canyon trail was great.

Street View Golden Canyon Trailhead (O) Artists Drive (P) Natural Bridge Trailhead (Q) Badwater (R)

Acme Mapper N 36.420518 W 116.847634 (O) N 36.329894 W 116.830003 (P) N 36.27406 W 116.792877 (Q) N 36.229698 W 116.767064 (R)

BRT photos Golden Canyon. Badwater 1 , 2 .

Img Search Search Search Search Search

Central and Northern Death Valley - going north from Furnace Creek

These attractions are along Hwy 190 north of Furnace Creek.

Street View Harmony Borax Works (I) Mustard Canyon Drive (H) Salt Creek Trailhead (G)

Acme Mapper N 36.48024 W 116.872633 (I) N 36.48837 W 116.878638 (H) N 36.604646 W 116.98042 (G)

BRT photos Mustard Canyon. Salt Creek.

Img Search Search Search Search

These attractions are on Hwy 190 and Daylight Pass Road that run south-west to north-east through the central part of the park. The Mosaic Canyon trail is a great hike.

Street View Hell's Gate Overlook (F) Sand Dunes (E) Mosaic Canyon Trailhead (D)

Acme Mapper N 36.710969 W 116.985566 (F) N 36.605514 W 117.116496 (E) N 36.604508 W 117.148466 (D)

BRT photos Hell's Gate. Sand Dunes 1 , 2 . Mosaic Canyon.

Img Search Search Search Search

These are accessed via Scotty's Castle Road, the main road through the northern part of the park.

Street View Titus Canyon Trailhead (C) Scotty's Castle (B) Ubehebe Crater (A)

Acme Mapper N 36.794777 W 117.189477 (C) N 37.031493 W 117.340839 (B) N 37.010954 W 117.454859 (A)

BRT photos Ubehebe Crater.

Img Search Search Search Search

The wildflowers in springtime are one of the greatest attractions that bring people to visit the park.

Street View

Acme Mapper

BRT photos Death Valley wildflowers.

Img Search Search

3D and Panoramic Photos & Videos from Death Valley National Park

• Death Valley National Park - 3dparks.wr.usgs.gov 3D anaglyphs & panoramic photography.
• Scotty's Castle Virtual Tour - Death Valley National Park video tour.
• Death Valley National Park - americansouthwest.net - See QTVR Panoramas at bottom of page.


More about:
• Use Street View for virtual tours and trip planning for road trips and outdoor activities.
• Hiking, Biking & Camping Trip Reports & Photos - BRT Insights.
• Hiking Trails in California - Davis Wiki.


Tags: Google Street View, Google Maps, Death Valley National Park, California, southern California, socal.
Tags: hiking, trailheads, virtual tour.

Labels: hiking, map, website

Scout out the driving part of your journey on your computer.

"People around the world can now appreciate the beauty and timelessness of the wilderness through Street View. We've recently added 360-degree panoramic imagery for five of California’s national parks ... Redwood National Park ... Yosemite National Park ... Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks ... Death Valley National Park ... Joshua Tree National Park." (Official Google Blog 12july2012 )

View Larger Map

Northside Drive, Yosemite Valley, California, United States. See Half Dome in the distance or zoom in for a closer view.

Click on the Full Screen tool to get an eye-popping Street View that uses your entire screen.

Google Street View doesn't actually show us the wilderness, just the roads to the trailheads or river access points where the Google Street View camera car is allowed to drive. Hikers & bikers will find this useful to plan their drives to the trailheads and to recognize when they have arrived at the right places. Kayakers, canoers, tubers and rafters will find this useful to find some of the river access points where their boating trips begin or end. Keep in mind that the Street View images may be a few years old, so don't expect this to show any place perfectly up to the minute.

Google Street View was already available for many locations other than those listed above. First locate a place of interest by typing the place name in the search box at Google Maps (e.g. town or city, state or national park, national forest, etc.). Or find the geographic coordinates of the desired location using Acme Mapper, then copy-paste the coordinates (e.g. N 37.78808 W 119.53125 = coordinates for Yosemite National Park) into the search box at Google Maps.

In Google Maps click and drag the orange cartoon person from the navigation tool onto the map. Roads where Street View is available will display as blue lines. Drag and drop the cartoon person onto the blue line at the desired road location. Click and drag in Street View to change locations and the orientation of the view. The 360 degree panoramic view is definitely not as good as being there in person, but it is one of the coolest things you can see on a computer screen. When viewing the larger map you can click on the Zoom Out tool to go from Street View to Google Maps.

In California Google Street View provides excellent coverage of main roads and big city streets, but coverage tapers off in rural areas. Nevertheless, Google Street View is a great trip planning resource that gives a vivid panoramic view of the route to many places of interest and at least gets you close to many other destinations.

Clicking on the Link Tool will generate a link for whatever Google Map or Street View is on your screen at the time. This link can be sent to others via email to show them a picture of a meeting point or a map to a landmark of interest. They can use the Get Directions button to generate driving directions to get to that location from any other starting point.


When viewing the larger map you will see at the top of the left panel:
Get Directions - My Places - Print Tool - Link Tool


Tags: Google Street View, Google Maps, Redwood National Park, Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, California, northern California, norcal, southern California, socal.
Tags: hiking, trailheads, kayaking, canoeing, tubing, rafting, river access points.

Labels: biking, hiking, map, trip, website

Viewing current conditions on a webcam can be helpful for planning your hiking trips. Seeing the current conditions at a potential hiking spot may help decide whether or not it will be a good day to hike a particular trail.

• U.S. National Park Service Webcams - nps.gov Webcams for parks in CA.
   * Channel Islands National Park webcam - nps.gov.
   * Lassen Volcanic National Park webcam - nps.gov.
   * Lava Beds National Monument webcam - nps.gov.
   * Point Reyes National Seashore webcam - nps.gov.
   * Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area webcam - nps.gov.
   * Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park webcam - nps.gov.
   * Yosemite National Park webcam - nps.gov.

• USGS California Water Science Center Webcams - ca.water.usgs.gov Webcams on creeks and rivers in CA. Live view allows camera to be repositioned.

• Webcam overlooking Mount Diablo State Park - mtdiablocam Private webcam looks onto mountain peak on public land.

• Webcam overlooking Mount Tamalpais State Park - rntl.net Private webcam looks onto mountain peak on public land.

Please add a comment to let us know about any other webcams at hiking areas & parks in California.

More information:
• Websites, Books, Videos & Software - Reviews by BRT Insights.

Tags: webcam, hiking, trail, Channel Islands National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lava Beds National Monument, California.
Tags: webcam, Point Reyes National Seashore, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, northern California.

Labels: website

Map locations and hiking trails to some favorite cascades.

7x7.com published this list of Favorite Waterfalls in Northern California. "Who doesn't love waterfalls? There are a bunch of places within driving distance where you can get your feet wet. Here are our favorites."

Here is some additional information about where these waterfalls are located and the trails you can hike to see them.

Waterfalls in Northern California - Road Map, Terrain Map, Topographic Map.

• Interactive map. Click and drag to reposition map. Map user instructions.
• Point on the red markers to see their names. Use the tool on the left to zoom in and out.
• Map=road map. Satellite=satellite map. Terrain=3D shaded topo map. Topo=topographic map.
• Full-Screen Road and Trail Map: Waterfalls in Northern California.



Geographic coordinates - Waterfall, Location. (Marker on map)
N 37.16969 W 122.26470 - Berry Creek Falls, Big Basin State Park, Santa Cruz County. (A)
N 38.30718 W 119.61914 - Sardine Falls, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Mono County. (B)
N 39.41657 W 122.79445 - Stony Creek Falls, Waterfall Loop Trail, Lake County. (C)
N 37.92436 W 122.62944 - Cataract Falls, Marin County. (D)
N 40.62640 W 122.66922 - Whiskeytown Falls, Whiskeytown NRA, Shasta County. (E)
N 39.64312 W 121.27441 - Feather Falls, Plumas National Forest, Butte County. (F)
N 36.15860 W 121.67165 - McWay Fall, Julia Pfeiffer State Park, Monterey County. (G)
N 37.08418 W 121.79250 - Basin Falls, Uvas Canyon Park, Santa Clara County. (H)
N 37.89782 W 121.91627 - Donner Creek Falls, Mt. Diablo State Park, Contra Costa County. (I)
N 37.17783 W 122.27783 - Golden Cascade Fall, Big Basin State Park, Santa Cruz County. (J)

See more about:
• Waterfall Hiking in California - websites.
• Hiking to Waterfalls in California - Books.
• Reviews - Books, Videos, and Websites - BRT Insights.
• California Hiking Trails Directory - BRT Insights.

IceRocket Tags: waterfall, hiking, trail, California, northern California.
Tags: travel, photography, landscape photography, hiking, walking.

Labels: waterfall, website

• Map of California Waterfalls - geology.com PR4. Map coordinates for 174 waterfalls in California.

• Bay Area Waterfall Hikes - everytrail. PR4. Map and trail information. Berry Creek Falls, Cataract Trail Loop, Waterfall Tour of Uvas Canyon County Park.

• San Gabriel Mountain Waterfalls - TChester.org PR3 Information on 65 waterfalls in southern California.

• California Waterfalls - world-of-waterfalls.com PR3 Maps, directions and photos for 75 waterfalls.

• Waterfalls in the San Gabriels - SimpsonCity.com PR2 Information on 14 waterfalls in southern California.

• Beautiful California Waterfalls - trifter. PR2. Nice pictures, but little or no information about how to get to 60 waterfalls.

• Waterfalls of California - waterfallswest. PR2. Requires paid subscription. Map and trail information for 500 waterfalls in California.

• Waterfalls of Northern California photos - SummitPost. PRN. Pictures only - no information about how to get to 22 wateralls.

See also:
• Hiking to Waterfalls in California - Books.
• Reviews - Books, Videos, and Websites - BRT Insights.

IceRocket Tags: waterfall, hiking, trail, California.
Tags: photography, landscape photography, travel, hiking, walking, southern California, northern California, socal.

Labels: waterfall, website

Record and display the locations of your landscape and other travel photographs while walking, hiking, running, biking, kayaking, canoeing, rafting, tubing, etc.

1. Personal Navigation Devices (PND) triangulate your position using the GPS satellites, record the route you travel (GPS track) and the time of day at each point along the way.
• GPS receiver (Brands: Garmin, Magellan, TomTom, Trimble, Holux)
• Smartphone - iPhone or Android (Brands: Apple, Garmin, TomTom, HTC, BlackBerry, Palm)
• GPS receivers are built into some smartphones; external GPS receivers can be attached to some smartphones.

2. Digital cameras automatically record the date and time of day when your pictures were taken.
• In IrfanView software click on Image menu - Information.
• In The GIMP software install the Exif Viewer - GIMP Plugin, then click on File menu - View Exif.

3. GPS Travel websites plot GPS track data on the map. Matching time of day information from the GPS receiver and the camera enables the locations of the photographs to be plotted on the map.
• GPS travel websites: MapMyHike, EveryTrail, Wayfaring, MapMyWalk, Wikiloc, Backcountrysecrets, TrailChaser.

4. Trees, hills and tall buildings can block the GPS receiver from connecting to the GPS satellites and prevent the track from being recorded. Thus, GPS mapping methods may be unsuccessful in many places such as downtown areas of big cities, trails with thick tree cover, and rivers with deep and narrow canyons.

5. Examples of Hiking and Biking Photos Synchronized to Map of GPS Track.
• California Hiking Trails Directory Pg. 1B. Scroll down to see GPS Track Hiking and Biking section.

6. Examples of Paddleboating Photos Synchronized to Map of GPS Track.
• Black Canyon Colorado River - Kayaking Canoeing - prathmann 09mar2010.
• Kayaking Black Canyon on the Colorado River - geobau 04oct2009.
• Dog Paddle Down the Russian River - SnoWake 09aug2009.
• Russian River Canoeing - tmeekins 22june2008.

7. GPS Receiver: Garmin GPSMap 76S is a useful tool for outdoor exploration.

8. GPS Mapping Software: Topo! mapping software from National Geographic.

9. GPS receivers also record speed, elevation and distance travelled, so runners and bikers use maps of their GPS tracks to record their training and competitions.


IceRocket Tags: GPS, GPS receiver, personal navigation device, smartphone, iPhone, Android.
Tags: photography, landscape photography, travel, walking, hiking, running, biking, kayaking, canoeing, rafting, tubing, paddleboating.

Labels: equipment, map, software, website

Whitewater wikis are written and edited by their communities of users.

They are part of the new web 2.0 movement towards more community participation on the Internet. Whitewater boaters can register for free and then easily learn how to publish on a wiki. Wikis can provide opportunities for the occasional whitewater writer and for writers who want to contribute to the team effort of building a big, valuable and informative wiki boating site. You can edit what somebody else has written on the wiki, but others can also re-edit what you have done.

More whitewater boaters are needed to add their knowledge to these wikis.

Sign up and contribute!! Wikis could grow to become very valuable resources if enough kayakers, rafters and canoers would contribute information and help keep the whitewater wikis more up-to-date than any published boating guidebook could ever be. (Updated 11dec2007.)

Wikipaddle. Wikipaddle has 316 paddling guides for kayaking, rafting and canoeing paddlesports around the globe, just a tiny sample of the available places to paddle. It contains sections on places, equipment, technical and books. It has very nice interactive Google maps, and longitude and latitude information for many landmarks. (** - my rating 2 stars out of 5).

Whitewater Rivers of Chile and Argentina - Expediciones Chile. Excellent paddlesports guide to some of the whitewater rivers with Google maps, links and detailed descriptions of the river runs, but still incomplete. (** - my rating 2 stars out of 5).

Water Trail Wikis. San Francisco Bay Area Launch Sites, California Put-ins, Columbia River Water Trail. Class I river and coastal boating location guides. Nice descriptions including Google maps. Good flatwater touring site, but little or no whitewater. (* - my rating 1 star out of 5).

List of whitewater rivers - Wikipedia. A big resource of historical and economic development information, but still very incomplete. Very little information about recreation, geology, wildlife, geography, or conservation. Very few and very poor static maps. (* - my rating 1 star out of 5).

KayakWiki. (My rating 0 stars).
Kayak - Wikimedia Commons. (My rating 0 stars).
Playak Wiki. (My rating 0 stars).
WikiOutdoors. (My rating 0 stars).
World Kayak River Wiki. (My rating 0 stars).

More about: Reviews - Books, Videos, & Websites on Paddlesports.

Tags: wiki, web 2.0, whitewater, rivers, paddlesport, kayaking, rafting, canoeing.

Labels: web2.0, website

California River Flows - Whitewater Voyages.
Rafting company republishes river data from Army Corps and CDEC on many popular whitewater rivers. Kern River (Army Corps), Lower Kern, Upper Kern, Kaweah, Kings (Army Corps), South Fork American, Middle Fork American, North Fork American, Tuolumne, Cherry Creek, Merced, North Yuba.

Owens River - Los Angeles Aqueduct Realtime Data.
This site may become useful for kayaking and canoeing now that flows in the Owens River are being restored. Owens River making comeback - MercuryNews.com 21dec2006.

More about: Current River Flows.

Tags: kayaking, rafting, canoeing, whitewater, rivers.

Labels: website

The NWS River Forecast websites divide the lower 48 states into 12 regions. Each regional center reports river guidance forecasts at a variety of stations. Green = normal, Orange = above monitor, Red = above flood, Purple = above danger stage. Pointing at a station on the map displays the current flow and the forcasted flow for the next 5 days.

The California Nevada River Forecast Center has 88 flood forecast reporting stations and 72 other points reporting. Some of these gauge stations are on or near the whitewater river sections, while many others are downstream in the flatwater sections. I think that this site will be very useful as a trip planning resource for kayaking, rafting, and canoeing.

More about: Current River Flows.

Tags: kayaking, rafting, canoeing, whitewater, rivers.

Labels: website

Reviews - Books, Videos, Websites & Software (subtopic)

Whitewater river kayaking is a paddlesport that we must learn by getting out on the river and doing it! Fun, safety and performance on the river can be improved by learning many kayak paddleboating skills, styles and strategies in advance.

Jump down to: Books, Videos, Websites & Software.

Book Reviews

• Hooked on Hiking: Northern California: 50 Hiking Adventures.
• American River Canyon Hikes - trail guides for Auburn State Recreation Area.
• Wildflowers of Table Mountain, Butte County, California.
• Hiking to Waterfalls in California - Books.
• Whitewater Rescue Manual - New Techniques for Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters - 1995.
• Ultimate Guide to Whitewater Kayaking, 2004.
• California River Maps - Atlas & Gazetteer by Delorme, 2008.
• Essentials of River Kayaking, 2004.
• California Surfing Guidebooks & Travel Guides for the California Coast.
• Ocean Surf Kayaking Skills - paddlesports books & videos.
• The American River: North, Middle & South Forks, 1989.
• Sierra Whitewater - A Paddler's Guide to the Rivers of California's Sierra Nevada, 1974.
• Down the Wild Rivers- A Guide to the Streams of California, 1972.
• Paddler's Atlas of U.S. Rivers West, 1993.
• Klamath River Access Guide - From Road to River's Edge, 2004.
• West Coast River Touring - Rogue River Canyon and South, 1974.
• Canoer's Guide to the Wild and Scenic Middle Klamath River 4th edition, 2006.
• Ann Dwyer's Easy Waters of California North, 2000.
• Kayak: The New Frontier, second edition 2007.
• Canoeing and Kayaking Instruction Manual, 1987.
• California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict Between Fluvial Process and Land Use, 1995.
• America's Wild and Scenic Rivers - National Geographic Society, 1983.
• Performance Kayaking, 1990.
• Western Whitewater From the Rockies to the Pacific, 1994.
• The Bombproof Roll and Beyond, 1993.
• The Best Whitewater in California, Third Edition 1998.
• Paddling Northern California by Charlie Pike, 2001.
• DeLorme Northern California Atlas & Gazetteer 6th edition, 2003.
• DeLorme Northern California Atlas - Road Maps for Kayakers.
• Stretching for Paddling Boat Trips.
• California Whitewater - A Guide to the Rivers, 1995.
• Kayak - Animated Manual of ... Whitewater Technique, 1986.

Video Reviews

• Videos vs. Photos for Documenting Outdoor Adventure Trips.
• Muir Woods National Monument - Walk in the Redwood Forest Cathedral 29may2011.
• Ode to the Club Boater - whitewater river kayaking carnage video by tgerencer1.
• Play Daze, kayak playboating instructional video, VHS 1999 - review.
• SOAR - Skills On All Rivers: Intermediate and Advanced Kayaking Technique, VHS 2000.
• Essential Boat Control, whitewater kayaking instructional video, VHS 1996.
• Full Circle, kayaking action video, 2001 - review.
• Grand Canyon Adventure - 3D movie playing at IMAX theatre in Sacramento California.
• Mystery of the Nile River - IMAX movie review.

Website Reviews

• Use Google Street View to help plan your road trips and outdoor activities. • Webcams for Parks and Hiking Trails in California. • Waterfall Trails in Northern California USA.
• Waterfall Hiking in California - websites.
• Wiki Websites for Kayakers, Canoers & Rafters.
• Road Maps Online.
• Topographic Maps Online.

Software Reviews

• GIMP is a Powerful, Free Software for Digital Photo Editing. • Pixtra PanoStitcher software for panoramic photography of river canyon landscapes.
• IrfanView software for enhancement of digital photographs.
• Topo! mapping software for exploration of whitewater rivers and creeks.

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Labels: book, software, subtopic, video, website