Backpacker Magazine – Online Exclusive

Be A Backpacker Map Correspondent

Become an official BACKPACKER Map Correspondent and get FREE GEAR!

by: BACKPACKER Editors

Tags:
• Map
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• Contest
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• Gear
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Follow these steps to create prize-worthy trips:

1. CREATE a user profile at backpacker.com/community.

2. CHECK our trips database to make sure the hike you’re doing isn’t already done. New hikes only!

3. HIT the trail with your GPS and camera.

4. REQUIREMENTS: Snap 1-2 pictures per mile (at least 5 images per hike), create waypoints for key points-of-interest on the route (trail junctions, water sources, campsites, summits, overlooks, tricky spots, etc.), and, if you can, on-trail video clips. (Check out our detailed contest rules.)

5. UPLOAD the GPS track and multimedia content to backpacker.com/postatrip. Include an overview paragraph describing the trip, details and descriptions for each waypoint and point-of-interest, and trailhead driving directions.

6. CLICK the "Submit A Trip" button.

7. REPEAT. Hike and map like crazy from May 1, 2011 to November 1, 2011.

NOTE: Once your map reaches our standards for quality, we’ll add it to your tally. Remember, new hikes only! Repeats of trips on backpacker.com/hikes won’t count toward your total.

EXAMPLES OF PRIZE-WORTHY TRIPS:
1. Colorado: Never Summer Wilderness: Baker Gulch to Bowen Gulch
2. Washington: Vancouver: Dog Mountain Loop
3. New York: New Paltz: Mohonk Lake and Sky Top Tower

PRIZES: Map 5 miles, get a BACKPACKER Map Correspondent patch. For every 25 miles you map after that, select a prize from the Gear List. Check back often: We'll update the list throughout the contest.

GRAND PRIZE: The person who maps the most miles that meet the criteria will receive an Editors’ Choice gear package, a trip to a Denver-area wilderness, national park or recreation area to map a hike with Backpacker’s Destinations Team, and a feature page in a future issue of BACKPACKER magazine.

QUESTIONS? Email the map team at maps@backpacker.com

MAP CONTEST RESULTS: The results of the 2010 map contest are posted on the Daily Dirt.

(Official Contest Rules)

* All equipment has been used in the field by our gear testers and bears requisite signs of use. Don’t worry, though: We won’t stick you with any mangled junk (that stuff goes back to the manufacturer with a note).


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