Areas with few contours appear relatively flat-more like a 2-tier birthday cake. A large mountain appears as a dense group of lines with a small circle in the center that represents the peak-just picture looking down at a wedding cake from above. It may be helpful to visualize contour lines as stacked “layers” of the landscape, similar to a layer cake. Think of contour lines as imaginary horizontal planes sliced through the terrain surface. They show the shape of the terrain, including its hills, slopes, and depressions, by tracing a constant line of elevation on the map that corresponds with the landscape in the real world.

Identifying Features with Contour LinesĬontour lines are the primary and most important feature on a topo map.Whether you’re new to topo maps or a seasoned wilderness navigator, this article will help explain the basic features found on topo maps, like lines, numbers, symbols, and colors, so that you can read them with ease and confidence.

Topo maps allow you to visualize the rise and fall of the land and “see” the depths of canyons, the location of boggy meadows, and the height and shape of mountains.īut, make no mistake about it, learning to read and understand topographic maps takes time and practice. Through the use of contour lines, topo maps bring a 3-dimensional element to a 2-dimensional paper map. Knowing how to read a topographic map is the foundation of any backcountry adventure.

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