Guess the spot: Maps Edition

Alright, alright, alright - you caught me. With "permanent snowfields" you'd think that just couldn't be in feet, right?? ;-)

Yes, it is in meters.
 
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ok, was this set of [incredibly beautiful] cirques just too generic, topographically speaking? No WAGs, even? Do we need hints?

It is in the United States, btw, despite the quads registering in meters. That ought to give a tiny hint, if you're a USGS topo aficionado....
 
Langdon Greene said:
ok, was this set of [incredibly beautiful] cirques just too generic, topographically speaking? No WAGs, even? Do we need hints?

It is in the United States, btw, despite the quads registering in meters. That ought to give a tiny hint, if you're a USGS topo aficionado....
Click to expand...
Yes, hints!
Don't all the 15 minute quads that exist for the whole US draw isoelevation lines in meters? Not that good a hint...Yes they are pretty cirques but I checked my favorite 15 and this one wasn't one of them. :)
 
Artemus said:
Yes they are pretty cirques but I checked my favorite 15 and this one wasn't one of them. :)
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I'd love to know your top 15 cirques. I haven't bothered to list & rank mine, but I do love me some cirques. The rounder the better. ;)

ok, let's see... here are a couple of hints. At least one member of BCP has hiked/backpacked in the area (not necessarily shown on the map, but certainly close by). ETA: He/she has even posted photos taken near here.

Yeah, that doesn't give away much. Also, another member of BCP has a board name that contains part of the name of the wilderness area in which this is contained.

How about a satellite photo version, zoomed out slightly to show a bit more of the surrounding area? I've roughly drawn in the trail that's shown on the map.
Guess-MAP2-satphoto+trail.png
 
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Langdon Greene said:
I'd love to know your top 15 cirques. I haven't bothered to list & rank mine, but I do love me some cirques. The rounder the better. ;)

ok, let's see... here are a couple of hints. At least one member of BCP has hiked/backpacked in the area (not necessarily shown on the map, but certainly close by). ETA: He/she has even posted photos taken near here.

Yeah, that doesn't give away much. Also, another member of BCP has a board name that contains part of the name of the wilderness area in which this is contained.

How about a satellite photo version, zoomed out slightly to show a bit more of the surrounding area? I've roughly drawn in the trail that's shown on the map.
View attachment 40664
Click to expand...
Whew, I thought you were going to pull a @Ben or @Joey or @slc_dan and tell me that I had actually been to this spot and still couldn't guess the spot. Very embarassing....
 
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I scoured the maps for a long time, and that is not a place I'm familiar with or got lucky enough to find. Hopefully @Ben or @Outdoor_Fool can swoop in and get it.
 
Those are good hints. I keep coming back to the elevations being defined in SI (meters). So I went and pulled me some paper maps. My map of Kluane Lake in the Yukon is indeed a 15min. quad but strangely, since it is a canadian map. the units are still in feet. Same for Turnagain arm by Anchorage 15min quad but elevations are in feet with a 100' contour interval instead of the more common 80'. Then coming home to the Wasatch back to 7.5 min quads with 80' contour interval.
Curiouser and curiouser... You say the United States but which of the 50 I wonder. The metric elevation lines is a good clue. Anybody? Let's sleuth it out with collaboration since it is stymying us....
BTW Langdon, I wonder which of my 15 favorite cirques are ones you have visited... I may to make another list. :)
 
ok let's narrow it a bit more, to the 48 contiguous states. This area is a real gem, but gets overlooked because of more famous ranges in the same state. And I first learned about it, thanks to Harvey Manning and Ira Spring - as has been the case with many of my favorites backpacking places.
 
Artemus said:
BTW Langdon, I wonder which of my 15 favorite cirques are ones you have visited... I may to make another list. :)
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Please do! I may do the same - in fact, maybe I'll start a thread later on, asking for people to post their top 3 or 5 (to keep in manageable).
 
Langdon Greene said:
Please do! I may do the same - in fact, maybe I'll start a thread later on, asking for people to post their top 3 or 5 (to keep in manageable).
Click to expand...
OK, so now something we can sink our teeth into. Divulging your heroes leads me to think we are talking Washington and specifically, maybe, the North Cascade National Park. Only some time near Liberty Bell for me. That may explain the low elevation permanent snowfields. Hunting....
 
Artemus said:
OK, so now something we can sink our teeth into. Divulging your heroes leads me to think we are talking Washington and specifically, maybe, the North Cascade National Park. Only some time near Liberty Bell for me. That may explain the low elevation permanent snowfields. Hunting....
Click to expand...

Although Manning & Spring are best known for their conservation activism and guidebooks in Washington, they have covered other areas / states in their guidebooks. So while the greenery of the aerial satellite photo would suggest Washington, I will give you another hint: it is not in Washington. (I couldn't have you scouring those topos there in vain...)
 
OK Langdon, I think I have figured out it is NOT in nawth Jawja.

How about, and this is just a WAG that has no real reason behind it but let me draw on my psycho powers and just hazard a crazy guess.

Papoose Lake in the Trinity Alps Wilderness of northwest CA?

I am going to be gone until Monday with a kids hockey tournament so why don't we have Artemus throw one in, since he probably hurt himself trying to figure this one out.

And awesome job, Langdon, you had me checking out all the glaciated wilderness areas of MT, ID, and every where else I could think of. So why are the topo maps in meters here? I was originally looking at north ID, and Washington thinking that the surveying had something to do with the Hudson's Bay Company.
 
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