Guide to Non-existent Planned Connector Trails Between Bailey Canyon Trail and the Mt. Wilson Trail

For some reason, maps showing the trails of Bailey Canyon do not distinguish actual trails that really exist and that you can hike on, from planned trails that are only a vision in someone's head and that you therefore cannot hike on, since they don't exist. What is even more confusing is that different maps show different planned trails.

These two maps show only the trails which actually exist:

All of these trails except the Mt. Wilson Trail are described in Bailey Canyon Trails.

The purpose of this page is to describe the trails plotted on various maps which do not actually exist on the ground. This map shows both existing and hypothetical connector trails. For best clarity, open that map in another window, and refer to it as you read the discussion below.

The connector trails, in order from northwest to southeast for the trail's northernmost point, are:

The locations of Planned Trail 1 and Planned Trail 3 were plotted from the 1995 USGS topo map supplied by Tom Wynne and R.J. Secor. Mac Pigman contributed the information about the trails on Tom Harrison's map.

It is very curious, and disturbing, that the USGS Topo Maps now show planned trails that don't actually exist on the ground. Apparently, when the USGS allowed the US Forest Service to revise their maps, they failed to tell them about the standard of accuracy that the USGS Topo Maps have been known for. As a result, USGS Topo Maps can no longer be trusted to show a map representation of what is actually on the ground. Further, Tom Harrison claims that he hikes each trail himself with a measuring wheel in order to assure the accuracy of his maps. Yet in this case, Harrison relied on the USGS Topo Map itself, without hiking the trail and getting the mileage himself.


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Copyright © 2001-2002 by Tom Chester.
Permission is freely granted to reproduce any or all of this page as long as credit is given to me at this source:
http://tchester.org/sgm/trails/bailey_connectors.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Updated 4 January 2002.