FNG questions

[Shepardg]

At the risk of sounding like a FNG, mostly because I am. While looking at my topo map what the best way for me to know what’s going to be to steep to hike and I’m waisting my time even thinking about it. is there a general rule of thumb well comparing line spacing to relative distance in feet. Say 1’ up to 1’ forward or 1’ to 2’. Having never hiked a mountain before I’m not really sure how crazy things are going to be while looking at it from the sky as opposed to feet on the ground. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a OTC Idaho deer tag and plan on chasing mules up in some high country with a bow come September. I’ll be hunting unit 51. from my understand it’s going to be a hard and changing hunt with some steep rugged terrain. Trying to get away from people I know will be challenging, but that is the goal. Plan to ride/hike up and in and set up and camp a few days. Also have E bikes at our disposal we think they could be useful but also as FNGs we could be sadly mistaken. Thinking 9800 feet or so for camp, to low? my understanding deer should be above the tree line so we plan to get up there with them. We are all in good shape and plan to get into better shape. Any info and knowledge would be appreciated.

 

[Forestryman2010]

At the risk of sounding like a FNG, mostly because I am. While looking at my topo map what the best way for me to know what’s going to be to steep to hike and I’m waisting my time even thinking about it. is there a general rule of thumb well comparing line spacing to relative distance in feet. Say 1’ up to 1’ forward or 1’ to 2’. Having never hiked a mountain before I’m not really sure how crazy things are going to be while looking at it from the sky as opposed to feet on the ground. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a OTC Idaho deer tag and plan on chasing mules up in some high country with a bow come September. I’ll be hunting unit 51. from my understand it’s going to be a hard and changing hunt with some steep rugged terrain. Trying to get away from people I know will be challenging, but that is the goal. Plan to ride/hike up and in and set up and camp a few days. Also have E bikes at our disposal we think they could be useful but also as FNGs we could be sadly mistaken. Thinking 9800 feet or so for camp, to low? my understanding deer should be above the tree line so we plan to get up there with them. We are all in good shape and plan to get into better shape. Any info and knowledge would be appreciated.

I can at least help on the topo. You should see somewhere on a contour line a number that is your elevation reference. I believe it’s every fifth line is your index line and it will have the number. Check for a scale usually it will have a 1” equals so many feet

Next look at line spacing. The closer the lines are together the steeper it gets, and the further apart they are the more gentle of a sloope. A V shape denotes a valley, U shape is a gully, concentric circles is usually a depression, and if you see a circle with no lines it will denote a summit.

Hope this helps.

 

[littlebigtine]

If you never hiked a mountain before anything will be steep lol

 

[kota]

When hiking trails anything that gains 1000 vertical feet per mile on average is considered strenuous. 40 degree stairs would be roughly 4400 feet of gain per mile. Hope that gives you an idea at least.

Speaking from experience, the impact of your pack weight when hiking is a lot more than you think it will be, and terrain is usually a lot more intimidating in person than it is on a map.

 

[will_brap]

At the risk of sounding like a FNG, mostly because I am. While looking at my topo map what the best way for me to know what’s going to be to steep to hike and I’m waisting my time even thinking about it. is there a general rule of thumb well comparing line spacing to relative distance in feet. Say 1’ up to 1’ forward or 1’ to 2’. Having never hiked a mountain before I’m not really sure how crazy things are going to be while looking at it from the sky as opposed to feet on the ground. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a OTC Idaho deer tag and plan on chasing mules up in some high country with a bow come September. I’ll be hunting unit 51. from my understand it’s going to be a hard and changing hunt with some steep rugged terrain. Trying to get away from people I know will be challenging, but that is the goal. Plan to ride/hike up and in and set up and camp a few days. Also have E bikes at our disposal we think they could be useful but also as FNGs we could be sadly mistaken. Thinking 9800 feet or so for camp, to low? my understanding deer should be above the tree line so we plan to get up there with them. We are all in good shape and plan to get into better shape. Any info and knowledge would be appreciated.

Percent slope is rise over run, ie vertical feet changed / horizontal feet traveled

For reference, anything over 75% slope is hard to stand on.

40% you can hike up but stop and take breaths.

You can calculate it on a paper map by measuring or you can use math (or an online converter) to change between percent/topo/degrees of slope.

Air photos will tell you a lot, if you see game trails spaced close together that means it’s probably real steep.