A guide to navigation on the river

Navigating on the river sounds simple; you go downstream with the current. In practice, it’s helpful to have more details than that. In this article we’ll go over why you should bring a map with you on your river trip, as well as talk about a few different types of maps for river trips, and their pros and cons.

Why Bring a Map?

In the age of the smartphone, it’s tempting to forgo the paper map and just bring your phone. However, the maps on your phone that give you driving directions in a new city are probably going to struggle to help you navigate down a wilderness river. Topography, river miles, and names of landmarks are useful features that stand out on paper maps. A paper map also provides foolproof reliability – it can’t overheat or run out of charge. Many river trippers opt to carry a paper map as well as digital maps on their smartphone, a smart decision to have a backup on a wilderness adventure.

Types of Maps

Maps for river trips fall into three distinct categories; electronic maps, general paper maps, and river-specific paper maps.

Electronic Maps

These are maps that are downloaded onto a GPS unit, or that use the GPS function on your smartphone.
Dedicated GPS units like a Garmin inReach offer rugged simplicity, but show less detail than most smartphone maps. These units are better suited for emergency communications than for navigation.

Smartphone GPS apps do an excellent job of showing you where you are and what’s around you. Electronic maps on your smartphone are easy to use, and your phones GPS will often show your exact location on the map, making navigation and route-finding a breeze. Two of the most popular apps are Gaia and OnX, but there are many that will work. This article goes into more detail on river-specific apps that you can use.

Although the maps on your phone are easy to use, they do have some drawbacks. Your phone is a sensitive piece of electronic equipment. It can run out of battery, get too hot or too cold, run out of charge, or break when it’s dropped into water, sand, or rocks. To mitigate these risks, bring a portable phone charger on your trip, put a durable protective case on your phone, and store it in a waterproof bag.

These are an excellent addition to your map kit, but should not be the only method of navigation because of their ability to break or malfunction.

General Paper Maps

Maps that cover a large area – including the river – often with a more general “birds-eye-view” level of detail. The National Geographic map of Canyonlands National Park is a great example of this type of map.

These are regular paper maps like the kind you can buy at a kiosk or an information center. They often fold up into small brochure-sized dimensions. They contain a lower level of detail on the river in exchange for a greater area of coverage, and information on multiple topics.

These maps tend to be cheaper, and are not specifically catered to river use. As a result, they may lack information that can be useful to river travelers like river miles, river access points, and details on campsites.

These can be a useful addition to your map kit. They help give a broader understanding of the area around you without costing too much space or money. They are not as useful for ground-level river navigation due to their lack of detail.

River-specific Paper Maps

Map books made specifically for river users. Usually include great detail on river specific features. The Belknaps Waterproof Canyonlands River Guide is a good example of this type of map. These maps are the gold standard, they are an excellent choice for your next river trip.

These maps are usually in book form, with dozens of pages of maps that follow the river corridor closely, allowing for a much greater level of detail than other paper maps. Important features like river miles and topography allow you to keep close track of your progress and be sure of your location. Often have sections on wildlife, climate, geology, river history, etc. The pages are often coated to be waterproof or water-resistant.

There are several different maps that cover the greater canyonlands area in Utah. Most of them contain similar levels of detail, with the primary focus being large scale maps of the river corridor. Exercise caution if a map offers detailed descriptions of campsites and rapids, as the river corridor is a dynamic place and will often change faster than those descriptions can be updated.

Summary

On a wilderness river trip, it’s important to know where you are and what’s around you. Using your smartphone for maps and navigation can be useful, but you should not rely on your phone alone. Using a dedicated river-specific paper map as your primary method of navigation, and a smartphone map as your backup is the best method. The paper map will give you foolproof reliability and helpful river-specific information, and the smartphone can help you find exactly where you are. If the phone fails, you still have the map.