zman-az wrote:
The Prescott map is the worst of any I have seen. They already had many of the MVUM stuff in place years before it was mandatory. So they just printed maps on what they had and went with it. I seen open roads on the maps that had not been used in years with trees fallen all over them.
I can tell you that every map out there is going to have issues like this. When I was involved with the Coconino process I seen alot of roads that they kept open on the map that I knew where closed. The process was all done on old maps with very little in field assesment.
One other thing I like to do is pick out my spot on the map, then goto google earth and find a satelite image. Gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect when you get there.
The lack of field assessment makes total sense. There were several of the "dispersed camping" roads on the Prescott map that were totally unusable unless you happen to have a really high-clearance vehicle and/or a machine to clear out a site. Either the roads were near-impassable or there were no cleared sites (at all) on the road or there was some other reason (e.g. a "no camping" sign) that it couldn't be used. I think out of 10 roads that I tried (all marked as camping allowable on the map) only 2 had any usable camping at all. It's definitely a process to use these maps. I found it quite frustrating that the forest service promote these maps as the "go-to" resource and yet it still has so many glaring gaps.
It still seems the best bet (anywhere) is to call the ranger and get the latest low-down from a live person. They'll give you the best bets for camp-spots and the most up-to-date info. Plus, I figure they're the guys who are out patrolling, so if you get their go-ahead you're more likely to be in an allowable spot.
