Detailed BLM maps of Utah -- problem solved --see below

[profdant139]

(Edit -- see my post late on Jan 23 for an explanation of what I was doing wrong and how to fix the "unreadable" BLM map.)

We might have a couple of weeks free for camping in Utah during February, and I would like to boondock on BLM land near Cedar City, Utah. It's cold in that area but not Arctic, so I think we could handle the temperatures.

But I am having a heck of a time finding online maps that show the precise boundaries of the BLM land in any given area. Once I have that map, I can then fly around on Google Earth to find existing boondocking sites.

Has anyone found an online map that would fill the bill? Or a downloadable PDF? I have spent quite a bit of time looking and have come up empty.

Thanks in advance for your advice!!

[NamMedevac_70]

I have for many years used this BLM online Map page for finding BLM boundary/areas and campsites/recreation areas. There will be a popup column on right side of page with check boxes for you to select the information you want to see such as recreation areas, etc. You can zoom in onto the state or area down to smallest town or other location. The map is color coded for BLM, Indian, NF, areas and is very detailed for me depending on zoom level. Takes a bit of navigation and getting used to and I saved it to my favorites.

https://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=6f0da4c7931440a8a80bfe20eddd7550

https://www.blm.gov/maps

[Xander]

Hi mate, I suggest you use Google maps and if you have already used it and it did not work for you, download show my map which is a customizer of it and this way it will make it easier for you to move from one place to another without getting lost. you get lost you can use coordinates into Google maps and thus have saved the point where you started moving to your current location, Good luck and thanks for sharing.

[SteveAE]

I frequently use CalTopo.

[Naio]

Thank you so much for posting this info!

[profdant139]

Solved. First, here is the link to the BLM online map system:

BLM Online Map

Choosing your state is the easy part. If you have the same experience that I had, you pull up the map, zoom in, and you can't see much of anything, other than big mustard yellow blotches. Useless.

It turns out that the default settings on the layers on the map are virtually opaque. Here is how to fix it:

After your map loads, go to the menu in the upper right and click on the "layers" icon, which looks like a stack of paper. A big box will pop up on the right edge of the map.

Now scroll to the bottom of that map. Click the box next to "surface management." It should turn blue.

Now click on the little row of three horizontal dots next to the words "surface management." A small box pops up. One of the menu items is "transparency." Click on it.

A slider will pop up. As far as I can tell, the slider is set to "opaque" by default. Move the slider toward the right, to about the 60 percent level. That preserves some of the color overlay (which gives you the all-important info about which land is BLM and which is not), while still letting you see roads and other key landmarks.

Not the most user-friendly map I have ever seen, but it gets the job done.

[bpounds]

Here is a link to the BLM map. I think this is the one closest to Cedar City.

https://www.blm.gov/documents/utah/public-room/map-12

[Ramblin__Ralph]

I got a free public lands map for my Garmin GPS here. I can overlay the public lands map on top of the regular map in the Garmin. However, I can't do the same with Garmin Mapsource (obsolete) or BaseCamp program on a laptop. However, with both I can make a waypoint on the regular map and then toggle to the public lands map and the waypoint shows up.

Latest update is Feb 2011, but I would think public lands boundaries are pretty stable.

[Naio]

Sometimes when I can't find good BLM maps for a particular area online, I call the BLM office in the area I'm interested in. For free or very small fee they will mail you maps.

[Naio]

I liked this one so much that I printed it out and had it laminated to keep in the van for when I'm out of cell signal. It's a surface management map, showing all the different agencies. Not as high res as one could wish, but it gives the general picture.

https://gis.utah.gov/data/cadastre/land-ownership/

[caver]

Try this link for the USGS viewer. Link to USGShttps://maps.usgs.gov/padus/

[dalej]

I have not tried them yet, but I noticed that Garmin has sd cards for their gps units with that information

Garmin huntview

Plan to use in future.

[profdant139]

I did try that link and found the map to be almost unusable -- as you zoom in, the info gets impossible to read. Maybe I am doing something wrong with the settings. I will have to experiment with it.

[agesilaus]

Son of Norway wrote:
Did you try BLM Utah Interactive Map?

That's very useful. Thanks for the pointer to this link. Other states in the sidebar. BLM sure come up short on the map front compared to NPS, but on the other hand they more than make up for the shortage with their boondocking opportunities.

[Son_of_Norway]

Did you try BLM Utah Interactive Map?