Reader Bruce was poking around a post I did on free Garmin-compatible map alternatives from a while back. In the post, I wrote that I hadn’t bought any MapSource maps for my GPS unit for three reasons: 1. You can’t transfer maps from a National Geographic Topo program onto the Garmin units and I HATE closed systems. 2. Hiker-friendly 24k resolution for Garmins was limited to National Parks and recreation areas, and 3. They’re expensive ways to get information that is essentially free to the public … given a reliable printer and some free time.

What can I say? I’m a New Englander. I hate spending money.

Bruce was similarly frustrated — and since the free options GPS Tracklog rounded up have made little progress in making more California based maps, it appears we’re up a certain scatalogically named creek without a paddle … or map.

Garmin has been working on solving one of those problems, and may have convinced me to drop 99 bucks on some maps — because they’ve finally started releasing regional 24k resolution map packs.

Right now, they have one pack for California and Nevada, and another for Washington and Oregon, available only on MicroSD cards. There are no announced planned release dates for further packs, but we can assume (and hope) they get here quickly.

Tags: 24k resolution, california, garmin topo, nevada, oregon, topographic maps, washington