![\"Trail](\"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/trailventures-maps-411x450.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nBetter still, O\u2019Hearn continually works at updating his maps, and those interested in hiking the North Shore will be pleased to note that a new updated edition of that map is now available and, coming in 2016, a Port Moody to Port Coquitlam map will be available, joining the list of the Southern Chilcotin, North Shore, Chilliwack West, Chilliwack East, and Stein to Joffre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But how does this happen? How does a mild-mannered individual raised in the Lower Mainland become the purveyor of highly complicated maps?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It began with a trip to the Southern Chilcotins in the late 1980s, when O\u2019Hearn and his friends attempted to tackle some trails, only to be waylaid by poor maps and directions. With no good hiking maps available, O\u2019Hearn steeled himself to the idea of creating a hiking map for the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther people had the same idea,\u201d O\u2019Hearn recalled, \u201cBut they didn\u2019t follow through with it. Of course, if I had known in the beginning the work that would be involved, I might not have done it myself!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That work included three years of charting trails, and a fortuitous friendship with Matt English. English was a hiking partner of O\u2019Hearn, and, when English wound up leaving for the US to take a job with a company called ESRI, it proved to be an incredible blessing to O\u2019Hearn\u2019s venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMatt was a huge help to us,\u201d O\u2019Hearn said over drinks a few weeks ago. \u201cHis company in the U.S. was the main provider of GIS software used in creating maps, so he got on the phone to me immediately to say, \u2018Hey, this might be possible.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The work wasn\u2019t without hiccups, though. The O\u2019Hearns hiked numerous trails, only to find out later that the mapping software required additional data, meaning they had re-hike all of those routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not to mention the fact the Chilcotins lie hours from O\u2019Hearn\u2019s Lower Mainland home, necessitating endless weekend drives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLots of friends asked me, why don\u2019t you start with the North Shore rather than way the heck up there,\u201d O\u2019Hearn remembered with a laugh. \u201cAll I could tell them was that I\u2019d already started it, so I wanted to finish it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After three years of sweat and notes, Claudia and Tim were finished, the map (and, more recently, the wonderful guidebook) was printed and their voyage was complete. Until, of course, he decided that it was time to listen to his friends and do a map for the North Shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then one for the Chilliwack area, which was too big to put into one map, so they split it into two maps (East and West).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, since they\u2019d done so much work, why not make one for Stein and Joffre?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 15 years later, Trail Ventures BC now offers a multitude of maps for everyone from the novice hiker interested in exploring new terrain, to the seasoned mountaineer looking at trying something off the beaten path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The maps, which are printed on durable, weatherproof and tearproof polypropylene material, are obviously created by people who hike. The references to ponds and wetlands reflect O\u2019Hearn\u2019s nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe go overboard on a lot of stuff,\u201d O\u2019Hearn said. \u201cI\u2019m interested in hydrography, it\u2019s kind of unhealthy interest of mine. So we map creeks, ponds, wetlands, all sorts of things you won\u2019t find anywhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all landmarks. But when you\u2019re out hiking and you run out of water, it\u2019s pretty nice to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also made it a point to mention that the duo works in partnership with the Search and Rescue organizations in the areas they\u2019ve mapped, both to get their feedback and to ensure that the trails they list aren\u2019t unreasonably dangerous. And, as avid hikers know, there are many trails in the North Shore that don\u2019t show up on any other maps, simply because the municipalities or the provincial authorities haven\u2019t mapped them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur policy is that if a trail exists, the city or whomever knows about it, and it is seeing significant use \u2013 even if it\u2019s unofficial \u2013 then it\u2019s a trail,\u201d O\u2019Hearn explained, noting, though, that if a trail has been closed by the responsible authorities, he is quick to indicate that on his maps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe always work with stakeholders, which is unique to most map makers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, the maps are a revelation to the reader at just how many unknown trails are available to us in the Lower Mainland and, considering the maps cost less than a round of post-hike drinks, they make a valuable and economical addition to a hiker\u2019s backpack. And, unlike a smartphone, a map never runs out of batteries, loses its signal, or breaks when you \u2013 drat! \u2013 drop it onto a boulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of which takes us back to a certain Greek philosopher\u2019s sage wisdom from thousands of years ago, intended for general usage, but certainly applicable to hikers in British Columbia: You don\u2019t know as much as you think you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So get a map.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe recently updated North Shore Trail Map published by Trail Ventures BC is now available for purchase at www.trailventuresbc.com<\/a>. You can also find it at many local outdoor stores in the Lower Mainland. The previous version sold out, and this edition is only available in limited quantities, so pick it up before they\u2019re all gone.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For more than a decade, Tim O’Hearn of Trail Ventures BC has tirelessly mapped hiking trails throughout British Columbia, from Slesse to Strachan, from the Chilcotins to Chilliwack. Learn more about the highly detailed maps and purchase them directly from Trail Ventures BC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[178,179,193,556,4,187,194,183,188,186],"tags":[691,688,693,698,695,685,686,684,692,696,694,687,689,690,697],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-columbia-bc","category-cariboo-chilcotin-coast","category-chilliwack-vancouver-coast-mountain","category-gear","category-hiking-trails","category-north-vancouver-vancouver-coast-mountain","category-squamish","category-vancouver-coast-mountains","category-west-vancouver-vancouver-coast-mountain","category-whistler-vancouver-coast-mountain","tag-bc-hiking-maps","tag-buy-maps","tag-chilcotin-hiking-maps","tag-chilliwack-hiking-maps","tag-claudia-ohearn","tag-hiking-maps","tag-hiking-trail-maps","tag-maps","tag-north-shore-hiking-maps","tag-north-vancouver-hiking-maps","tag-tim-ohearn","tag-trail-maps","tag-trail-ventures","tag-trail-ventures-bc","tag-west-vancouver-hiking-maps"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/seymour-comparison.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4652t-kp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3754,"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions\/3754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}