Alaska USGS Maps
Great For Remote Locations!

Alaska USGS Maps can be used for locating hot springs, remote Forest Service rental cabins, fishing lakes and rivers, old gold mines and other points of interest. You can use them to hike and backpack where there are no marked trails. You'll find the USGS topographical maps quite suited for these purposes.

Having the exact maps with you, for the area you are in, is quite important. By showing important features of the land, you'll be able to locate places more easily — and you are less likely to get lost!

Luckily the US Geological Survey has put a lot of time into creating some excellent topographical maps for Alaska. They have lots of them just for Alaska!

Most of the Alaska USGS maps are 15-minute quadrangle maps. But there are a few maps around Anchorage, Fairbanks and other Alaskan cities that have the more detailed 7.5-minute quadrangle maps. The sheet size is about 22 x 27 inches and each map covers an area of about 49 square miles.

If you are not familiar with those terms, I'll explain. The numbers 7.5 and 15 are the number of minutes of latitude and longitude that each map covers. (1 minute = 1/60th of a degree of latitude or longitude.) And "quadrangle" simply means the rectangular shape of the map.

Scales used for Alaska USGS Maps:

15 minute scale map = 1:63,360 or 1 inch = 1 mile

7.5 minute scale map = 1:24,000 or 1 inch = 2000 feet and some are at 1:25,000, slightly more square footage covered per inch of map.

To get an idea of those maps in metric units:

1:50,000 scale is the same as 1 centimeter = 0.5 kilometer

In addition to purchasing the printed maps from the US Geological Survey, you can also purchase mapping software from National Geographic, with the USGS maps of Alaska in it.

Alaska topographical US Geological Survey Maps list:

You can print out a list of EVERY USGS topographical map that has been made for Alaska, then decide which ones you'd like to order. It is a PDF file with about 3000 maps listed and is 2.29mb: Right-click to download USGS Alaska Map List.

Here's an example of the information you'll find on the above list:

The list makes it easy to order a specific map. To order the above map, for example, all you have to do is go to the USGS Map Store and type the "Material" number (34442) into the search box in the upper left corner of the page. That will take you right to the order page for that map.

Or you can type in the name of the area you want to look at and it will bring up all the maps for that area. There are a number of ways to search for the maps you need.

Their maps are not limited to the topographical series either. You'll see links to every kind of map they have available, on the above webpage.

Be sure you pick up the Alaska USGS maps you need so you'll be prepared for any backwoods exploration you are planning. Whether you use a GPS or not, they are a "must" for wandering around in the wilds of Alaska. And now, if you are wondering about distances between major points and Alaska's major cities, take a look at the first mileage chart...

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