Has anyone ever figured out the total elevation gain and loss for the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne loop?

If not, is there a good website or something that calculates it for you? I know the big plunges and climbs but am curious when you add up all the ups and downs what the total would be.

Thanks for any help~

Seems like there must be a site out there where you can plug in the loop and get the data... or an app or something. (even though I don't do apps)

Learn to do it manually using a 7.5 minute USGS topo like everyone had to before recent years. Most people should be able figure out what to do by just making simple sense of maps. Not rocket science at all. Does not take long to add up a list of vertical feet ups and downs. One learns a skill that can be used during hikes instead of only at home looking at some computer screen. I chart all my routes for both vertical feet up and down and mileage on Excel spreadsheets where one can automate the simple math on a form that can be reused. For example on the 9-day trip we will be into over Sawtooth Pass in a few days, our totals are 8,900 feet total up and 8,900 feet down over 29.4 miles.

The GCT going up canyon will have few downs after reaching the bottom of Pate Valley. Inspect the little broken black trail lines for each point where there is an up versus down change, then list the segments of all up then all down and add the two totals. Use your imagination to extrapolate vertical between 40 foot elevation lines.

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http://www.davidsenesac.com



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2013 09:41PM by DavidSenesac.

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lilagray
Has anyone ever figured out the total elevation gain and loss for the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne loop?

If not, is there a good website or something that calculates it for you? I know the big plunges and climbs but am curious when you add up all the ups and downs what the total would be.

Thanks for any help~

Seems like there must be a site out there where you can plug in the loop and get the data... or an app or something. (even though I don't do apps)

Lilagray, I've been doing ok with the free Gmap Pedometer. You can plot your routes relatively easily (not all trails show up in Terrain interface, and Topo interface isn't aligned well between quandrangles if you zoom all the way in), and it'll spit out distance, total gain, and elevation change when you save your route. You have to go to the "bookmarked routes" link to see the gain sum, but you can visualize the elevation changes graphically on the map itself as well with coarse Y-axis labeling for rough calculation. If you can't use the "automatic drawing for runners" (only works on roads and trails marked in Terrain), you can draw your route manually with straight lines. I use google's terrain feature most, then switch to the Topo if I need to look for feature names, trails not shown in the terrain map, or other such data displayed in topos.

I make no claims to its accuracy, but it has proven to be "good enough" for me. I'm pretty sure you can import .gpx into it, haven't tried yet since I don't use a GPS. I tried exporting .gpx once for use in Google Earth but wasn't immediately successful and not interested enough to pursue it. There may be other free or paid sites or apps that can do this better, but it's worked well enough for my purposes.

David's point is valid to an extent; sure, one can do it manually using good ole 7.5-minute quads. But there are tools available that can save time, especially if you're in the coarse route-planning stage and are looking at alternates (or in your case annotation). If I want detail at home or in the field for going off-trail, I'll use a 7.5-minute US Topo print.

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HikingMano
Lilagray, I've been doing ok with the free Gmap Pedometer.

hillmap is another great web based option for doing this type of planning pre trip. It's been accurate enough for me to load generate routes onto my GPS and use it in the field.

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edg
hillmap is another great web based option for doing this type of planning pre trip. It's been accurate enough for me to load generate routes onto my GPS and use it in the field.

Looks good! Gonna play around with that one for sure

edited to add: Those CalTopo scans are great. So far, after messing around for a little, it looks like Hillmap is superior to Gmap Pedometer for the way I like to use these things. The split screen to make use of different maps at the same time is awesome, and the CalTopo scans provides greater detail and accuracy than the only topo option available in Gmap Pedometer. Looking forward to using this one more. Thanks for the heads up edg.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2013 03:19PM by HikingMano.

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HikingMano
Looks good! Gonna play around with that one for sure

It worked for a while and then went insane 3/4 of the way through setting my path. Sigh.

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eeek

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HikingMano
Looks good! Gonna play around with that one for sure

It worked for a while and then went insane 3/4 of the way through setting my path. Sigh.

Yeah, I found one bug where the elevation and linked profile function somehow get nixed when you use the "undo" button while plotting. Reported the bug to Jen and Ryan, the people behind the site, and Ryan responded to me right away. He said they're working on it, and that one temporary workaround that may serve is to grab your last point and drag it away, then drag it back. Haven't tried it yet, but hope it works until a permanent fix is made. Pretty impressed with their responsiveness!

All in all, so far, I think I prefer it to gmap pedometer. Stoked about it.

I did this kinda stuff manually when planning trips in the past... what a pain in the rump.
Sorry... but if the technology exists... I tend to use it.

I have GPS tracks of that trek... and with Topo! program... a lickity split... it's
right around 50 miles and 10.5K gain/loss... that is what I would go with.

or .. simply 50 Miles and 10K Gain. Close enough

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Thank you so much to all for the responses! (Yes, I realized that I could do it by hand and I do know how but agree that if the tool is out there why not use it).

I will check out the two sites for future use but for now a BIG thank you to chick-on for providing the info that I was curious about!
What a gu-ru

Thanks again and happy hiking~
agray

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lilagray
[...]Yes, I realized that I could do it by hand and I do know how but agree that if the tool is out there why not use it [...]

Yup

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lilagray
[...] BIG thank you to chick-on for providing the info that I was curious about!
What a gu-ru

He really is a guru!