The main Trail Survey took place during the years of 1997-2000. Differentially corrected GPS (Global Positioning System) data were collected primarily on foot for all existing maintained trails and spur trails to backcountry campsites, attractions and buildings within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park (YNP).The trails that could not be obtained through the GPS or have been rerouted since the survey were acquired through the uses of 1 meter Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quads (DOQQs) and the help of backcountry rangers with knowledge of where the trails are located. There are also associated GPS data for trail bridges, backcountry campsites, patrol cabins and trail surface type. Trail usage data also documented by using visitor ski and bike trail maps. Trails data have been updated since the original survey using information from the Yellowstone Backcountry Office, trails maintenance personnel, best available imagery resources, and GPS data. This layer is a work in progress.

The Campground Location database contains information about physical and cultural geographic features of all types with Great Smoky Mountains National Park,current and historical, but not including roads and highways. The database holds the Federally recognized name of each feature and defines the feature location by state, county, USGS topographic map, and geographic coordinates. Other attributes include feature designations, feature classification, historical and descriptive information, and for some categories the geometric boundaries. Perhaps in response to often harsh and demanding working conditions, overcrowded city life, or a pervasive desire for a simpler existence, camping became a popular pastime in the late 19th century. Several publications from that period describe in enthusiastic detail the particular advantages of various styles of tents, stoves and clothing, as well as tips for successful outings. Bringing just what they needed to set up a temporary home in the natural shelter of the woods, early campers arrived to the national forests on foot, horseback, or wagon. Attracted by the adventure of living out of doors and experiencing nature at close quarters, they were there to go "gypsying," to experience the renewed sense of freedom one finds in the natural world. While it was informal and unsupervised in the early years, camping was recognized as a significant use of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.1902 regulations issued by General Land Office, Department of the Interior, required that "specially desirable camping grounds or place[s] of resort" be considered for protection from the private development of hotels or sanitariums on national land. There is a satisfying immediacy about the prospect of establishing an encampment for the night — clearing the site, erecting the tent, chopping wood, building a fire and cooking over the live flame — that in turn suggests a meaningful connection to landscape, place and the rugged life of backwoods adventurers. In essence camping is an act of faith and survival, a way to buttress a modest, isolated human settlement against the forces of nature. Situated “somewhere between challenging new circumstances and the safe reassurances of familiarity,” the camp is a temporary substitute for the home — a place to dwell, to sleep, to interact socially, to prepare and eat food. Stripped of any but the most vital conveniences, the camp is literally and figuratively open to the stimuli of its natural surroundings. This summer millions of Americans will take to the road in search of this powerful experience of nature. And that parcel of land upon which most will elect to drive their car, set up their tent, park their trailer or RV is the campsite — which is thus not only an imagined ideal but also the fundamental unit of management of the modern campground. There are 113,000 federally managed campsites in the United States, 166,000 campsites dispersed across state parks, and untold numbers in private facilities. This feature service depicts the location of such "Front-Country" camping facilities within Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This is a vector point file showing Ranger Stations at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM). Data were collected with GPS and/or aerial photography. The intended use of all data in the park's GIS library is to support diverse park activities including planning, management, maintenance, research, and interpretation.

This is a vector point file showing the backcountry shelters at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The majority of these data were collected using Trimble ProXR GPS unit. BEYOND DOUBT the most generally useful building in any park is a shelter, usually open but sometimes enclosed or enclosable, and then referred to as a recreation or community building, or a pavilion. It is admittedly no trivial task to achieve a desirable and unforced variety in such buildings within the confines of a moderate cost. This is true of other park structures, but it is more apparent of shelters because they are so universally existent in park areas. It is the almost invariable presence of at least one shelter, and often of several shelters, in every park that tends to make us especially and painfully aware of a spiritless monotony of design and execution. Exertion of effort to bring character to a shelter, such as will differentiate it from a thousand and one others, is all too rare; attainment of the objective, without bizarre result, still more rare. The attempt is worth all the creative effort expended; the successful accomplishment, truly worthy of praise. Because its purpose and use usually lead to its placement in the choicest of locations within the park, where it is natural to invite the park user to rest and contemplate a particularly beautiful prospect or setting, the shelter finds itself in the very center of a stage with a back-drop by the first Old Master. Its role is thus a difficult one, and is ill-played if rendered in the flippant slang or thin syncopated measures of the moment. Slapstick comedy technique is inappropriate; some dignity beyond passing fad or fashion is demanded of the shelter's stellar part. The essentials of a shelter include first of all overhead protection and a place to sit and rest. In size, shelters range from the very small and minor, in a simple rendering, to the large and complicated, when many extra-functional dependencies are included in the ambitious structures of a large, much-used park. Transition from the simplest to the specialized or more complex structure may be effected by the incorporation of one or more fireplaces, the partial or complete enclosing of the sides for protection from wind or weather, the provision of ovens or grills for picnic cooking and tables and seats for the picnic meal. The shelter of special purpose or the recreation building for year-round use results. There are colloquial departures in shelters and their functions that make for some well-defined varieties.

Publicly available GIS data from Yellowstone National Park hosted on the National Park Service ArcGIS Online (https://nps.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html)

A feature class depicting geographic locations of park trail heads which intersect public roads.

A feature class depicting geographic locations of park trail heads which intersect public roads.

A feature class depicting geographic locations of park trail heads which intersect public roads.

ArcGIS shapefile point features depicting backcountry camps and frontcountry campgrounds within the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Washington. Locations of frontcountry campgrounds and backcountry camps, including auto, hiker, stock, boat-in, group, and cross-country.

ArcGIS shapefile point features depicting backcountry camps and frontcountry campgrounds within the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Washington. Locations of frontcountry campgrounds and backcountry camps, including auto, hiker, stock, boat-in, group, and cross-country.