We just added a new feature to Tripleblaze last week that we’re super stoked to share with everyone: campground and trailhead maps. Select campground and trail pages include a map showing the vicinity and an icon to mark the campground or trailhead. You can even click the “Directions” link (indicated with the blue arrow above) to get driving directions from your house. We already have maps and coordinates for nearly 700 trails but we need your help to fill in the rest!

Trail and campground listings that have not been located yet have a small link in a yellow box just above the trail/campground title that says “Help us locate this trail/campground.” Click the link and you’ll see a Google Map with an approximate location. Zoom around until you find the right spot and click the map to add a marker. Submit the location and you’re done!

Once we get more coordinates we’ll post a US map showing all the hiking trails and campgrounds and we’ll even add features to help you find trails close to campgrounds and vice versa. Questions? Hit us up via email: info@tripleblaze.com.

On the road to Clingman’s Dome in GSMNP.

If you’ve ever camped in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) you know there aren’t showers at park campgrounds - but have you ever wondered why? Is this an idea no one has considered before? The Chattanooga Times Free Press has some answers.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and it’s still the most visited of all the National Parks (9.3 million visitors in 2006 alone!). Despite offering primative (by some standards) camping facilities, it can still be tough to snag a campsite in summer. So are hot showers being withheld to keep the crowds down?

It turns out the real reason has to do with cost and environmental concerns. Park managers want to keep fees low (GSMNP is still one of the few large National Parks that doesn’t charge a gate fee) and building showers would add to the cost of campsite rentals. Then there’s also the issue of what to do with all that extra wastewater in such a beautiful and natural area. Unfortunately GSMNP already has the distinction of being one of the most polluted parks in the NP system due to all the vehicles driving through each year and adding more pollution isn’t good for anyone.

The cool thing is that many of the facilities and campgrounds are just as they were nearly 75 years ago when the park was first designated and visitors get to experience a little history along with the nature beauty. Like someone once said: you don’t mess with a good thing!

The Outdoor Federation recently released the results of its survey on camping participation in the US and there are some pretty interesting trends to talk about. The big number that everyone is focusing on is the annual increase in camping in 2008 over 2007: 7.4% in the US. That’s a pretty good jump and the authors (along with sponsor Coleman) think this may be a reflection on the economy.

The report found that 33.7 million Americans went camping in 2008 and each camper spent an average of 14 days in the great outdoors. That seems a little high to me but I guess there are some really dedicated camping enthusiasts who are bringing the average up for everyone else.

What areas of the country boast the most campers? According to the report the Pacific region (CA, OR, and WA) had the most campers followed by the Southeast (GA, NC, SC, FL, VA, WV, and MD). From what I could tell the report didn’t adjust for population numbers so this could be a little skewed toward high population states like California. Even so, the Pacific coast boasts some of the best weather and most scenic locales making it a great place to camp.

The most popular activities to participate in while camping are hiking and swimming (no surprise here). And RV campers are more likely to choose privately-owned campgrounds than tent campers (also no big surprise).

You can read more details about the report here.

Wow, can you believe it’s already September? Many of you are probably planning Labor Day camping trips before summer is over but here at Tripleblaze we’re just getting started. We camp and hike all year long!

For those who don’t know, we’re running a contest each month to reward our top hiking and campground reviewers with $25 REI gift cards. This month we even created a contest standings page so members can see how they’re doing during the contest - check it out and see who’s in the lead this month!

In August we had two clear winners: Mongoose and SCguide1. Mongoose racked up an impressive 284 points while SCguide1 wasn’t too far behind with 172 points. Start snapping camping and hiking pics and adding reviews now - the end of September will be here before you know it!