I’m a numbers nerd, as you may have figured out from a previous blog entry. I decided to take a look at what my most popular pages are currently and compare them to the total number of page views each one has had since I created the site in October 2013. So, let’s take a look at the Top 10:

Most viewed pages (October 2013 to present)

10. Yosemite maps
9. Grand Teton maps
8. Death Valley maps
7. Mount Rainier maps
6. Glacier maps
5. Zion maps
4. Grand Canyon maps
3. Joshua Tree maps
2. Big Bend maps
1. Bryce Canyon maps

Unexpected! I can’t totally figure out why some pages do better than others. For example, Grand Teton maps has 37 for free download, while Bryce Canyon only has 7. Then you’ve got Big Bend with 13 and Joshua Tree with 34. My worst pages seem to be the ones with fewest maps – not totally unexpected – but among the top-viewed, there isn’t a strong correlation. Now let’s see what pages are currently the most viewed:

Most viewed pages (January 1, 2016 to present)

10. Yosemite maps (+0)
9. Glacier maps (-3)
8. Mount Rainier maps (-1)
7. Sequoia maps (+4)
6. Zion maps (-1)
5. Grand Canyon maps (-1)
4. Bryce Canyon maps (-3)
3. Death Valley maps (+5)
2. Joshua Tree maps (+1)
1. Big Bend maps (+1)

If anything, I’m surprised at how steady it’s been! Generally speaking, things are ranked pretty similarly to how they’ve been overall. Some of the parks with high winter visitation – Big Bend, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley – are understandably more popular right now; they’ll surely drop in the rankings come summer. But otherwise, no major changes, other than seeing Sequoia make it onto the list and Grand Teton drop off of it.

That’s it. No major revelations or fascinating trends, but sometimes that’s just how research works. Going into this, I thought I’d have something more interesting to say…but apparently I was wrong. If I was really feeling ambitious, I could look at past dates and pull up web statistics see if there are some interesting seasonal variations. But I’m not feeling ambitious. So, that’ll just have to wait.

Every once in a while I’ll run into a strange issue when creating a new maps page. Take Sequoia maps and Kings Canyon maps, for example – how do I construct those pages? Technically the two parks are actually managed together as one park, with one website, and one series of maps – and you drive through both parks if you take the entire loop road. Yet visitors aren’t usually aware of these strange cases and think of them as separate. So, I ended up creating two pages, just with duplicate maps.

Today I had a new dilemma – what to do about Glen Canyon National Recreation Area? It makes sense to create a Glen Canyon maps page, since that’s what the park is called. Unfortunately, most visitors don’t know it as Glen Canyon – it’s just “Lake Powell.” So, maybe I should create a Lake Powell maps page instead?

I ended up creating both, but removing a few maps on the Lake Powell maps page that focused elsewhere in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (such as Lees Ferry). I think this makes the most sense and hopefully won’t be too confusing for users. Thus, there’s an entry for both Lake Powell maps and Glen Canyon maps in the navigation menu.

I also added a lot of new maps to Mesa Verde maps, Capitol Reef maps, and Carlsbad Caverns maps. Check them out! I’m up to 710 maps total now. (And yes, that’s without double-counting both Glen Canyon and Lake Powell – it was tempting to double count to increase my total number, but I just can’t handle the dishonesty!)

For once, this update isn’t about a new page that I’ve created. (Although I added a bunch of maps to both Cuyahoga Valley Maps as well as Yosemite Maps.) Instead, I’m sharing a random chart that might interest no one but myself, but I was curious enough to create it so I figured I might as well share it.

Below you see the number of park maps I’ve uploaded since I created my site in October 2013. Not surprisingly, you see a huge jump at the beginning, as I created many pages all at once. I continued slowly adding during spring of 2014, and then you notice about a year of nothing – life got busy! In early 2015 I added a few more, and then again in August 2015. And you’ll see that now, at the beginning of 2016, I’ve renewed my dedication and have zoomed past both the 500 and 600 marks; I’m currently at 677 total maps. (I keep a count on the site home page.)

Anyway, nothing too profound I realize, but I had fun checking out the numbers all the same. Thanks for humoring me!

I have a new update for you of another three parks – two national monuments and a national seashore. I find right now I’m still picking away at the coasts, but realize I still have lots to do in the middle of the country. The California list is especially getting long; if you check out the List by State page you’ll see no other state comes anywhere near California so far. Let me know by leaving a comment down below or contact me if you have a request for what you’d like to see next.

My second recent addition of a park featuring the word “Devil” – four maps on the Devils Postpile Maps page are live. Next to add some maps of the nearby Ansel Adams Wilderness…

As promised earlier, I got some more work on the Atlantic coast with the five maps on my Cape Hatteras Maps page. There are still some more coastal parks coming up!

And a small but underrated park in northern California is now featured – check out the seven maps on the Lava Beds Maps page. Caves and lots of lava? Great park.

Thanks to everyone for using my site; in February I received over 12,000 page views for the first time in a single month. It’s been very gratifying to know people are finding me and are having an easier time planning their trip.

Since the previous update, I’ve found time to finish eight new pages of national park maps, including national seashores, national lakeshores, national monuments, and national recreation areas. I’ve also substantially added to a number of current pages (e.g., Channel Islands maps), but here I’ll just highlight the new ones in chronological order:

I’ve got seven maps on the Assateague Island Maps page – the first of many east coast beach parks to come (next expect some to the south in the Carolinas).

There’s also seven maps on the American Samoa Maps page. Parks covered on this site now range from American Samoa in the west to Virgin Islands in the east.

Six maps make up the Dry Tortugas Maps page, completing the south Florida trifecta with Everglades and Biscayne. Still more to come, though, such as Big Cypress.

There are only two Cabrillo Maps so far, but I wanted to get a page finished in the southwest corner of the contiguous U.S. (The state of California is pretty well-covered by now!)

Six maps are currently on the Indiana Dunes Maps page, fleshing out the Great Lakes park system a bit more (there’s also Apostle Islands, Isle Royale, and another listed below).

Of the seven maps on Boston Harbor Islands Maps, I really enjoy the illustrated ones of the specific islands – very unique in the realm of National Park Service map graphics.

The Pictured Rocks Maps page contributes eleven more maps to parks in the Great Lakes area. Sleeping Bear Dunes will be my next big project in the area.

Delaware Water Gap Maps bursts onto the scene with fourteen maps right-off-the-bat and marks the debut of any page in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.