To use summer trail maps designed by Alan Crockett go to www.idahoalpineclub.org
The juniper is so large, Alan Crockett can’t wrap his arms around it. He’s leaning on it instead. It’s a significant moment for him. He’s looking at Idaho’s oldest juniper. It’s in the middle of somewhere close to nowhere and not many people can find it, but Crockett can and he doesn’t have to stop to ask for directions. He makes his own.
“I don’t know why I enjoy doing what I’m doing, but I think it’s useful,” says Crockett, age 69. “One of the cheap things you can do for recreation is provide maps.”
Crockett retired from the Idaho National Laboratory 15 years ago, but he never officially stopped working. He’s a mapmaker with 400 maps crafted by his coordinates using a GPS unit that takes a good beating.
“As I was walking along on lava rock, I tripped a little bit and the GPS unit fell out of my hat,” he says. “It bounced on the lava rock and never stopped running.”
The move toward mastering maps developed shortly after retiring from the site. Crockett was on a rescue mission near Kelly Canyon with the Nordic ski patrol. A skier died after wandering way off grid. The trail maps did little to help the crew navigate the area causing delays Crockett didn’t want to deal with again.
“I came up with a map and Madison County agreed it was better,” he says. “They printed 5,000 copies of it and they’re still using it today.”
Now several ranger districts use maps made by Crockett. So do a few cities, state parks and off-road trail systems.
“I’m enjoying it,” Crockett says. “The maps are getting out some place where they can be used and I think I’m making a difference.”
Over the years, he’s only earned money on a few of his maps, enough to replace his GPS unit and buy software every now and then, but money is not the point. Map making is.
“There are more professional people out there, but I do what I can with what I have and it’s a lot better than what’s available,” Crockett says “If someone else was producing better maps that were available to the public for free then I could retire, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.”
As for Idaho’s oldest juniper, it’s 650 years old. It has a circumference of 11 feet and it is somewhere west of Aberdeen. Crockett estimated its location within 80 feet before he actually hiked to it. Now he has a map for that too.