There are 500 miles of trails in the Santa Monica mountains, and Tom Harrison has hiked, biked and ridden by horseback on each of them. On Saturday, Harrison, a noted cartographer, discussed the process of map making and imparted his unparalleled knowledge of the Santa Monica Mountains to a crowd of more than 35 people at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Known as a “master map maker,” Harrison has been making maps for more than 27 years and has 66 maps currently in print. Harrison began his career as a California State Park Ranger and owns a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geography.
“People would always come up to me [as a park ranger] and ask me where they could get a good map,” Harrison said. “And I thought to myself, there’s a business here somewhere—making maps for parks.”
Harrison’s first map was of Angel Island State Park, near San Francisco, where he used to be a park ranger. He said the map wasn’t the best, but it was the only one of its kind. He kept practicing and making better maps until it turned into a business.
“I love parks, I love hikes and I love maps,” Harrison said. “I combined all the things that I like to do, what no one else was doing and started a business, a niche.”
Harrison does all the research for his maps himself. To make the maps, he would hike with a measuring wheel and when he would find a new trail, he would plug it on a map. The first map of the Santa Monica Mountains was of Topanga State Park. While doing his research in the 1990s, a 1980 map was the latest map he had to work with.
“The Santa Monica Mountains is very complicated and a mapmaker’s nightmare,” Harrison said. “There are so many different jurisdictions and rules. You have to do a lot of research to make a map. Back in the day there was no Internet to just download something.”
Harrison said he understands that there is a changing digital world today, and he has digitized almost all his maps. He has more than 80 apps available for Androids, iPhones and iPads. All the maps are geo-reference pdfs so that the maps work without Internet connection. There is a gps button on it, where a blue dot will show you where you are if you get lost, Harrison said.
“All you need is a Smartphone and battery life,” Harrison said. “The maps have a ‘place marks’ feature so that if you find a good fishing place, you can mark it and bring your friends next time.”
In the crowd listening to Harrison speak was 62-year-old hiking enthusiast Dave Pearlman who hikes three to four trails a week. He recently completed a 20-mile hike along Mendenhall Ridge Road and described the views as incredible. He has hiked almost all of the trails on Harrison’s maps.
“I’ve been purchasing Tom Harrison’s maps for the past five to 10 years,” Pearlman said. “I came here to meet him in person and hear what he has to say.”
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Store & Events Manager Sophia Wong invited Harrison to speak at the event on Saturday because his maps are consistently one of the top-selling products in the store. Harrison spoke to a full house during two separate sessions.
“His maps are a very popular item and park visitors showed great interest in having him here,” Wong said.
It is hard to rank 500 trails, but Harrison does confess to having a favorite hike in the Santa Monicas. That would be the Piuma Trail, which connects to Saddle Peak in Malibu Canyon Road and Stunt Road. The creeks, vegetated area and different biological environments make it “absolutely beautiful,” Harrison said.
His advice for hikers setting out to hike a long trail is to take water, a good map, protection from the sun, food and a good hiking partner. But, most importantly to let someone know where you’re going and when you’ll be back.
“Things happen and you don’t want to worry people who care about you,” Harrison said.
He’s explored, discovered and mapped many trails, but has he ever gotten lost himself?
“I’ve never been lost,” Harrison said. “I’ve been confused several times, but never lost.”
To learn more about Tom Harrison and his maps, visit www. tomharrisonmaps.com.
