For over a decade I’ve been using Jack Glendening’s amazing Big Sur Trailmap resource. This has allowed me to better understand trail conditions in Big Sur.
One thing that has bothered me is that there is no way to incorporate the trail network conditions into Gaia. I wrote a python script that scrapes the Big Sur Trailmap network. Every Sunday this script updates the GPX file linked below.
This GPX file can be imported into Gaia GPS using the Gaia website. When you want to make an update, simply find and delete the old folder containing the ~520 tracks, and replace it with the new one that you’ve downloaded. Magic! You now have the entire trail network with conditions available to you in Gaia.
Jack has also setup a tile server, which allows you to download and view the campsites and streams as tiles in GPS (rather than waypoints). I have found this tile server to be useful as well. It lets me easily turn the layer on and off when in the area. Jack has information posted for how to setup the tile server in Gaia. Tile information is located here.
word of caution: I used this network to go backpacking in Big Sur in February of 2024, and there was a bug in the code, which marked “lost” trails incorrectly. This led to a bunch of miserable bushwhacking for me, and some fairly unsafe conditions. As such, use this at your own risk, and double check to make sure the trail conditions recorded align with what the official Big Sur Trailmap network suggests.
Contact me if there are any problems.