Trail Tracks Hiking Maps.Estes Park entrepreneurs and hiking buddies Fran Grooters and Joan Van Horn recognized a demand for "easy-to-use references for hiking," but didn't launch Trail Tracks until a skiing trip in 1992. "We were looking at a downhill skiing map and thought it would be perfect," said Grooters. The pair tracked down the map's artist, James Niehues James Niehues is a resort and panoramic illustrator. Having done roughly 75% of the "large resorts", most of Niehues' business comes from custom mapmaking. His large format watercolor paintings are hand painted and airbrushed to reveal the fine details of the natural landscape. , and commissioned a hiking map of Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National ParkNational park, north-central Colorado, U.S. Established in 1915 and enclosing part of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, the park has an area of 262,191 acres (106,105 hectares). , complete with color-coded trails and a key with mileages and elevation changes. Fourteen years later, there are seven hiking maps in the Trail Tracks catalog: Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion and Yosemite national parks, as well as Utah's Wasatch Front The Wasatch Front (Or Greater Wasatch) is an urban area in the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from approximately Santaquin in the south to Brigham City in the north. and Colorado's Indian Peaks wilderness The Indian Peaks Wilderness is a wilderness area in north central Colorado managed by the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest. The wilderness area borders Rocky Mountain National Park to the north, and the James Peak Wilderness to the south, and straddles the Continental Divide. areas. Grooters commended Niehues' images for the company's growth: "He's able to take a 2-D medium and make a 3-D visualization." About $10 retail. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Made by Trail Tracks Hiking Maps (a partnership), Estes Park, (888) 875-8757, www.trailtracks.com. Available at sporting goods Noun 1. sporting goods - sports equipment sold as a commodity commodity, trade good, good - articles of commerce sports equipment - equipment needed to participate in a particular sport and book retailers throughout Colorado. |
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