Google added a new feature to their maps software that I noticed for the first time today. It’s called “Terrain” and shows very roughly the topography of an area using a grayscale overlay on the green-brown-sand-snow kind of color schemes. I think it’s really quite something and even though the satellite view is really the more important one in most situations there are reasons in which this map style teaches you something that the satellite map cannot. Namely how the mountain ranges link together. Where the mountains “end” etc. I of course looked first at what kind of terrain we were going to be tackling on the bike ride next summer.

The first 4 or so days of the ride are going to be tough ones. Tougher than I realized. I remembered Washington State in two pieces from the time I visited. #1, the peninsula and the beach, and then the big desert along the river. I was a bit surprised as well as excited that we get some serious mountains right off the start. I also found out that the week between Boise and Salt Lake City doesn’t actually have any passes, it’s probably net uphill but there’s no King of the Mtns Jersey to be won there. I had the impression that it would be a tough week but the route actually skirts the bottom of the Mtn Range near Boise. The satellite map shows a big irrigation district but I figured it was in the midst of some serious hills. I shouldn’t say that it won’t be bad because you never know about wind, bad weather or crappy roads, but it’s not terribly hilly from what I can tell.

The Going to the Sun Loop in Glacier National Park was one of the things I decided to look at as I remembered the satellite imagery to be a bit ambiguous last time I looked. I’ve only seen one side of it and since I’ve heard good things about doing the loop in a day (136 miles) I wanted to see what the other side was like. It’s much more easily understood with the terrain option and quite obvious which side of the mountains you’re on.