how to laminate a map

It is very important to have quality maps to help you navigate your hike (duh) and you want to take good care of them while on the trail. I've developed a way to use cheap contact paper to cover your paper map so it holds up to anything that might happen to it.  Other options include ordering a map that is already laminated, buying a plastic map case, or investing in a home laminator to use (all currently too expensive for me right now).

For our Isle Royale trip, instead of one map of the island, I printed 12 detailed ones from http://www.isleroyale.info/ and laminated those. I've had them printed for months but kept putting off protecting them because I'm sorta lazy and thought it would take forever..but today was a rainy-inside-kind-of-day and it had to be done.  Surprisingly, it only me about an hour to do all of them!  Thankfully if you are only doing one or two, it shouldn't take long at all!

so shiny!

Step One: Gather your materials.

• Map(s)
• Scissors
• Ruler or other straight object that can smooth the paper (I couldn't find a ruler so I used a wooden turtle bookmark)
• Roll of clear contact paper (easy to find at a craft store or big box store in the kitchen section)

Step Two: Cut your contact paper.  For each page cut two pieces of contact paper that are about 1/2 in. wider than the paper.  Think of the project as an oreo, the map is the cream filling and the two pieces of contact paper are the cookies sandwiching it together. =)

Step Three:  Carefully remove the backing from one of the sheets of contact paper and lay it sticky side up on the table.  Lay the map centered on top of the contact paper.  I found that the best way to prevent bubbles is to work from the bottom up and smooth it out as you lay it down.  Once its laid down, use the ruler to rub from one side to the other to remove any air bubble and make sure its stuck good!

Step Four: Carefully remove the backing from the other sheet and lay it sticky side down on top of the map.  Just like in step three, line it up carefully so it is centered and smooth it out from the bottom up.  Use the ruler again to make sure all the air is out and that the edges are sealed very well.

Step Five: Use the scissors to trim around the map, I left about 1/4 inch of contact paper all the way around.  Just to be safe, use the ruler one last time to make sure its really sealed, then its good to go!

Helpful tips:

• Since I had to make a dozen of these guys, I cut all the contact sheets first and piled them up.
• Some of them were still sort of rounded after laminating so I just put a heavy book on them to flatten them out.

 Hope you find this tutorial useful! I wonder if there are any other helpful backpacking uses for contact paper?...