national parks tour -- gpx files

#1
I am considering a National Parks Tour for 2018. I have been reading up and researching this for a few months now. I've discovered a number of forums and websites that have lots of info for the naive, such as myself. I have yet to find that one comprehensive, exhaustive database containing all stamp locations. But that is what I'm seeking to find. The NPS produces a PDF at https://www.eparks.com/store/content/863/Passport-Cancellation-Locations/ entitled Passport Cancellation Locations. I believe that to be titled in error because by going to some of the individual web pages of sites listed on that PDF, some of those individual web pages have indicated that stamps do not exist for some sites. Plus, the fine print at the start of the list says that there may be sites with stamps that are not printed on the PDF list either. However, that NPS PDF seems to be the closest to a list that I have found so far (but it is a PDF, not a GPX). POI factory, Traveler's Club, MTF and various forums do have references to various files, but no two have the same number of records. The NPS PDF appears to be the largest of any that I have discovered so far.

Does any one have or know of a comprehensive file with stamp location latitude and longitude, that is in electronic downloadable, or even PDF, form? For the few rallies and tours in which I have participated, there have always been files (printed or electronic) revealing the location of all bonus sites. Sure, no one can go to all, but revealing all of the sites allows the participant to choose stops and create a route. I was hoping that would be the case for the National Parks Tour.

Short of finding a lat/lon list of stamp locations, I have looked into converting that NPS PDF (inaccuracies and all) into what I seek, by hand. I did a test with a page of the PDF: highlight the site name, right click, select search google, open the NPS site and a Google Map of the site, read through the NPS info to determine location of the visitor center, get its lat/lon off Google Maps. The lat/lon and other pertinent info (address, name, phone, operating hours, etc...) are saved in an XLS file. I can convert that XLS to GPX by using GPSVisualizer and drop it all into BaseCamp. Only then do I get to start the fun part of creating my routes. If I have to continue this process of manually converting the PDF into an XLS file with lat/lon (and other features), I'll be at this for a couple of months just building the spreadsheet. Yeah, that's what winter is for but winter is also for preparing the bike -- which is my preferred activity.

Any help would be appreciated. Is that database that I seek really out there?
 

Greg Rice

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#2
I have a bunch of GPX and Excel files with all of the NPT locations. You can use these files to load into a mapping program like Basecamp or Streets & Trips.

Click on this link and it will show a list of files that you can download. Just right click on the ones you want and select save as.

http://www.gregrice.com/npt/
 

cacomly

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#4
Sometimes the stamps go missing. In most cases, the stamp is at the visitor center however that is not always the case. In DC most are in a small building on the mall. In large parks there may be two visitor centers and only one has the stamp.

I suggest joining one of the groups for the National Parks Stamp program. That is the best source for exactly where the stamps are, which are missing, etc.
 
#7
yes, I had joined the NPTC. They seem to have some databases there but I have not had time yet to digest them. One checklist you can use to keep track of your park stamps has 417 check boxes. One that is called a stamp "map" has 3,883 sites when I load it to BaseCamp. And after dropping off the off-shore sites I can't ride to (HI, Virgin Islands, Samoa, Guam) I counted 580 locations on the NPS PDF of sites listed by state. Hmmmm.
 
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cacomly

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#8
Sounds about right. The 2015 iron Butt Rally was a NPT in 11 days and there were 330 parks. Many were eliminated as they were not easily accessible by bike. I presume others were simply because they didn't want to have a large number of bonus locations at one spot