Over the last couple months I have created an entirely new base layer for my maps using newer USGS digital data to replace the ancient scanned paper topo maps I was originally using. I now have total control over what is on the map and how it looks, though I have mimiced the styling of the USGS National Map.
The new look is much cleaner, more attractive, and should be much more usable. I have refreshed all of the maps I publish here (except 2 that are in progress) and as always, they can be downloaded, printed, and distributed all you want at no charge.
The Compulsive Hiker 
I love your maps, I’m curious if you could share more about what all went into your base layer.
I gathered the datasets for the area I wanted to cover and loaded it into local databases. Contours data, for instance, comes in files that each cover an area of 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude. I got the 9 files to cover the Ouachitas and Arkansas Ozarks and combined all the data into one database. When I need to do a map for any other areas I’ll have to get more data and merge it.
The Hydrography data is split up by watershed so I got the entire Arkansas River dataset and the Ouachita River & lower Mississippi River dataset and combined them in one database. That covers a lot more area than I need but it’s simpler than trying to get more selective.
Dealing with roads was something I struggled with for a long time because there are multiple sources for the data: Federal gov, State of Arkansas, US Forest Service, and even National Park Service. They all differ in format, age, quality, and completeness. My final solution was to create my own roads database and copy the roads I want for an area from whichever source seems best.
I end up with 6 layers of data. From top to bottom they are Labels, Roads, Boundaries, Hydrography, Contours, Land Cover.
I developed styling for each layer to mimic the USGS National Map. It was created by professionals and is probably better – and more familiar-looking – than anything I could invent from scratch.
Thanks, now I’m off to continue researching publicly available data. Thankfully there’s lots available.
For Arkansas stuff, start at https://gis.arkansas.gov/ and for the USGS National Map stuff https://apps.nationalmap.gov/datasets/. USFS has some interesting and useful stuff at https://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/
You have the best maps of the OHT I’ve ever seen, they were great on my last section. Thanks for putting together and sharing!
You’re welcome! I’m glad to hear they were useful.