Trail Bandit Guide To the Hiking Trails Of St. John, Virgin Islands

• Convenient … A concise an accurate trail guide, that folds to fit easily in your pocket.
• Durable …Made of water resistant and tear resistant paper
• High Tech …Includes GPS Waypoints

About the Trail Bandit

Gerald, Mary and the Trail Bandit on the Old Tektite Road

On January 18, we received the following e-mail from Bob Garrison aka “The Trail Bandit.”

Dear Sir,
I am working on a hiking map of St. John to replace the one that is passed out by the National Park Service as that map is incomplete and not of much use. My goal is to produce a map that has all the hiking trails on the island, is printed in enough different colors that a newcomer can tell what is what, provide sufficient trail descriptions, printed in a size large enough to show detail and small enough to fold up and fit in your pocket and not be cumbersome to get out on a windy day. The map is to be printed on paper and with ink that are water resistant enough to last through a few days use with a shower or two. Last but not least, the map should be free, so people will actually use it.
I have walked the major trails on the island with a GPS and recorded this information on the ST. John topographic map. I will return to St. John at the end of February to complete the GPS mapping work and include more of the minor trails. If possible, I would like to meet with you and get your comments and suggestions.
Thank You
Robert Garrison

At first, the idea seemed preposterous. Could he really do this? And give it away free? Was this for real?

Well folks, the Trail Bandit is for real, and God willing, local and visiting trail aficionados we’ll be taking advantage of his incredible new map in the next few months.

Bob lives in New Hampshire USA where he has a small farm and small airport. He’s famous locally for his pumpkins, which he incidentally gives away for free. He flies a single engine Italian fighter trainer, which Bob says, “does anything you ask of it; fly upside down, loop de loops, pirouettes…”

And he’s serious about his St. John maps. He obtained the original Oxholm map of 1800, which he has scanned in high resolution, he bought the Geodesic Survey aerial photo series of St. John from the 1950s and he’s been in the field taking his GPS waypoints.