How to protect your map while hiking

To prevent a paper map from being torn by strong winds, from becoming soggy in the rain, and from fraying on the folds during a hike, it needs to be protected. Some people hide the card in a plastic file, others use a tablet, but I don’t really like these methods. After all, I mainly need a map for viewing large spaces, and not for contemplating a small “working” fragment - I successfully view it on a small GPS screen. That's why I don't like hiding cards in tablets. I laminate them using regular transparent tape. Here's how it happens:

Of course, this method of protecting cards has its drawbacks:

• the gluing process is very slow and requires attention
• a card laminated with tape becomes very heavy
• tape does not provide 100% protection from moisture, it can seep through the seams
• at the end of gluing the sound of the tape being torn off is very annoying

But the card turns out to be practically indestructible. And what’s important is that such lamination costs very little - a roll of wide tape is enough for 3-4 cards.

What are the alternatives? Firstly, you can initially buy a plastic card or a factory-laminated card. They cost more than usual (sometimes twice as much), but in the end we have a good gain in weight. Secondly, you can laminate the card for money at some copy center. True, for such an operation you will most likely need to first cut the card into sheets (slightly larger than A4), and after lamination, glue them back with tape.