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•  The GE trick I've found most useful:  When interested in a certain specific feature or location, first place the cursor over that location then hold down the "Shift" key and then hold down the left mouse button.  A circle will appear around the "location of interest" - then moving the mouse forward/backward and left/right (while still holding the mouse button down - the "Shift" key can be released once you have the mouse button down) will tilt and rotate the view around that point.  I've found this very useful for easily orienting the terrain relative to to a specific feature -- for example orienting it so that I am looking directly along an ascending ridgeline -- to give a good sense of how the terrain varies in the area. 

•  To reset the orientation:  To quickly go from a tilted, rotated 3D view to a simple 2D view from directly overhead, with North at the top, just hit your keyboard's "r" key (mnemonic: "r" as in "reset"). 

•  Display the scale:  Note that a map scale can be displayed by checking "Scale Legend" under the "View" tab (all maps should have a scale!). 

•  Find a location by name:  You can "fly" Google Earth to many geographical features by typing a name such as "Cabezo Prieto" into the "Search/FlyTo" entry box.  Apparently this works for all features named on a USGS topo map.  Entering a partial name can also produce useful results, e.g. "Doolans Hole" is not in the database but will be found if entered because "Doolans Hole Creek" is in the database.  Adding ", CA" will limit the results to California.  And entering a latitude+longitude (in a format known to GE) will "fly" GE to that location. 

•  Other background maps:  Very useful overlays of Google Maps, Google Terrain, and several other geographic overlays, which can be displayed instead of the internal satellite images, can be obtained by downloading and opening the "Network Link" available at Google Earth Map Overlays.  Particularly useful for orientation and obtaining geographic information such as geographic names.  This takes a bit of setup, but I've found the additional background maps at times invaluable! 

•  Additional info:  Note that if in the "Layers" sidebar tab you check "More" that enables its subtab "USDA Forest Service" (under the "Parks/Recreation Area" subtab) which displays the official USFS campground locations and boundary lines.  That will be confusing since the Big Sur Trailmap displays the same features, so if you need to check the "More" Layers sidebar tab you should uncheck one of those subtabs (unless you want to know where the USFS thinks the camps are - their icons are green tents named "Campground"). 

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