View Full Version : "Death by GPS"
Mrs Baggins
02-05-2011, 10:32
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/30/3362727/death-by-gps-in-desert.html
I realize that this article is about the units that people have in their cars rather than the hand held type used for hiking, but it does mention hikers who have gotten lost, some still not found, who used them to get to remote areas apparently taking the wrong roads and then not being able to get out. Having camped in Death Valley in late June (tent trailer - no a/c) in 120 degrees, I do know what that heat feels like. Saw one backpacker come into the Panamint Springs cafe - his face was horribly blistered and blackened from the sun and he seemed almost catatonic.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-05-2011, 10:43
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/30/3362727/death-by-gps-in-desert.html
I realize that this article is about the units that people have in their cars rather than the hand held type used for hiking, but it does mention hikers who have gotten lost, some still not found, who used them to get to remote areas apparently taking the wrong roads and then not being able to get out. Having camped in Death Valley in late June (tent trailer - no a/c) in 120 degrees, I do know what that heat feels like. Saw one backpacker come into the Panamint Springs cafe - his face was horribly blistered and blackened from the sun and he seemed almost catatonic.
I use a hand held GPS in wilderness areas (especially when doing trail-less trekking) and a map and compass and I'm not dead and have never gotten lost because of a GPS ...But people have to blame something on their own ignorance...lol...I have gotten lost b4 the GPS, map and compass days (my use of em)
That's what happens when you forget to bring the SPOT.
4eyedbuzzard
02-05-2011, 10:49
Map, compass, navigation knowledge and skills, all seem to be becoming ignored more and more as technology advances. As an analogy I've been in the process automation / electrical field for 30 years. I used to see people routinely ignore lock-out / tag-out procedures and put themselves in harms way relying on nothing more than a safety limit switch to prevent a machine from starting up and killing or maiming them. Technology is never a substitute for knowledge and following proven practices, be they safety, navigation, or just plain old common sense.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-05-2011, 10:53
Map, compass, navigation knowledge and skills, all seem to be becoming ignored more and more as technology advances. As an analogy I've been in the process automation / electrical field for 30 years. I used to see people routinely ignore lock-out / tag-out procedures and put themselves in harms way relying on nothing more than a safety limit switch to prevent a machine from starting up and killing or maiming them. Technology is never a substitute for knowledge and following proven practices, be they safety, navigation, or just plain old common sense.
Well said Buzzard.....if using a GPS it should be used WITH a map and compass..never as a complete substitute...
Mrs Baggins
02-05-2011, 11:17
Well said Buzzard.....if using a GPS it should be used WITH a map and compass..never as a complete substitute...
Absolutely. My own grown kids, one working on an IT degree and with a Masters, cannot and will not learn to read maps. Once Mapquest debuted, that's what they relied on. And now it's GPS in the cars so they don't even have to read Mapquest. We happen to live on a street that does not exist on GPS units yet, or city maps, and it's a nightmare every time we need to have something delivered. Even though I tell the business that we are not listed and I give directions, I inevitably get the plaintive phone call from the truck driver: "I can't find you. You're not in my GPS." :mad:
Wise Old Owl
02-05-2011, 11:46
I will weigh in My GPS has dirt roads defaluted to on, and fastest route. This is how they come out of the box, most people don't even know whats under the Gear Icon or why its there. You need to know when to toggle the dirt road off and the shortest route from fastest route.
I had an interesting experience off roading in Central PA once.
Buzz Saw
02-05-2011, 12:04
As a private pilot I know the value of maps when navigating, but I have learned that if you don't know exactly where you are on the map at all times or your lost. From the air or in the woods one tree looks much like another. At least if your flying you can buzz a water tower and read the name if need be. In order to depend on the map you have to use it not keep it in your pack.
Shooting Star
02-05-2011, 12:39
Map, compass, navigation knowledge and skills, all seem to be becoming ignored more and more as technology advances. As an analogy I've been in the process automation / electrical field for 30 years. I used to see people routinely ignore lock-out / tag-out procedures and put themselves in harms way relying on nothing more than a safety limit switch to prevent a machine from starting up and killing or maiming them. Technology is never a substitute for knowledge and following proven practices, be they safety, navigation, or just plain old common sense.
People tend to get lazy and use technology to turn off
their brains. GPS, is really just another tool in the toolbox of things
you use to stay oriented. If you use map, compass, GPS, and plain
old looking around together, you should always know where you are
and what lies ahead.
The flying analogy is navigation by comparing what you see
out the window with maps (pilotage), computing courses, wind
triangles and flight times (dead reckoning), and electronic nav
aids (ADF,VOR,GPS etc). Any one of these approaches is enough
to pull off a flight on a nice day, but pilots are taught to blend
the methods and use one to cross-check the others.
And where I'm going with this all this is all the posts I see here
about people loading up their smartphones with weather, map and
compass apps as if that's all they need. Carry a map. Carry a compass.
Know how to use them. The smartphones are great to use at the
end of the day to check out weather, maps, for planning and
entertainment, but bring the older stuff along too and know how
to use it.
JaxHiker
02-05-2011, 19:38
People tend to get lazy and use technology to turn off
their brains. GPS, is really just another tool in the toolbox of things
you use to stay oriented. If you use map, compass, GPS, and plain
old looking around together, you should always know where you are
and what lies ahead.
Very true. I mostly like my GPS for plotting waypoints of interesting and/or potentially important info (nice vistas, water sources, potential campsites, etc). Folks who rely solely on technology are putting themselves at risk. To trust a GPS device completely is foolhardy.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-05-2011, 19:52
Even though I tell the business that we are not listed and I give directions, I inevitably get the plaintive phone call from the truck driver: "I can't find you. You're not in my GPS." :mad:
Another case of total dependence on technology strikes again..
Slosteppin
02-05-2011, 20:07
Very true. I mostly like my GPS for plotting waypoints of interesting and/or potentially important info (nice vistas, water sources, potential campsites, etc). Folks who rely solely on technology are putting themselves at risk. To trust a GPS device completely is foolhardy.
There is always a different opinion. I think to NOT trust a GPS, or even more a compass, is very foolish. I have done both and went the wrong way for a few miles each time. I also think that to absolutely depend on either one is just as foolish. GPS units can fail for many reasons. Even the old and usually dependable compass can fail. Though that is much less likely to happen.
I have carried a GPS on most outdoor activities for over 15 years. If I'm in a strange area I download the topo maps for the area I plan to hike. I also carry a map and a compass. The GPS is a nice tool but there is no way I would depend on it as my only navigation tool in a strange area. The most dependable tool is awareness of the area both in general and immediate.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-05-2011, 20:16
There is always a different opinion. I think to NOT trust a GPS, or even more a compass, is very foolish. I have done both and went the wrong way for a few miles each time. I also think that to absolutely depend on either one is just as foolish. GPS units can fail for many reasons. Even the old and usually dependable compass can fail. Though that is much less likely to happen.
I have carried a GPS on most outdoor activities for over 15 years. If I'm in a strange area I download the topo maps for the area I plan to hike. I also carry a map and a compass. The GPS is a nice tool but there is no way I would depend on it as my only navigation tool in a strange area. The most dependable tool is awareness of the area both in general and immediate.
Agreed. A GPS and / or a compass when properly used is much more trustworthy than our sense of direction..A GPS can fail when in deep canyons or under extremely heavy foliage but a compass will only lie if you read it backwards..(ask me how I know that one...lol..) or if you are holding it too close to your deer rifle or big buck knife..but that is "operator error." Not the fault of the instrument..
fiddlehead
02-05-2011, 20:32
Maps will be obsolete in a few years.
Get used to it Mrs Baggins.
it's the way of the future (GPS)
They will get better and better.
Already the newer ones do not lose signal in triple canopy jungle, have a longer battery life and take less and less time to start tracking.
Younger generation will not learn how to read a map just like yacht skippers these days don't know how to read a sextant. How many yacht owners do you know that even have one?
Skidsteer
02-05-2011, 20:55
Younger generation will not learn how to read a map just like yacht skippers these days don't know how to read a sextant. How many yacht owners do you know that even have one?
I don't even know any yacht owners....
LoneRidgeRunner
02-05-2011, 21:03
I don't even know any yacht owners....
I had a 18 foot bass boat..does that count?...:D
fiddlehead
02-05-2011, 22:14
You guys need to get out more.
Didn't anyone here get a wanderlust feeling after thru-hiking?
An craving for more adventure?
The AT got me started.
Now I even own a sextant just because i wanted to learn how to find my way in any situation. (it's very complicated by the way)
Lewis and Clark needed one.
Do you think they got to the west coast just with a magnet and piece of string?
18 years ago, i had the fortune to sail from Singapore to Western Australia (Broome) with a skipper who built his own yacht. He not only had a sextant, but once i asked about it, he started teaching me how to use one.
Younger generation will not learn how to read a map just like yacht skippers these days don't know how to read a sextant. How many yacht owners do you know that even have one?
<Shoots hand in the air> Me, me, I do!
I can tell you how to stay on the same line of latitude using just a stick too.
double d
02-05-2011, 22:43
Map, compass, navigation knowledge and skills, all seem to be becoming ignored more and more as technology advances. As an analogy I've been in the process automation / electrical field for 30 years. I used to see people routinely ignore lock-out / tag-out procedures and put themselves in harms way relying on nothing more than a safety limit switch to prevent a machine from starting up and killing or maiming them. Technology is never a substitute for knowledge and following proven practices, be they safety, navigation, or just plain old common sense.
Agree with you 100%. I think most people who like GPS are tech junkies (I"m not and don't own a GPS unit-hand held or in my Jeep) and/or lack the confidence and skill in map-compass-navigation skills and don't want to learn how to use the non-GPS skills. Thats just my opinion, but I'm sticking to it.
double d
02-05-2011, 22:47
Maps will be obsolete in a few years.
Get used to it Mrs Baggins.
it's the way of the future (GPS)
They will get better and better.
Already the newer ones do not lose signal in triple canopy jungle, have a longer battery life and take less and less time to start tracking.
Younger generation will not learn how to read a map just like yacht skippers these days don't know how to read a sextant. How many yacht owners do you know that even have one?
Fiddlehead, I've been hearing folks make the same arguement for over 10 years now from many hikers like yourself, but I don't agree with you, as nothing will replace map-compass-land navigation skills. Just my opinion.
4eyedbuzzard
02-05-2011, 22:50
I don't even know any yacht owners....
Well Skidrow, old boy, most of you hiker types wouldn't. Chin up. Society needs all you little people too. :rolleyes: :D
I don't even know any yacht owners....
Quite a few years back I dated a woman whose father was a former priest (and the mother was a former nun..I sh** you not. I'd love to know that story) and owned a boat.
Wasn't a yacht..but was a small sailboat.
The boat was called VATICAN III.
As I said, the father was a former priest...
Has jack **** to do with this thread. But I do love to tell that story... :D
4eyedbuzzard
02-05-2011, 23:25
Did you say something?
fiddlehead
02-06-2011, 00:20
Fiddlehead, I've been hearing folks make the same arguement for over 10 years now from many hikers like yourself, but I don't agree with you, as nothing will replace map-compass-land navigation skills. Just my opinion.
Did you know anyone that had a GPS installed in their car or telephone 10 years ago?
Do you now?
I rest my case.
ps. Do you happen to remember when gas stations gave out free maps?
Do you know of any now that do this?
Fiddlehead, I've been hearing folks make the same arguement for over 10 years now from many hikers like yourself, but I don't agree with you, as nothing will replace map-compass-land navigation skills. Just my opinion.
I want to agree with you. Until technology is bomb-proof, and batteries don't fail, prudent hikers will go out with map and compass.
We were sailing from the Chesapeake to Michigan several years ago, and met a group that was taking a trawler in our direction. He had a sophisticated chart-plotter with GPS that showed where he was, his track, vectors acting on the boat ... Except that a lightning storm took it all out. Not being a prudent captain, he had no charts on board. Fortunately, he had a guest who was also a pilot with a Rand McNally Road Atlas, and he was able to do some very rough dead reckoning ... They were lucky to have not run aground.
Course it could get a lot worse for someone who's lost in the backcountry when the sun goes down ...
Walkintom
02-06-2011, 08:10
Depending on GPS entirely without having any sort of maps or mapping skills is kind of dumb.
One thing that I have noticed in my travels is that the GPS signal is sometimes deliberately skewed for security purposes. President coming to your town today? You may show up several blocks over from your actual location on your GPS.
Well, if we get one more 911 style attack and GPS is used as part of a targeting solution, that may be all it takes to make GPS unavailable.
GPS is highly convenient but it sure is nice to have a redundant tool o fall back on if that signal suddenly goes away or becomes inaccurate. Just my opinion, of course.
<Shoots hand in the air> Me, me, I do!
I can tell you how to stay on the same line of latitude using just a stick too.
I just noticed where you are from. I have a sailboat that was built in your hometown.
the judge
02-06-2011, 09:48
I grew up in the back woods, constantly wondering off from home and always finding my way back. I had a great sense of direction before I ever considered picking up a map. my family vacationed a lot by car out west too. doesn't take much, if you pay attention, to figure out how to read a map from the back seat of a station wagon. I cant stand trying to follow a gps half the time. electronic british woman screaming at me to make a U turn when possible because the road I'm on isn't on the gps yet. I use gps in my antique truck when the speedometer goes out for obvious purposes. as for not being able to find a free map at a gas station, try to find one with free coffee. Nothing is free anymore, even if it says free there is a catch.
double d
02-06-2011, 11:03
Did you know anyone that had a GPS installed in their car or telephone 10 years ago?
Answer: Yes-started seeing hand held GPS technology about ten years
ago
Yes-started seeing installed GPS in cars about ten years ago,
maybe even a little longer then that. but not much so.
Do you now?
Answer: Yes, of course
I rest my case.
Answer: And this proves what?????????
ps. Do you happen to remember when gas stations gave out free maps?
Do you know of any now that do this?
Answer: No, you're 18 years older then me, so I don't remember them, but paper-fold out maps about the size of someone's living room floor are not functional during any period of time (I remember my dad using them back in the day while we took family camping trips to Wisconsin in the 1970's).
double d
02-06-2011, 11:08
Quite a few years back I dated a woman whose father was a former priest (and the mother was a former nun..I sh** you not. I'd love to know that story) and owned a boat.
Wasn't a yacht..but was a small sailboat.
The boat was called VATICAN III.
As I said, the father was a former priest...
Has jack **** to do with this thread. But I do love to tell that story... :D
Mags: did you ever tell the former priest and his wonderful former nun wife that you might have used a "GPS device" on their daughter/your former girlfriend while traveling on their sailboat commonly known as the VATICANIII? Sorry, doesn't have jack**** to do with this thread, but its an interesting question from your wild youthful days;)
For some men, the real danger of relying on a GPS will come at the business end of a knife. I'm gonna kill him if he yells at me again for not doing what the GPS says when I already know the way.
4eyedbuzzard
02-06-2011, 11:34
I must admit that I have gotten "turned around" a few times, where a GPS would have been very helpful. Most notable / humorous was getting lost in the woods behind my own house in Lyman, NH. Light was fading, thick woods, not paying attention, etc. Pretty embarrassing. Finally found my way out but I had walked straight through in the wrong direction to another road about 2 miles away.
If you've never, ever, been "turned around", you've probably never been out in the woods much.
]Mags: did you ever tell the former priest and his wonderful former nun wife that you might have used a "GPS device
Wasn't it Loran in 1997? :)
Still jack **** to do with this discussion....
Off to go ski. Still jack **** to do with this discussion..but it is fun.
]~
Wasn't it Loran in 1997? :)
I used a GPS on a delivery from Maine to Florida in 1993.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-06-2011, 12:59
<Shoots hand in the air> Me, me, I do!
I can tell you how to stay on the same line of latitude using just a stick too.
Well, that can walk you all the way around the world in easterly or westerly direction but what do you do about the longitude? Do you have time to walk 25,000 miles to find yourself?
double d
02-06-2011, 13:16
]Mags: did you ever tell the former priest and his wonderful former nun wife that you might have used a "GPS device
Wasn't it Loran in 1997? :)
Still jack **** to do with this discussion....
Off to go ski. Still jack **** to do with this discussion..but it is fun.
Mags, are you gonna use a GPS device (attached to the front of your ski) while sking? Doesn't have jack**** to do with our topic, but....its a cool question:D
wrongway_08
02-06-2011, 13:39
You might be a red-neck if ........
I had a 18 foot bass boat..does that count?...:D
Rain Man
02-06-2011, 14:39
I think people who use GPS's constantly and/or excessively are simply trying to justify the money they spent on a toy. I was with a friend recently, who wouldn't leave any parking lot without plugging in, setting up, firing up, fastening, and fiddling with his GPS, even though we had already been to where we were going nearby a few days before AND I knew more than one way to get there. GEEZ.
I also think GPS use for some is like folks who rely on calculators for everything, to the point they can't add 6 plus 8 or multiply 7 times 9 in their own heads anymore, and automatically whip out a calculator. GEEZ.
Rain:sunMan
.
I used a GPS on a delivery from Maine to Florida in 1993.
Good to know. I have never been, nor claim to be, a nautical person.
As I said, I have a vague recollection of people who did sail back then mentioning Loran in the early-mid 90s. ( I grew up in RI). GPS may have been too $$$$ for the recreational boater back then so not in widespread use vs commercial?
But, again, I readily admit my ignorance of nautical issues be it recreational or commercial (which I suspect adopted GPS at different rates?)
Mags, are you gonna use a GPS device (attached to the front of your ski) while sking? Doesn't have jack**** to do with our topic, but....its a cool question:D
AH! Now I can truly make it relate to this thread.
I use map and compass... even in winter! :)
I have a GPS in my map box. Haven't used in quite some time. (Even on the CDT)
I still say a GPS is useless if you don't know how to read a map. All a GPS tells is WHERE you are.
It does not tell you where you are in relation to the terrain, what is up ahead, how to get around a canyon, how steep an upcoming climb may be, etc. If you can read a map, you know this info.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/30/3362727/death-by-gps-in-desert.html
I realize that this article is about the units that people have in their cars rather than the hand held type used for hiking, but it does mention hikers who have gotten lost, some still not found, who used them to get to remote areas apparently taking the wrong roads and then not being able to get out. Having camped in Death Valley in late June (tent trailer - no a/c) in 120 degrees, I do know what that heat feels like. Saw one backpacker come into the Panamint Springs cafe - his face was horribly blistered and blackened from the sun and he seemed almost catatonic.
A lady at out cross-country ski class this weekend told of being directed to a road through a pass in Vermont one winter only to realize that it was only plowed half way through. Six miles later, she was back to the main road, trying to figure out how to get to the other side of the ridge. :rolleyes:
Mrs Baggins
02-06-2011, 20:04
When we went to Scotland in 2008 we could have rented a GPS for the car. Instead I had already purchased the road maps put out by Ordinance in the UK. Because we had those we could find castles, streams, rivers, tiny villages, castles, and more that the GPS would not have shown us. All it would have done was send us on to our the town we'd be spending the night in. Wow. Great fun. I'll keep using really good PRINTED maps for as long as they're available. We have a GPS for our cars - you have to keep asking it to find things that you want to see. The map already shows it. Real maps 1, GPS 0. Because we could read the maps we never got lost finding our way to any of the towns.
I think people who use GPS's constantly and/or excessively are simply trying to justify the money they spent on a toy. I was with a friend recently, who wouldn't leave any parking lot without plugging in, setting up, firing up, fastening, and fiddling with his GPS, even though we had already been to where we were going nearby a few days before AND I knew more than one way to get there. GEEZ.
Yeah, that guy will probably end up at the business end of some kind of blunt or sharp object wielded by a woman who finally couldn't take it anymore.
And don't get me started on people who can't count change.
gps is no good man, read maps, use a compass. batteries die bro
Mrs Baggins
02-06-2011, 20:30
gps is no good man, read maps, use a compass. batteries die bro
Amen my brother. Amen.
mweinstone
02-06-2011, 20:34
dont use map ,compass ,gps, dead reakoning,sexton,star chart, nomogram,guidebook,written directions or word of mouth.
aint been found yet. like being lost. its what i know.
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 01:03
I used to have this employee who I found out could not read a paper map. She was out making deliveries for me and something happened to her GPS unit in her car.
She called me up in a panic out on a $800 delivery saying her GPS has died, and that she could not find the customers house.
I told her that paper maps were in the glove compartment, but she wanted me to direct her by phone to her house so she could grab the GPS from her parents car!
I told her just use the paper maps, but she started to cry (!) and said she did not know how to use them. :eek::eek::eek:
As this was one of my regular customers, I drove to her and basically took over the delivery.
Afterward, I informed her that she had to learn how to use paper maps in case her GPS fails, and that I would give her a little test in 2 weeks. Instead, SHE got angry at me for 'forcing' her to learn 'obsolete' technology, and she quit on the spot. :confused:
Lesson learned? I now personally make sure all my hires can read and USE paper maps, and the younger the hire is, the more scrutiny I give them.
Amazing, and I am only 33. She was 19.
I just noticed where you are from. I have a sailboat that was built in your hometown.
S2?
Holland's a town with a great boat-building tradition, most of which has passed into history. S2 no longer builds sailboats, just big-ole stinkpots.
The S2 was the first large keel boat I sailed ...
S2?
Holland's a town with a great boat-building tradition, most of which has passed into history. S2 no longer builds sailboats, just big-ole stinkpots.
The S2 was the first large keel boat I sailed ...
S2, indeed.
Now we know: you have a pizza shoppe and deliver pizzas. Is it a franchise or a family business?
Well, that can walk you all the way around the world in easterly or westerly direction but what do you do about the longitude? Do you have time to walk 25,000 miles to find yourself?
Yep, longitude was the trick ... Sexton's with good chronometers provided that piece of the puzzle ...
double d
02-07-2011, 07:26
GPS is fine to use in cars/homes or just to tinker around with, but they really can be a problem on the AT in that their weight is too much and they can fail.
fiddlehead
02-07-2011, 08:00
In 30-40 years, the whole working generation will be like her.
And they won't be using maps.
Mrs Baggins
02-07-2011, 08:53
In 30-40 years, the whole working generation will be like her.
And they won't be using maps.
I don't think that's something to be proud of or look forward to. :mad:
As for the story of the delivery chick that freaked over being told to read a map, I absolutely believe it. When my daughter was 21 she got lost coming here from Baltimore (and that's darn hard to do) and called me up screaming and sobbing. When I calmly said "You have got to learn to look at maps" that just generated more screaming and sobbing and demands to tell her how to get here. I keep maps/atlases in all of our cars.
fiddlehead
02-07-2011, 08:58
I live in Thailand where it's rare to meet a Thai person who knows how to read a map.
If they want to travel, they get on a bus.
They are afraid to venture out on their own.
However, now that GPS's are in most cars, they are much more adventurous in travelling.
So, it's not all bad.
A few years ago, I would agree with most of what you are saying. But I've seen these things happen in this next (young) generation and believe the future will be much different than ours.
I have to confess to being a map nut. I have maps from most of the places I have ever traveled to. I love to be able to get them out to plan trips either by foot or car. I never used to think I would ever need a gps. That was until a few years ago while hiking near Cumberland Gap. A group was hiking into an unfamiliar area in the fog on a mountain try to find a bearing by compass. It was impossible because the compass was giving unusual readings any way you hiked. I found out later that iron ore was nearby and giving us false readings. That is when I found the usefulness of a gps. It is another navigational tool that I use when needed. That is all it should be. I would not depend on it 100% just like I would not depend on a compass 100%. HYOH and use your method that you trust.
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 13:04
I don't think that's something to be proud of or look forward to. :mad:
As for the story of the delivery chick that freaked over being told to read a map, I absolutely believe it. When my daughter was 21 she got lost coming here from Baltimore (and that's darn hard to do) and called me up screaming and sobbing. When I calmly said "You have got to learn to look at maps" that just generated more screaming and sobbing and demands to tell her how to get here. I keep maps/atlases in all of our cars.
Oh it is 100% true. She did not know how to use a paper map!
She was representing high value clients for my business, and SHE COULD NOT EVEN LOCATE THEM VIA A PAPER MAP. :mad::mad::mad:
Ladytrekker
02-07-2011, 13:08
I just got my new Garmin GPSMAP 60csx and am vigorously trying to learn how to use it. I always carry a map and a compass but wanted the technology that the GPS can offer. It is pretty cool from what I learned from it so far. Am going to try it out this weekend.
WisconsinHiker2011
02-07-2011, 13:11
I just got my new Garmin GPSMAP 60csx and am vigorously trying to learn how to use it. I always carry a map and a compass but wanted the technology that the GPS can offer. It is pretty cool from what I learned from it so far. Am going to try it out this weekend.
I am privy to new technology, and what I see on the drawings right now for the next generation GPS satellite candidates is VERY exciting.
Sadly, it will be at least 20 years before this fleet is in orbit.
Wise Old Owl
02-07-2011, 13:15
Mrs. Baggins - All GPS come with a pizza button and a separate castle button in Scotland. I have it on good authority......
I know enough about using a map and compass together that I could figure out about where I was and how to get out if I were to get lost. Mainly because I keep up with where I'm at as I move along - the books I've read call it "staying found" - a very good idea.
As I continue to learn to use my GPS I continue to be impressed with what it can do. It's very handy to load a route someone else has made into my GPS so that I'll know when I'm coming up on a campsite, water source, views, etc.
Snowleopard
02-07-2011, 15:41
I mostly agree with what others have said, bring map and compass and know how to use them and you'll be fine. Sometimes that's not good enough.
GPS with map: There was a fatality on Blackhead in the Catskills last winter, during a blizzard (my recollection was that 6 feet of wet snow from that storm with considerable snow already on the ground). Two hikers got lost in a place that would normally be hard to get lost. My best guess was that visibility was zero and the snow was so deep that they couldn't even tell if they were going up or down. If they had a GPS that incorporated a map they would have been fine -- they were close to their shelter, they just couldn't navigate to it.
Sometimes you know exactly where to go, you just can't do it. There was a case on Mt.Washington a few winters ago with a happier outcome. A Canadian couple got stuck in bad conditions above tree line; they made it to the emergency shelter at Lake of the Clouds. They knew exactly where they were, they knew where the trail they needed was. But, the wind was so strong that they couldn't walk the short distance they needed to go. Fortunately, they were well equipped and several days food and fuel.
My wife got me this cheesy car GPS that also included an HD radio (the real objective). It's fun sport trying to beat its routes - last weekend I had beat the GPSr's initial estimate on a 1hr 30min trip by a full 1:30 (it had called the trip 3 hr).
It gets revenge on me by draining the truck battery overnight when I forget to unplug it.
As far as hiking GPSr's, I had one 12 years ago, a Garmin GPS12. It did save my butt from a too-long trip in Ramsey's Draft Wilderness when it showed me going in the wrong direction down the wrong drainage from the top in a fog. When I got back to the trailhead I passed a kiosk, that I had hurried on past in my excitement to get on trail, that explained exactly how the official FS map was inaccurate.
Then I lost the GPS (it was black) in the netherworld under my truck seat, eventually bought a new modern GPS12XL, and promptly found the GPS12 under the seat.
After a little while I wound up with a GPSmap 60CSx, much more accurate, longer battery life, and with a nice tiny map on the screen. Fun little toy but never the only map, always paper in the pocket too.
Then I lost the GPS (it was gray) in the netherworld under my truck seat, eventually bought a new 76CSx, and promptly found the 60CSx under the seat.
I must be predictable.
hikerboy57
02-07-2011, 19:18
Ironically, on Survivorman last night, he brought a gps, left it on overnight and the battery went dead. no map no compass
Mrs Baggins
02-07-2011, 20:00
Ironically, on Survivorman last night, he brought a gps, left it on overnight and the battery went dead. no map no compass
I rest my case. :D
Funny story, ki0eh.
Next time you lose something, where are you gonna look first? :D