maps or not?

[D2maine]

Cell phones are handy devices. Want a compass? Use your phone. Want a map? Use Guthook. It all works until it doesn't. I found out two years ago on a winter day hike that almost turned into a very bad thing if I had left my paper map home. My phone was dead. I was able to find an escape route without doing something crazy like trying to bushwhack out.

winter day hike...this thread is referring to the AT in season...no you done NEED a map, the AT a hiking superhighway in a very thin veneer of "wilderness", but feel free free to carry one, its your pack.

unfortunately those most likely to need a map on the AT are the ones most likely not to know how to use one. i see it all the time with things like "carry a compass" but no idea how to use one at all. tools do a person no good whatsoever if they don't know how to use them.

[one-eyed guy]

I am a "always have paper maps" kind of guy, probably because I am a retired GI. Old school habits and all, but Maps, without the training and experience to use them, are expensive toilet paper. I have seen too many 2nd LTs with a map and compass that couldn't find their way out of a paper bag.

[RangerZ]

I am a "always have paper maps" kind of guy, probably because I am a retired GI. Old school habits and all, but Maps, without the training and experience to use them, are expensive toilet paper. I have seen too many 2nd LTs with a map and compass that couldn't find their way out of a paper bag.

What’s the most dangerous weapon in the US Army?

[Lone Wolf]

What’s the most dangerous weapon in the US Army?

in the Marine Corps it's a Marine and his rifle

[egilbe]

What’s the most dangerous weapon in the US Army?

Its hazardous. 2nd Lt with a map or an E-5 with a compass

[Highland Goat]

To summarize the above four pages: ‘People who hike differently from me are stupid.’