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  1. #1
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    Default Recommendation for GPS watch on the AT?

    I have been reviewing the latest GPS enabled watches on the market. Is there a watch where a family member could track your progress on the AT through its GPS capabilities? My Apple iPhone has the "Find My Friends" app but was useless as I could not receive a signal for about 90% of my recent Section Hike. Secondly, what would be your recommendation for a new gadget watch? ( I have a 6 year old Casio ProTrek and looking to upgrade.)

  2. #2

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    Unless you have a satellite subscription plan through Garmin or somebody else, you cannot be tracked by your family without a cell signal. The GPS on your phone can receive location information from the satellites without a subscription or a cell signal, but it doesn't transmit that info back to anybody. To do what you want, you would need a Garmin inReach, a plan that starts at around 12 bucks a month and then you'd connect your iPhone via an app to the inReach.

  3. #3
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    Thanks greatly for the reply! I will look into the inReach! I found where you can rent one for about $115 for two weeks and that may the direction I'm leaning to at this point.

    I Sectioned between Spivey Gap and Carvers Gap a couple of weeks ago and there weren't many folks out there. Thought it may be a good idea to have some visibility while out tenting alone. (I did see a few SOBO but not many.)
    Last edited by Captain Bluebird; 11-05-2019 at 15:11.

  4. #4
    Registered User John B's Avatar
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    If I may, and since we are fellow Kentuckians and can speak freely, I'd like to suggest an alternative -- to give your family member a copy of Stephen Ambrose's book, "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West" to read while you're out roughing it. If you're unfamiliar with the Lewis and Clark expedition, 1804-06, some 30 explorers set off from Missouri, crossed the continent to the Pacific, and returned, all with no casualties but for one poor soul who succumbed to appendicitis. Never done before. Just a remarkable journey told by a great writer.

    The connection to a GPS and staying in touch with maw? Well, before he left, Meriwether Lewis penned a letter to his mom, and I quote:
    "Fort Mandan, 1609 miles above the entrance of the Missouri. I feel the most perfect confidence that we shall reach the Pacific Ocean... You may expect me in Albermarle [County, VA] about the last of next September twelve months. I request that you give yourself no uneasiness with respect to my fate, for I assure you that I feel myself perfectly as safe as I should do in Albermarle, and the only difference between 3-4,000 miles and 130 is that I cannot have the pleasure of seeing you as often as I did while I lived in Washington."

    So I feel certain that if 30 people could cross the continent and back, hunting and fishing and gathering for supplies along the way, without maps, through hostile Native American tribes' territories, no supplies but for what they dragged with them, for nearly 2 years that included some really sh***y weather, yadda, then I'm equally sure that all of us today can make it on the Appalachian Trail and family members don't have to worry.

    But that's just my perspective. Regardless, have a nice walk.

  5. #5
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    Thanks for the reply fellow Kentuckian!

    Unfortunately, I will not be hiking with 30 people crossing the continent! When I am out on the trail by myself and with no-one within miles, thought it would give me a peace of mind to share with maw!

  6. #6

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    You can rent a SPOT Locator and set up tracking. I rented a GEN3 for 2 weeks at $125 including shipping to me and returns

  7. #7
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    If the GPS technology was available in 1804 would they have used it is the question ? Seems to me they used all the most modern equipment available them . They didn’t have down sleeping bags, Bic lighters, nylon, rubber, etc etc . Fun to think about.

    thom

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    As an European, I read about the Lewis&Clark Expedition just the other year and its a truely fascinating story.
    True, they did have the most advanced equipment available at thier time, and they even carried some new inventions that had never been tested in real environment (the airgun and the collapsible boat come to mind here - both didn't work as expected, though).
    But what made their success (bringing back all members but one) was their caring attitude towards each other and towards nature, it seems, and a tiny bit of luck.

  9. #9
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    Me wife, Maw, informed me that Meriwether Lewis suffered an unfortunate circumstance upon his return . Perhaps Maw desires the Captain to return back to civilization in a better state of mind! (BTW, we do have the book in our library and I shall pick it up for a good read. thx.)

    Mouser999, thanks for the SPOT advice. I will look into that suggestion!

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