[pct-l] GPS?

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Daniel,

I normally carry a basic little 3.3 ounce GPS receiver, not because it’s
really required, but mostly because I admire the technology so much.  One
disadvantage of today’s high-tech life is that it reduces one’s amazement
level to practically zero, particularly for anyone under 30 years of age.  Via
useful and entertainment technology everything is assumed to be possible,
and when a GPS receiver generates a location in 1 minute, 22 seconds
accurate to about 15 feet some people grimace, and wonder why it doesn’t
take just 4 seconds with an accuracy to an inch.

I don’t use a mapping GPS because I carry HalfMile’s maps anyway, and don’t
need the duplication, additional weight, and cost.  The little GPS only has
memory for 500 waypoints, but I edit the waypoint list down to just what I
need rather than having a complete crumb-trail the entire way.  I load
waypoints for places that may be useful rather than one for every 0.5 miles
across the desert.  I select points for water sources, some road crossings,
a few trail junctions, mountain passes, river crossings maybe, and little
else.  I have several of the little GPSs so if I think I need more
waypoints I can load different sets in them and have the next one sent in
my resupply box with that section’s batch of maps.  However, if a user can
locate a current GPS location on a paper map, or read a location from the
map to load into the GPS, a preloaded waypoint isn’t really required.

If anyone is new to GPS navigation I suggest they begin learning with it,
and HalfMile’s maps, in UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) grid mode
rather than in the old degrees latitude/longitude grid mode.  For someone
who is just starting, it’s easier to learn the best way first rather than
have to un-learn and re-learn later.  The differences are a bit esoteric,
and I don’t want to try to take anyone to school in a short post, but
suffice it to say that UTM is easier and more accurate to use, particularly
with properly gridded maps like HalfMile’s.

Primarily what a GPS gives the user is a coordinate location, but that
alone won’t pass the all-important “So what?” test.  Without something to
relate to – like a map – that location might as well be on the moon.

GPS navigation skills that I find important are to be able to:

Use the GPS to find my UTM location.

Find that location on the map.

Determine the UTM coordinates of a map feature.

Enter those coordinates into the GPS as a waypoint.

Use the “GoTo” feature of the GPS to guide me to that point on the ground.

Additionally, just for fun I’ve recorded the GPS location of every one of
my PCT campsites since I began carrying the thing.  I also put those daily
camp coordinates on my TrailJournal pages.  I can open a file on my Natl.
Geo. TOPO! map program that shows every campsite waypoint named as a
date.  Being
able to do that interests me, but doing so may not interest anyone else.

I further suggest that anyone carrying a GPS actually learn to use the
thing.  Use it a lot at home.  Use it in the car.  Learn how to navigate
its MENU system.  Learn to trust it – sometimes a very difficult thing to
do.

“If you get lost it will be on ground between two adjoining maps...printed
at different scales.”  - Universal Military Quotes, Comments, and Axioms

“A GPS is superbly accurate at telling you its batteries are dead.”  -
Universal Military Quotes, Comments, and Axioms

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 2:47 PM, Daniel Salazar <techtravel7 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Is it necessary to have a GPS on the trail or is it just extra?
>