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[pct-l] RE: Aqua Dulce, PCTA Membership, GPS

	I visited Aqua Dulce in October, and the Century 21 office is still
there.  The phone number is available in the PCT mileage book, available
from the PCTA.  Or you can call the PCTA for the number.

	Of course, this assumes you are a PCTA member.  I would like to post
the idea that anyone who has the resources to do a thru-hike or section hike
of the PCT should feel compelled to join the PCTA.  Membership costs so
little, and does so much for the trail!  The trail you will be hiking
wouldn't exist without the PCTA, and the contributions of thousands of
volunteers and members.  Plus you get access to a wealth of information
about current trail conditions, like the phone number of the Aqua Dulce mail
drop.

	Regarding GPS on the trail, it is generally worthless.  I hiked with
one for 100 miles in the Sierras a few years ago.  Most of the time I
couldn't get a god fix because the mountains kept many of the satellites
below the horizon.  When if I did get a good fix, I had nothing to compare
the GPS to.  Maps and guidebooks aren't giving lats and longs in the
accuracy needed to make the thing worth carrying.  By the time the GPS has
told you you're lost, you've known it for hours.  Better to have a decent
compass, and know how to use it.

	The GPS did give accurate altitude data from peak tops, which was
interesting, but not critical knowledge.  I consider the thin more of a toy
than a tool on the trail.  In the dessert, where there is no trail, or
paddling across a huge lake, or sailing on a large body of water, is where I
would think GPS would be useful.
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