GPS? - Continental Divide Trail

imported
#1

I know there is no replacement for map and compass but can anyone tell me their experience involving GPS? use it alot? really needed? Use your map and GPS to confirm your decision? any thoughts would be appreciated.

Melon Man

#2

Well, I have several GPSs. My most recent purchase is a Garmin Map60CSX; a GPS that various maps can be loaded to and from. You can make landmarks, lay out routes for trips, and track where, how far/fast/when you get there. Just about everything. Its major pro is the map data you can use. I have Mapsource TOPO which lets you do about anything you want to the maps and then load them to the giz. And also send what the giz has done back to the computer. Like making your own maps if you want. Marking water drops or food caches, adding notes to the data. Also with this type you can zoom all around the world and see a larger, .2-500 miles, view of the area so you can see what’s nearby. Pretty handy, especially when naving in the dark. Can’t do that with a map very well. GPS has its place and would be useful on a remote trail. If it’s a basic unit you have, not a maping, you’ll need a map and know how to read the datum and enter coordinates on your GPS. Not hard, but a learning curve is present. Are they fun to use? Yup. Especially the maping kind. You could mark you’re whole CDT trip on it and walk out the door; towns, camp sites, water sources, beer halls, almost everything. Word; the maps, by Mapsource that I use, are not as detailed and sometimes oddly/funny wrong. But also have data that isn’t on the paper ones. If you’re asking directly about the CDT I’d get Jonathan Ley’s maps,

phlumf.com/travels/cdt/

and use a GPS of some type. Shoot me a mail, MM, if you have any more questions.

Bushwhack

#3

Pickle and I carried the cheapest Garmin between us on the CDT. We used it a dozen times or so, mainly to verify that we were where we thought we were. We could have made do without it, but it was nice to have those few times. We did not have mapping capabilities on the unit, so we used Jonathan Ley’s maps and his compass rose, which turned out to be a very nice feature. If you don’t know how to use the compass rose, be sure you do before you start hiking the CDT.

But Pickle and I are both engineers and real map weenies, and navigation is a like a sixth sense to both of us. Not everyone is like that, thank God. We never got more than a 1/4 mile off route on the CDT, and yes, that’s bragging a little. It may have been a little harder without the GPS, I must admit.

garlic

#4

It ain’t necessary. We’ve thruhiked the CDT twice - and never needed that kind of crutch.

We’ve used GPS twice - once in Alaska and once on the CDT to waypoint water sources in the New Mexico bootheel for the guidebook authors - we sent it home from Silver City. And then gave it away when we got home. It’s a distraction from the hike, it takes time and energy better used to enjoy the hike and it adds unnecessary weight to your pack. If you can read a map, you don’t need it.

YMMV

Jim

#5

I like to carry a GPS, but they aren’t all that useful in day to day use. They eat up batteries too quick. I’ve tried using a GPS enabled cell phone. The one time I needed it (we missed a blaze and needed to know if were north or south of the trail), it didn’t work because the cell phone GPS software not only requires a GPS signal, but a good solid cell phone signal as well.

Obviously, Bushwhack has had better luck then I have with battery use, would like to know how he handles that.

Bear Bag Hanger

#6

BW says; long story but I came by way of the Map60 after spending weeks using it to help some friends cache water for the ADT last year out in the desert sections. They had a second one which I got for cheap. And on the ADT it makes sense since the local trail maps SUCK. The Buckeye Trail Maps are toilet paper. Several folks load the turn-by-turn onto the GPS and never look back…if you have a maping GPS that is.

With maps loaded it made VERY quick work mostly because of that perticualr unit. It’s satalite capture is less than 60second, it has access to all 28 sats-not six like my old Magellan 4000 so there is no wait to find itself even after days with it off or changing location many hundreds of miles away, the antenna is super sensitive; it works at my desk, in the car, under trees, in the canyons, in the mall! And since its newer electronics the power ususage is really low. The various setting are changeable in the setup menu for power. From first hand use it will run, constant on, about 18-24hrs. Not like you’d ever use it like that unless you’re charting daily mileage, which is what my friends did. Just leave it on all day when moving and know how far you want to the foot. Good for that when a certain someone is keeping track to make sure you walked every inch.

I’ve used mine for a few months now and 2 AAs, Duracell Alkalines, it will also take Lithiums, lasted say 150 miles with about 1/3 being on all the time to mark some trails. If you used it only when you need a location check I’d say it would go weeks; couple minutes or less on now and then. Its satalite capture speed is what makes the thing nice. Some times its less then ten seconds. My old one would spend, I kid you not, an hour looking for capture. I once set it on the roof of the car and went to lunch and came back later it still couldn’t find enough satalites. Its 4AA batts lasted 7hrs. POS. Half that time spent looking for its self.

I can’t speak for the others like E-Trex and other smaller units but I would expect you get what you pay for. But with the Map60 running +$400 you prob don’t wanna drop cash like that. I’m a gear/map nut so for me it was easy…and I didn’t have to pay retail so it wasn’t an issue. Fun toy for those who like them.

BW

#7

I suppose someday the GPS will come preloaded with all the 7.5 minute topos one em. This will create no need for paper maps. But if you rely on only a electronic GPS which could break then you may be ‘LOST’.

I’m going with Jonathan Ley maps and using Delorme Topo 7 for area maps. I thought about a GPS but I am convinced I won’t need one and it will be a distraction to my hike and more weight to carry.

SlowLightTrek

#8

Yup, you don’t need one. Jon’s maps appear to be very good from the samples he sent me a few years ago. And like you said SLT; some DeLormes for over view are nice if nothing else for “where’s the big town for medical”. And we all know one should know how to nav with a compass/map/sun/weather/seat of your pants.

I wouldn’t use one unless it WAS mapping and was fast. This thing really is cool to see work. And lets face it; sometimes you really wanna get lost. These things are like cell phones. They have a place and job. And then they don’t.

One more note and I’ll check out. One super cool thing the Map60 does, with topos loaded, is you can pan to a feature and then GOTO. So if you see a nifty cliff or cave or waterfall and you can’t nav in the trees or featureless area, there you go. I love it for that. :cheers

BW

#9

Like you said, there is no substitute for the map and compass, I consider the gps just another tool…just as the compass is a tool (albeit simple). Navigation with the gps is cool but using the ole map and compass is just plain fun on those days when you have time! If you want to be a real purist, don’t take a map or compass and just use the sun,stars, and the moss on the trees to navigate …and stay on or along the high points all the way to Mexico! Personally, the gps saved us tons of back-tracking and frustration on the cdt. Yes, we confirmed our location many times especially at the points where we had to begin and end cross-country sections. No, you don’t need one but it sure was nice to have. Actually, I tracked our entire hike just so I could overlay it on google earth and see exactly where we hiked. The Garmin 60 CSx rocks but it is only as good as the user. If you are not going to take the time to learn how to use it and be familiar with all it’s functions then it is probably not worth the weight to carry (7.2 oz.) Battery life with lithium batteries was 4-5 days of hiking on battery save mode and tracking every 1/10th mile. I will say that there were many days where I never looked at the GPS except to see if I had turned it on or off but if we were hiking the CDT again, I would probably take it. There were no places on the CDT where I could not get coverage with the 60 CSx. Anohter cool feature for the 60CSx is the ability to digitize points off of google earth and load them into the gps. This was great in Glacier where the trail was covered with many feet of snow…and it is surprisingly dead-on! Regardless of the way you lean (gps vs no gps), the CDT will not disappoint! It was the most beautiful of the three and had the most wildlife but it was the most trying also (mostly from a weather standpoint in Colorado). Have fun Melon Man, if you have any questions just e-mail.

john

#10

LOL !!!

  1. We found that it consistently took more time to use the GPS than to use our brains and the maps.

  2. As a thruhiker, if you’re carrying the GPS and not using it EVERY day - then it doesn’t belong in your pack. It’s just deadweight - you might as well be carrying a rock.

YMMMV

Jim

#11

I haven’t walked the CDT, but from what I understand GPS would be a nice feature. The Garmin Foretrex 101 (available at REI) weighs under 3oz, including 2 alkaline AAA batteries. The batteries last at least 12 hours and it takes about 15 seconds to power on and get a fix and then you’ll need maybe another 30 seconds to find the fix on your map–let’s call it a minute total per fix. So if you use it five times a day to find your exact location (the most important feature of any GPS), a single set of batteries will last 144 days.

Like some of the other posters, I would be leary of anything heavier or fancier than the Foretrex 101, and I would be suspicious of using GPS on a thru-hike for anything besides just finding a fix. Again, I’m not that familiar with the CDT, but I do know there are places in this world where it can be damnably difficult to figure out where you are on the map, no matter how good a sense of navigation you have, and that is where GPS really shines.

road

#12

I must agree with Jim. As a thru-hiker, it is dead-weight if you don’t need it everyday. If you have a map and you know how to read it, then a gps is unnecessary. A gps unit will just get you lazy about keeping track of where you are and unaware of your surroundings.

That said, if you are the type that hates to stay on trails, and just go cross-country without a care, then a gps gives you the confidence to do so. I frequently go on hikes in the forest near my home to exercise my dog, and I am never sure where I am going (it is usually cross-country w/o a map) and it is convenient to take the gps so I can bee-line it back to the truck, instead of back-tracking and walking much further than I want.

I work with gps units everyday for work, but have never taken one on a thru-hike. Even on my PCT thru-hike when the trail was under snow for weeks, I did not take a compass and only once did I get lost because it was so overcast, I couldn’t tell which direction the sun was.

If you do plan on getting one, go for the lightest (and cheapest- but reliable) possible - because you don’t need 3 meter accuracy vs. 10 meter accuracy, or need to acquire a position in 15 seconds vs. 2 minutes. All you need is a “ballpark figure”, and you will be fine. Only if you are a “map weenie”, is a more advanced gps unit like the Garmin 60CSX worth carrying - so you can “relive” you hike back home on your computer and say things like "I don’t remember taking a break there - oh wait, that’s where I took a $ht, and at 13,343 ft. - that’s got the be the highest $ht I’ve ever taken!!

RC

RC

#13

I don’t know if you got your question answered about the GPS, but I’ll tell you what… I loved having mine on the CDT and it confirmed a lot of route finding decisions and whether or not I was on the right track. I found it to be very helpful…

Wildflower