before leaving on this trip, i didn't want to even take a gps, earlier post talked about being more traditional and a map and compass type of guy. oh how things have changed for me. with the conditions that we've been facing, the gps has been a saving grace to us. when you are in the clouds and can't see 30 feet in front of you, how do you figure out where you are on a map?
anyway, i don't like becoming dependent on technology, but the gps has become a necessity for us in the snow and i honestly don't know if we could do it without it. here are a couple of things that we've noticed though when comparing our gps experience to that of others.
when you are in snow and you have 1 mile waypoints on your gps, its makes navigation extremely difficult. the trail can do so much in a mile, even in a half mile.
tracks are the way to go, halfmile (at www.pctmap.net) has made it possible to download all the tracks for the pct onto your compatible gps device, but note that not all gps's can download the tracks. after emailing him a couple of times before the trip, i returned my first gps and got a different one so that i could have the tracks and not just wayponts.
-waypoints show points on the trail every 1/2 mile to mile
-tracks show the actual path travelled
when we are in the snow, i can turn the gps on and it will show me where i am and then it shows a pink line where the pct is and i can see if i am higher or lower compared to the trail.
anyway, if this doesn't make sense and you are considering using a gps, i would definitely look into it because it makes a difference on the trail.
i am now a believer in gps, especially when i lost my guidebook and didn't have maps anymore.
once again, thanks halfmile for making these resources available
anyway, i don't like becoming dependent on technology, but the gps has become a necessity for us in the snow and i honestly don't know if we could do it without it. here are a couple of things that we've noticed though when comparing our gps experience to that of others.
when you are in snow and you have 1 mile waypoints on your gps, its makes navigation extremely difficult. the trail can do so much in a mile, even in a half mile.
tracks are the way to go, halfmile (at www.pctmap.net) has made it possible to download all the tracks for the pct onto your compatible gps device, but note that not all gps's can download the tracks. after emailing him a couple of times before the trip, i returned my first gps and got a different one so that i could have the tracks and not just wayponts.
-waypoints show points on the trail every 1/2 mile to mile
-tracks show the actual path travelled
when we are in the snow, i can turn the gps on and it will show me where i am and then it shows a pink line where the pct is and i can see if i am higher or lower compared to the trail.
anyway, if this doesn't make sense and you are considering using a gps, i would definitely look into it because it makes a difference on the trail.
i am now a believer in gps, especially when i lost my guidebook and didn't have maps anymore.
once again, thanks halfmile for making these resources available
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