A GPS is way down on my priority list of stuff to buy, but it sure would be handy when hiking at night in the Pine Barrens. The trail markings are less than spectacular, especially when the trail merges with a road for sections. The places where I kept getting lost were clearings where several roads merge together. When you enter the clearing, you might be heading north, but then the trail goes south (the direction you just came from) before turning north again. Sometimes the trail entrance and exit onto a road are on the same side of the road, which is counter-intuitive because you expect the trail to be on the other side of the road in the direction you are heading.
The other problem is that these are large clearings with trees far apart. At night, I've had to walk around the entire clearing because the trail exit point could be anywhere.
With a GPS, I'm not sure you would ever get to truly KNOW the land, the subtle changes in appearance between one place and the next (and trust me, the changes are very subtle in the Pine Barrens because it all looks alike). When you really know the land, it becomes a part of you.
With a GPS, you'll probably know the route really well, but you won't know the land. It's the same thing when you drive with a GPS. When I go to Boston, a city I've lived in and visited for twenty years, I laugh at what the GPS is telling me. The GPS can never navigate Boston as well as I can because I learned the city from experience.
+1 to the Boston navigation by experience
Last edited by Iafte; 12-13-2011 at 14:31. Reason: Spelling
Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. ~Steven Wright
===> Hehehe...yep, we tell folks to shut the GPS off when they are in Boston! In the city, if you followed the directions, you would either crash, get mugged, or wind-up in Atlantic City! ROFL! Some places just don't map real well with a GPS - Boston is one of them!
Sky
Live Purposefully; Dare Greatly; Land Gently
If you're going to do something wrong, go for it! - Beryl G.
"Never knock on Death's door - just ring the bell and run. He hates that!"
It even became a joke for a webcomic at one point.
I used to canoe the Pine Barrens. It all looks like sand and pine trees. BTDT. I also lived with a GPS for years driving to customers. The one thing they are good for is the answer to your problem. Check it at the intersection, make you guess, check again in a couple of minutes. Saves a lot of walking. In the car they are good for the last mile unless you are using a navigation system than lets you lay out the route from experience.
Sorry I missed you guys, had a death in the family. I'd much rather have been out in the piney woods.
Silver Surfer, I'll get your permit fee for the NJ Winter Hang. Actually, Kayak Karl should cover us both. I got him a permit last time I went to Lower Forge (the actual Lower Forge) and he went MIA then too.
- Dylan
“You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the 'present.'”
― Master Oogway
Jacks R Better, makers of the of the Original Under Quilt and Bear Mountain Bridge Hammock.
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