First time backpacking solo?

If you've been searching for the best source of information and stimulating discussion related to Spring/Summer/Fall backpacking, hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada...look no further!
User avatar
87TT
Topix Regular
Posts: 177
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 10:44 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by 87TT »

I don't own a GPS or a Spot. I usually have a small compass stashed somewhere but can't remember the last time I needed it. But I have hunted and fished my whole life and grew up exploring the wild places from local mountains to national parks. I can almost always backtrack or find my way crosscountry. I usually study a map before going in somewhere new and keep it with me but that's about it.
But I also know people that get lost or turned around on heavily traveled trails within a 1/2 mile of the TH. Whatever your comfort level is you need to find it and equip yourself accordingly.
User avatar
ChinMusic
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:47 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by ChinMusic »

Personally, I carry a paper map (am near quiting that for many trips), but cannot remember ever looking at one for help in years. I carry a standard GPS, with loaded maps (usually trail data too). My iPhone also has the maps and serves as a GPS backup (no cell service necessary). On the AT (deep in the woods with no landmarks) I can tell EXACTLY where I am, day or night, rain or fog.

Maps would have not helped me in the snow this year in Yosemite. With my GPS I knew within a few feet of where the trail was under me. Never made a wrong turn. I read trail journals where PCT thrus could not find the trail to Cathedral Pass (side trip) with map/compass. Piece of cake for me.

Give me technology ANY time.
User avatar
AlmostThere
Topix Addict
Posts: 2724
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:38 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by AlmostThere »

ChinMusic wrote:
Maps would have not helped me in the snow this year in Yosemite. With my GPS I knew within a few feet of where the trail was under me. Never made a wrong turn. I read trail journals where PCT thrus could not find the trail to Cathedral Pass (side trip) with map/compass. Piece of cake for me.

Give me technology ANY time.
I'm faster with a map. I'll use technology but there is a reason SAR teams are trained and trained and trained and trained with the map and compass. We absolutely must be able to get where we need to be and not be an additional lost victim.
User avatar
rlown
Topix Docent
Posts: 8225
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:00 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Wilton, CA

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by rlown »

TRAUMAhead,

The simple solution is to take those map/compass courses, even try them out at home. Then, if you want a backup, take a GPS unit. I always bring a map, and the GPS goes if I'm really out of my element (new place). Took the GPS to trinity 2 years ago, and I'm glad I had it. Knew exactly where I was the whole time, especially when on-trail turned into a nasty off-trail.

Funny, I only took maps last year to Humphreys because, well, It's really hard to get lost there.
User avatar
Wandering Daisy
Topix Docent
Posts: 6640
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:19 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento area)
Contact:

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Being real good at map and compass makes you BETTER at using a GPS. I find that many folks who only use a GPS while on trails, will not look at it often enough and when they are "lost", then pull it out. They also fail to look at the terrain enough. Well, what if you cannot get reception when you pull it out? Whether you use a GPS or map and compass, or map alone, you have to regularly look at your "maps", whatever their format. The point is to really internalize your location in your surrounding physical space. That includes knowing the big picture- general drainage patterns, mountain ridge, etc. The GPS is harder to get the "big picture" because you loose resolution as you zoom out. Get the most out of your navigation tools. Refer to them often. In tough terrain, my map is in my hand at all times! Most backpackers of my generation do better with paper maps. Today's youth, growing up on GPS technology, may be a lot more comfortable with gagets. Knowing both, makes you a complete outdoorsman and expert navigator. Both can fail. Loose a map. Drop a GPS in a stream. But if you always have a good picture in your mind where you are, you can probably get back out OK in an emergency.
User avatar
ChinMusic
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:47 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by ChinMusic »

I agree the quad maps are good for the "big picture". They lack the you-are-here function I require under poor weather conditions. They also lack the cookie-crumb tracks from where I have been. The GPS offers me that and more. I find the paper maps to be great for planning. I find the GPS to be great for executing the plan

Look, I'm not anti-map. I am pro GPS.
User avatar
AlmostThere
Topix Addict
Posts: 2724
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:38 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by AlmostThere »

ChinMusic wrote:I agree the quad maps are good for the "big picture". They lack the you-are-here function I require under poor weather conditions. They also lack the cookie-crumb tracks from where I have been. The GPS offers me that and more. I find the paper maps to be great for planning. I find the GPS to be great for executing the plan

Look, I'm not anti-map. I am pro GPS.
I'm not anti-GPS. I'm a realist. We use the GPS all the time, each person on the SAR team is issued one at the beginning of every training and search. Consequently, we become acutely aware of how fallible they are and how crazy wrong they can be. At one point the GPS one member used sent her on a bearing that would have had the team going two different directions, since the other GPS units were going a different direction on the same coordinate. We pull out a map when stuff like that happens.

Not too long ago I was at a California coastal park hiking with the GPS. After acquiring six satellites it placed me as being 20 miles offshore. This is the unit used by our SAR team exclusively with mostly good results - a Garmin 60CSX, never loses satellite connection even in tree cover.

A number of people have been rescued after being lost while trusting their GPS.

May all your trips be safe and end with you at your destination.
User avatar
rlown
Topix Docent
Posts: 8225
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:00 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Wilton, CA

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by rlown »

and yet, you knew you were not 20 miles offshore. :) see, someone who kind of knows where they are wouldn't be fooled by that (big picture concept).. That is really important to look around and kinda know where you are.

I don't run with my GPS on all the time, and on start-up, it gives me some weird track positions. There are places it tells me I have been to, and I know I was never there. So, I let it stabilize.

Still, TH, learn the map/compass stuff, learn to look around and keep present in your mind where you think you are, and double check it with the map/compass. This isn't going to help you much in weather or darkness. Weather is a whole different course. Best to hunker down at that point.
User avatar
mp88
Topix Novice
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:02 am
Experience: N/A
Location: wandering

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by mp88 »

I personally do not carry a GPS specifically for the reasons that AlmostThere has laid out, I like to use topo maps and most of all, guides or data books with descriptions of the trail and it’s surroundings. With that said...

In 2010 on the PCT, myself and some thru hikers lost the trail on Apache Peak in the Jan Jancinto mountains and got rocked by a storm simultaneously. We pretty much covered 3 miles in 48hrs and that was just wandering around in the storm looking for the trail that was covered by snow for miles. Finally, on the third morning there was a guy there with a Magellan GPS and he lead us out of there no problem, we just followed the red line on the screen and within two hours we were back on the trail, amazing.

Here is a pick from that morning
Image
Last edited by mp88 on Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
AlmostThere
Topix Addict
Posts: 2724
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:38 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: First time backpacking solo?

Post by AlmostThere »

Yes, I did know - no dolphins in the redwoods, and I wasn't watching the fishing boats go by. And it did correct itself, and then informed me I had managed 30 mph on foot somehow into the bargain. Insult to injury, the trail I was on didn't appear on the mapset, either.

But, people can and do follow GPS units to their deaths sometimes in adverse conditions, because they stop thinking, panic, and think a beeline to the car is possible. The group of backpackers who ledged out in a snowstorm a while back in Kings Canyon and had to ride out the storm until a helo could long line them off it are a perfect example of it.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 122 guests