Don't Get Lost in the Woods

[brainwake]

I use my iphone and use an app called TopoMaps. It is pretty simple and you basically download a high resolution image of a US topographical map. It does have some basic tools for dropping pins and markers, but for the most part it is a really simple app to use. I just download the quadrangle while I have cell service. Once off the cell network, the GPS works fine.

For those familiar with topo maps and compasses, it has an old school feel to it.

The free "Maps" program on the Iphone is completely dependent on cell service and is no where close to the Topo Maps programs detail of terrain.

 

[Panfisher]

I will freedly admit that I haven't used it and not sure I am smart enough to use it, however my S5 phone has the option of dowloading google earth as well as google maps. It seems that it should be able to turn on the location option and use google earth to locate myself and see the actual satellite photo of where I have to go. The location feature can be turned off when not needed to conserve battery life. Also if I knew I was going to try it I would either pack along an external plug/charger for $20 and is supposed to charge a phone twice with the stored power, or a small flexible solar cell to charge it as I rested. Of course none of that matters if you don't have signal for whatever reason. A compass in a pack with a map is NEVER a bad idea, knowing how to use them is even better.

 

[red rick]

I use a Oregon 450t while hunting . I can mark tree stands and good looking locations and return to them again next year , not to mention it gets me back to my truck sometimes when I get turned around or when it gets dark .

 

[Paradactal]

I use a Garmin Oregon 450 and love it. A bit pricey at $450 or so. i picked one up from a dealer and got it half price. Cabelas also has an app for your Iphone. I think its around $20 for for the app. Worth every penny. It logs your tracks. plot waypoints, weather, pic photo album and some other pretty cool tools. Download any map you want for the area you hunt for I think $20 per map. Great TOPO maps in high detail. I use it alot. You can then bring it home and download it to Google earth and check your tracks out. All that said, just like any electronic, it runs off batteries and they do die when you need them most. Nothing beats a compass and a map. But for around $40, it will get you what your looking for. The name of the app is "Trimble"

 

[d2wing]

Most phones have a GPS feature that can be turned on. Also some car GPS's have a walking mode and some have a tracking feature. The problem with maps is once you are lost you don't know where you are on the map, if it is overcast, foggy or in rain or snow, you don't know which way is which unless you have a good compass. My etrex died. I usually just carry a compass but am looking for a new GPS.

 

[short barrel]

Last year while hunting property I'd never been on before, I got lost. I admit it. Totally lost in the woods. Thankfully I had my cell phone. I asked it for my current location and it pinpointed my position and showed me which way to go to the nearest road. I was actually much closer to civilization than I thought, but it was such a relief to know which direction to go.

 

[gamestalker]

Make sure you bring extra batteries. I had one of the first GPS systems made back in the early 90's, that thing ate batteries at a rate that required several back ups if planning to use it for a single day hike, horrible. But I'm sure the new stuff with Lithium's are far more practical these days.

I've been lost, more than just a couple times, and it's not a pleasant experience, so do, what you need to do, to stay safe.

GS

 

[1911 guy]

Just don't fall into the trap of relying solely on GPS. I use an out-dated Magellan in conjunction with maps and compass. I also use an ASB. That's an "Aw, &*%$ Bearing. If all else fails, I have a direction that I can travel that will eventually intersect a traveled road. It may not be the easiest or shortest route, but is a sure thing to get me unlost.

 

[jmr40]

My advice is to buy a decent GPS. The folks at REI are very knowledgable and will point you in the right direction. The cheaper units work reasonably well in open areas or on water. Not worth even taking into the woods if in a thick canopy or in steep valleys/canyons. They can't pick up the satellites. Go ahead and get a good one to start with, you'll want to upgrade later if you don't.

The phones aren't accurate enough. I volunteer on a local search team. We often get called to assist LE on missing persons cases. Some are rather large scale possible crime scenes and we use them to mark GPS coordinates of possible evidence so detectives can come back and determine if it is important We have found the phones to be off by several hundred feet in many cases.

I used to have one of the Garmin Oregons. It is a good device, but I left mine on the roof of my Jeep after a search in Florida last June. It fell off on I-10 while doing about 70mph. It didn't survive.

I replaced it with this.

http://www.rei.com/product/869476/garmin-gpsmap-64s-gps-bundle

I found the buttons easier to use than the touch screen. Otherwise they are very comparable.

 

[Robert]

I am sorry if I came off as smug or pretentious in my last post. That was not my intent. My point was all too often I hear people say the need a GPS to be able to navigate in the wood or mountains.

A good understanding of, and how to use, a topo map is, at least to me, far more important than what fills my GPS has. But I totally get their usefulness as a tool for the modern hunter and outdoorsman.

So again sorry if I came off as jerkish.

 

[X-Rap]

Use the Topo maps, compass, GPS along with a grid reader and you will become proficient at navigation. Mark out the UTM grid on the Topo map with red pen
Don't rely on cell phones if you are heading into real back country because when the signal dies so does the GPS.
Like most outdoor equipment I'd say spend as much as you can afford or maybe just a little more.

 

[Walkalong]

but I left mine on the roof of my Jeep after a search in Florida last June. It fell off on I-10 while doing about 70mph. It didn't survive.

I made the mistake of telling my wife about this thread, and she reminded me about how I did something similar to hers.

 

[twofifty]

Robert, you didn't.
You came across as experienced, a GIS pro, and lucky to have an innate sense of direction.

 

[rcmodel]

I have an old Garmin eTrex Legend.

The only one time I ever got turned around in the woods was 10 miles from home on public hunting land.
In a blinding white-out snow storm blended with ice fog off the lake.

Like to say the GPS put me back in my warm truck a mile away in short order.
But it was snowing too hard to get a satellite signal.

I went right home and dug out a couple of old compasses I thought the GPS was going to replace!

You just can't beat old school when push comes to shove!
Even a cheap one will get ya walking the right direction, if you bothered to look at it before you left where you want to go back too.



rc

 

[Bobson]

I am sorry if I came off as smug or pretentious in my last post. That was not my intent.

Not at all. I'm really appreciating the different perspectives everyone is offering up. I'm taking a map/compass utility very seriously; that's why I signed up for the class. As far as a compass, I'm thinking a Suunto M3D will work. It has excellent reviews and seems to be about midrange in price compared to others that REI sells. However, since the class doesn't require that I bring my own, I figured it might be best to wait to see if they recommend something different.

I do plan to talk to someone at REI about a GPS, but the nearest one (where my class is) is almost 90 mins away so I'm not going to take a separate trip just to ask questions. I'll wait til the class starts.

 

[twofifty]

Bobson you are right about putting off the compass purchase until you've taken the course.

The M3D is a quality compass by a very good manufacturer, but it lacks some very useful features.

For one, it doesn't have as long a baseplate as featured on the flip-cased and mirrored Suunto MC-1 series, or the flip-cased mirrored Silva Ranger 15 series.

The flip case, when fully open, provides a sufficiently long baseplate that you can more easily plot bearings from map to field, or vice-versa, no matter the scale of your map. With a 7.5 min scaled quadrangle map, it is very easy to 'run out' of baseplate. This means the short-ish plate may not span two widely spaced map features in a single manipulation. In mountain country, you might be sighting over an intermediary ridge(s) to a more prominent known feature (think Half Dome, or Looking Glass Rock) that you can clearly see two ranges over. But you can't span this expanse of ground with your compass' short baseplate without having to fumble and reset, which reduces the accuracy of your plot. Small angular errors have a way of piling up the further out you are.

The flip-case also shields a mirror, which is a very useful feature when you want to take accurate sight bearings. You flip the cover open such that while sighting through the cover's top edge notch you can see a reflection of the compass bezel and underlying bezel base. Turn the bezel ring so the bezel base matches up its red/reflective arrow with the bezel's red/reflective magnetic needle. Read the resulting bearing in degrees at the registration point, which is at the top of the compass centerline.

The best flip-case compasses also have a declination adjustment screw, which allows you to pre-correct your compass for the local magnetic declination. iirc, declination can be as much as +20 degrees in CONUS, which adds up to a lot of on-the-ground error unless you account for it. Without the adjustment screw, you will have to remember -for each reading- to add or subtract declination, depending on whether you're working from map to compass, or compass to map. This is not hard math, but when tired and cold it is easy to add rather than subtract 17 degrees easterly declination (as in Snohomish county), so the error on the ground becomes 34 degrees = humongous.

The very best flip-case compasses also feature an inclinometer scale, which allows you to measure the angle of the ground relative to horizontal. Slope angle is a very useful piece of info esp. when skiing in avalanche country.

Sorry for droning on.

edit: corrected to inclinometer.

 

[Bobson]

No worries; I appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge.

 

[Robert]

Hopefully they have different types of compass at the class for you to try out.

 

[brainwake]

If you want a dedicated GPS...sure...why not, take a hard copy map and compass no matter what

But why not learn to use your Iphone with a good GPS app.....(not the free maps app)

I have read a few comments about them not being accurate and losing signal with cell service....it is just not true.

The iphone GPS does work accurately without having cell service. I use it all of the time in areas where there is no cell signal and I can tell that it has me right on the spot where I am standing.

I admit that it drains the battery faster, especially if you leave it on and tracking....a dedicated GPS will out perform a phone. But for just spot checking, planning and orienting...the iphone works fine and it is a tool you most likely already have.

At the very least, it can become a 3rd option.

Add a Goal Zero solar panel/charger and you have endless AA batteries for your flashlight / GPS and a phone charger.

 

[Bobson]

It can't hurt to check it out. Any specific app you recommend?

 

[brainwake]

I use "TopoMaps"...see earlier post. I know there are some other good ones out there, but that one is pretty simple.

 

[brainwake]

One thing I like about TopoMaps, is that it helps me figure out what quadrangles I want to order. I use it a lot for both hunting and backpacking.

And I don't mean to sound like it should be the sole source of navigation. I am an over grown boy scout and started backpacking 30 years ago. So my go to source is a map and compass too. I have just never been able to justify the cost of the dedicated GPS. But if were headed out for a 50 mile back country trail in the Rocky mountains, I would pick one up and have all 3 options.

 

[brainwake]

2 weeks ago I was hunting on public land that I had never been to. I had originally planned to hunt one of the WMA, but when we got there, we changed plans and went to a different one. So the maps I had printed were useless and since it was on the fly I didn't have any hard copy maps of the area where we ended up. I just pulled off the road when I had a good cell signal and downloaded the quadrangle map for the new area. It sure was handy to have my GPS map for that weekend. Sometimes plans change and it is nice to have a tool that can adapt. At one point, I was talking to a local hunter and we both pulled out our phones and he pin pointed a food plot on the map for me.

 

[jmr40]

Quote:
but I left mine on the roof of my Jeep after a search in Florida last June. It fell off on I-10 while doing about 70mph. It didn't survive.

I made the mistake of telling my wife about this thread, and she reminded me about how I did something similar to hers.

I was worn out. We had spent a weekend looking for a missing person near Jacksonville. It was a suspected suicide, and there were 2 other unsolved missing persons possibly in the same area. There were volunteer search teams from GA, NC, TX, and CT who showed up to search. Many were dog handlers with cadaver dogs. Each team is usually made up of a dog and handler with 2-3 searchers. Temps were just under 100 with near 100% humidity. At the end of the day I got back to the Jeep on Sunday afternoon and started peeling off snake chaps, and other gear. I sat the GPS on the roof and forgot it until I heard it fall. It rode for about 10-15 miles until I got on I-10 and got up some speed.

I really like some of the things you can do with a quality GPS device. But I'll echo what others say. It does not replace a compass. To be honest I have always been able to get myself out of the woods with ONLY a compass. Just a general knowledge of which direction roads are located and and a compass to keep you walking in a straight line will generally be enough. A GPS can fail, batteries can die, and if you don't calibrate the compass it will point you in the wrong direction.

But once you master the devices they can do a lot more than just get you home. I also use the phone apps. I think they have their place and having the ability to see google maps can be helpful. But a quality GPS will be much more accurate and do things a phone won't do. But if you have a smartphone adding a GPS app is a good idea too.

 

[Coltdriver]

I picked up a Garmin Foretrex. You wear it on your fore arm over your sleeve. No maps in it. It will record your track and let you mark any point. You have that and a topo and you can get anywhere. I carry an old etrex for a back up and spare batteries.