Satellite imagery is a powerful source of information for planning backcountry routes but it takes practice to interpret what you’re looking at, and whether it depicts features you can use to make your route easier or whether you should avoid them. The …
Read More »Navigation and Trip Planning
How to Plan an Off-Trail Hike with Caltopo
Off Trail Hiking exercises your mind and body differently than hiking on trails that others have defined and built for you. It can also force you to collaborate with others to interpret sparse or conflicting navigational information. This is a great way …
Read More »Hiking Navigation Gear List
I carry a variety of navigation tools and devices on my hikes and backpacking trips because I’ve never found once that’s perfectly reliable or easy to use in all situations. Every navigation tool and device has different strengths and weakness, as I describe below. …
Read More »Backcountry Navigation with Incomplete or Out-of-Date Maps
It's important to understand the limitations of incomplete or out-of-date maps for backcountry navigation since so many mapping applications, GPS units, and GPS-enabled smartphone apps are built around them.
Read More »Shakedown Hikes Aren’t Just for Backpacking Beginners
Shakedown hikes and backpacking trips are the best way you can train yourself to become a confident backpacker or day hiker. They provide a low pressure setting for you to practice new skills, learn how to use your gear, plan a hike, and …
Read More »Planning a Hike: Sunrise and Sunset Times
No matter how fast you hike, the distance you can walk in a day is largely a function of the number of hours of daylight you have at any given time of year. This is an especially important consideration in autumn and …
Read More »Distance Discrepancies Between Digital Mapping Tools, Paper Maps, and Guidebooks
Have you ever noticed that the distances computed by digital mapping tools are substantially different from paper maps and guidebooks of the same area? I’ve been planning a 200 mile backpacking trip and the digital mapping tools I’ve been using, Caltopo and …
Read More »The Digital Map Conundrum
Have you ever noticed how incomplete and out of date digital maps are when it comes to hiking trails? At least on the free USGS maps you can download on the web and that come bundled with GPS devices or Smartphone navigation …
Read More »What is Height of Land?
The navigation term Height of Land is a phrase you’ll often encounter when reading hiking trip reports, trail descriptions, or guidebooks. But it’s very difficult to get a clear definition of what it means unless you ask someone who knows. Height of …
Read More »Aiming Off – A Compass Navigation Technique
Aiming off is a cross-country navigation technique for finding a destination like a shelter or a landmark that is located along a natural or man-made landscape feature (also called a linear feature) like a stream, a ridge, or a path. Instead of setting …
Read More »Bushwhacking in Northern New Hampshire – Tips for Navigating Off Road and Off Trail
“Better bring your passport,” said Kris, “in case we get stopped by the border patrol.” Good idea. We were headed up to Northern New Hampshire, to bushwhack some trail-less mountains close to the US- Canadian Border. Hiking in Northern New Hampshire is hugely …
Read More »Topographic Maps and Route Visualization
Some people can read a topographic map and visualize what the landscape should look like based on the shape of the contours lines shown. It’s a real skill to do it well, and while I’m pretty good at it, I can miss details …
Read More »A Taste for Bushwhacking by Steve Smith
As I remember it, my first bushwhack in the New England woods was a fiasco. I was working at the Mt. Snow ski resort in southern Vermont during the snowless winter of 1979-1980, and I had plenty of time to hike because …
Read More »Navigating Without a Compass
Most people don’t know how to use a compass to navigate and while it’s a very useful skill to have, you can get by without it if you have a good map and hike on well marked trails. Even then, you do want …
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