[Cdt-l] New Mexico Mapping Report and Trail Changes

[bcss at bresnan.net]

Ginny,

 

I do not have any stroke whatsoever in decisions about trail building.  It
is just as big a problem for me as for anyone else.  I have raised the
issue, but doubt that there will be much change in how things get done.

 

As far as walking into swamps, those days are over.  We do not put anything
impassable in the Mapbooks.   

 

GPS has been dramatically improved over the years.  The first time I mapped
a trail  (The Colorado Trail in 1999),  I used a commercial grade Trimble
gps that, with batteries for 3 days, weighed 27 pounds.  It did not work
particularly well in trees or obstructed terrain, and the Garmins sold back
them didn't either.  There were several portions of the trail that we had to
do repeatedly until the satellite geometry was just right and we finally got
acceptable results.  We had to redo about 100 miles of the CT, which is 500
miles long.   

 

Things have changed.  We are using equipment now that is much lighter, much
more effective, and extremely accurate. These receivers utilize both the US
GPS satellites, and the Russian GLONASS ones simultaneously.  This
dramatically increases the probability of having good geometry in places
where that was not possible in the past.   We gathered excellent data along
the entire length of the CDT using this gear.  We have a gps test course
near where I live in Durango which includes one of the old areas of the CT
that was so hard to map.  It is in the bottom of a narrow canyon with cliffs
everywhere so it is extremely problematic.  I have carried our current gear
through this segment numerous times and always get a new line that is within
1 meter of the previous lines done on other days.  The inexpensive new
Garmin Etrex 20 and 30 series use a similar dual GPS/GLONASS system
architecture,  work almost anywhere, and are repeatable within 15 meters
time after time.  They are  plenty good enough for navigating a trail, and
make the really problematic parts of the CDT possible.  There are more
places along the CDT where a compass will not work properly than where a gps
won't.  (The Malpais in NM are a good example of that.)       

 

 

best wishes,

 

Jerry Brown

mailto:bcss at bresnan.net

www.bearcreeksurvey.com

 

 

From: Jim and_or Ginny Owen [mailto:spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 10:42 AM
To: bcss at bresnan.net; Blisterfree; cdt-l
Subject: RE: [Cdt-l] New Mexico Mapping Report and Trail Changes

 

Bearcreek - is there any way you can talk to the FS people about not signing
sections that are incomplete?  In 2006 we followed several sections of brand
new trail that left us high and dry after a while.  On the AT, they build
trail from the middle out, and only connect new sections to the existing
trail when there is a complete passage.  After about the third time on the
CDT where we were abandoned in the middle of a bog,  we stopped following
any trail that we didn't have a good map for.  Eventually we always went
back to Jim Wolf's routes, because we knew they would actually exist.
 
Also - some of us don't use gps.  And gps has its limits when the terrain is
very steep or brushy.  It's not the magic answer some people assume.
 
Ginny

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/



 

best wishes,

 

Jerry Brown

(970) 403-3527    Cell: (970) 749-0496

mailto:bcss at bresnan.net

www.bearcreeksurvey.com

 

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