[Cdt-l] CDT and GPS

[Iceaxehikes]

I went map and compass and had a few mis-steps along the way which I solved by never back tracking.
When in doubt, I chose a prominent land feature from my map, something too far east or west for me to have reached yet while having "mis-placed" the trail.
Then I set a course generally north by which ever direction my "handrail" mentioned above was in.

Sheridan pass Wyoming near Lava Mountain.
That is the place that be-deviled me most.
If I had a GPS I surely would have hit the start button right there.
Somehow there are CDT markers all over the place in the vicinty. 
I got lazy and began to simply follow them.
(This is always how trail mis-placements happen)

It seems that withou hikers on the trail to keep it there, it gets lost sometimes. ;)
Anyways,
The terrain is rolling forested hills with small clearings.
Not much of the hills are more than a single contour line in height and many are "invisible" on the map.
I reached a dirt road that wasn't on my map in the place I thought I should be.
In the fog I found a CDT marker but it did not make sense to me that it was going down that canyon.
After about an hours frustration I looked at my map and chose hwy 287 as my "handrail".
Then I plotted a generally North by North East course that would take me to a point crossing the highway east of where the trail crossed.
Then when I reached the highway I would know the trail crossed west of my position.
I deliberately went off trail in a specific direction so as to know which way the trail was when I reached the highway.

Anyhow, that all worked out fine.

The real story was that as I rounded Lava mountain having been offtrail for a few miles, I came upon a horse trail.
Hmm, I thought; as long as it goes my way, it was better than bushwhacking so I began to follow it.
A few paces along that path I caught something out of my peripheral vision.
A large brown shape coming towards me just beside a tree some 50 feet away.
Having never seen a Griz up to this point in life but having a lot of encounters with black bear I knew at once, no guidebook needed, THIS was a griz.
A sub adult sauntering right towards me with its head down and coming up just behind the base of a large  tree.

I knew I had to alert the bear to my presence as I was already too close.
Much too close.
So I spoke to the bear in a stern tone the way I do with Ursus Americani.
Nothing.
The bear began to round the tree and was directly facing me but somehow I still didn't get the feeling it was aware of me despite my shouts.
I clicked my Leki's together and that bear wheeled around and took off at a terrific pace.

Then I had a thought...

I mean besides being pissed I never got my bear spray out of the side pouch of my pack or raised my camera.. I thought about mom.
Not my Mom.
I thought a sub adult like that just might have a mama nearby.
Well I am still here, so I suppose not.

This story has nothing and everything to do with GPS and no GPS.

I don't even know why it comes to mind when I think about GPS.

Anyhow, it made me smile.


Met all kinds of hikers carrying all kinds of gear.
Seems like we all got through in our own way.
Lots of arguments about gear.
No arguments about the trail we hiked.

Oh heck.. I hope the class of 2014 has fun out there on the trail this year!

-iceaxe


Sent from my Samsung smartphone on AT&T
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