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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>Ginny,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>As far as walking into swamps, those days are over. We do not put anything impassable in the Mapbooks. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>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.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>best wishes,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'>Jerry Brown<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><a href="mailto:bcss@bresnan.net">mailto:bcss@bresnan.net</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><a href="www.bearcreeksurvey.com">www.bearcreeksurvey.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Jim and_or Ginny Owen [<a href="mailto:spiriteagle99@hotmail.com">mailto:spiriteagle99@hotmail.com</a>] <br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, September 05, 2012 10:42 AM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:bcss@bresnan.net">bcss@bresnan.net</a>; Blisterfree; cdt-l<br><b>Subject:</b> RE: [Cdt-l] New Mexico Mapping Report and Trail Changes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>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.<br> <br>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.<br> <br>Ginny<br><br><a href="http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/">http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/</a><br><br></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>best wishes,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jerry Brown<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>(970) 403-3527 Cell: (970) 749-0496<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:bcss@bresnan.net">mailto:bcss@bresnan.net</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="www.bearcreeksurvey.com">www.bearcreeksurvey.com</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>