[pct-l] GPS for distance

[Dan Welch]

"...I really want a good way to determine how many miles I hiked for my trail journals. I'm worried that I might drop several hundred dollars on a GPS unit and find that they don't correctly calculate you're distance."  



A solid majority of the people I ran into last year (as well as myself) used a smartphone with the Halfmile or Guthook apps.  I started with Halfmile only and picked up the Guthook app after the first few sections of trail.

They are both VERY accurate at tracking trail distances, but the Halfmile app uses the Halfmile map mileages (surprise!) which seem to have become the standard (with good reason.)  

The Guthook app costs $5.99 per section and there are 5 sections (Southern, Central and Northern CA; Or; and WA.)  I picked these up after So Cal. because they do a better job of describing upcoming camping areas - including pictures of each one.  BTW - The graphics on the Apple version are far superior to the Android version, but the campsite information is accurate on both.

Just so you know, most of the smartphones today function as standalone GPS devices (GLONASS based) and don't need cell reception to give you accurate coordinates.  However, without a cell connection, you can't download a Google map for it to "locate" you on.  In other words, you can get accurate coordinates, but it will only show you as a point on a blank screen.  You have to pull out your paper or electronic topo maps to utilize this information and get your trail mileage.  Thyat is kind of a pain to do several times a day.

However, the Halfmile app will immediately give you your exact trail mileage so you can locate yourself more quickly on your trail map. It also gives you distances to the next landmark, water source, campsite, whatever.  If you are off trail even by 25 meters or so, it will tell you that and give you a pointer back in the direction of nearest trail.  VERY handy when crossing snow fields.  

Guthook does it one better by showing your location on its own series of internal topo nmaps.  So it needs no cell link to place you on the on-screen topo map and can be very handy in finding campsites and water sources that are not obviuous.

All this to say, if you have a smartphone, I would recommend NOT bringing a standalone GPS.  It is just extra money and extra weight...  And it's actually far less functional.

Timberline