Navigation and Communication

[Wandering Sagebrush]

From Grizzly-n-Bear

 

[Vic Harder]

Very helpful, thanks WS.

 

[smlobx]

This couple is amazing.
I’ve watched several of their videos particularly those through the ‘stans.

Thanks for posting!

 

[JWL]

I haven’t seen that one yet, good info. Thanks!

 

[craig333]

Some apps I'll probably never need but I have the space and you never know. I'll just have to disagree with them on the usefulness of paper maps.

 

[Vic Harder]

My wife likes paper maps. They are useless to me without the addition of a GOOD magnifying glass.

 

[LAWNMOWERMAN]

GPS navigation is useless to me without a paper map to get me out of the mess my navigation got me into.I take my glasses off to read maps allthough a flashlight is some times necessary.

 

[Foy]

Some apps I'll probably never need but I have the space and you never know. I'll just have to disagree with them on the usefulness of paper maps.

I'm entirely with you on that, Craig. IMHO, there is no complete substitute for a map, a compass, and the skillset to use them. I'm delighted a mapless world tour is working for them, and I'm genuinely impressed with their pluck and capabilities. But I have no interest in going afield without a map and compass. Ever. Period.

Foy

 

[rando]

I use both - Gaia and Google Maps on iOS and gazetteers and Benchmark paper maps. They both have their place, the paper map books are great for large scale planning, and the digital maps are much better for fine scale navigation - finding a specific trail head, or hiking.

The issue for me is that we often head out without a specific plan or the plan changes (this is Wander the West right?), so knowing which paper maps you will need before hand is challenging. We usually carry all the gazetteers for the general direction we are headed (say CO/UT/NM/AZ) but I don't want to load up all 50 or so Nat Geo Topos for those four states. For that Gaia Premium on both a tablet and an iPhone is perfect. We have all the Nat Geo Topos downloaded as well as Gaia Topo (~1:24000) for the entire Western US. If you were doing a really long trip (as they are in the vid) I can see that carrying paper maps beyond a world atlas would become impractical.

What I would really like is gazetteer sized tablet with gazetteer style maps - the best of both worlds.

I also agree that the inReach is a great tool. We carried a sat phone for a long time (I use them for work as well) but have since switched to an inReach with a powered Ram mount. Is is always on while in the Ram mount so we have a complete map of all our journeys on the Garmin website.

 

[craig333]

I don't mean to deny the usefulness of a gps or the phone apps. Nothing like a gps to let me know, "oh, I'm a quarter mile away from where I thought I was on the paper map". Especially in heavily roaded areas.

I have three map cases for paper maps in the truck. I can see that getting a bit unwieldy on worldwide trip. I wind up with a lot of paper maps because unfortunately its becoming very difficult to just grab one from a FS office when you enter the Forest.

They've got emergency comms covered but seem to underestimate the usefulness of being to communicate with locals. Of course thats a bit problematic if you don't speak Japanese not to mention the legalities (their cb could raise an issue in some places).

 

[LuckyDan]

I’ve got a thumb drive full of,,,,,100K Topo’s

 

[craig333]

I really can't see doing trip planning on my phone. For that I need to see the big picture. When I went to the Overland Expo the phone map was what helped me find my campsite. So there is certainly a place for both.

 

[Batman]

For those in living or visiting Colorado there is a fairly new trail app and website called Cotrex. It has been developed by the state for all types of trails across Colorado and it is free. You can download the base maps and/or satellite images for specific areas when venturing into locales without cell service. The base maps are very good but some of the distance and gradient calculation tools only work when connected to the internet by cell or WiFi.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Interesting! Hey just give me my old dirty and marked up topo, compass and straight edge and I'm happy! These folks have found ways to make their adventuring safe and fun so let them do it! Things that depend on batteries scare me and while I do carry a garmin and a spot "2",I still try to do it the old way! I like the feel of my maps and love to cover my living room floor with lot's of maps , books and other neat things when I plan my next WTWing! So what ever floats your boat is fine by me, I still like living in the last century !

Smoke

 

[Batman]

If had to choose just one I'd take a good printed map but a smart phone and app provides some additional options.