kepPNW wrote:Lurch wrote:For a supposed "expert" there seems to be a lot of bad or misguided information in there...
Anything in particular?
Well the first two things for his answer of which navigational tools to bring are a Map and Compass.. so it seems a little hypocritical to then claim they're not useful.
To claim that no one is teaching the full set is just false, and reeks of marketing talk. The whole article smells like marketing more than content, and that's probably what turned me off too it. There are plenty of places that teach a whole suite of navigational skills and tools, especially when you're talking about professional wilderness folk.
His answer to 'Can you rely too much on technology' completely dodges the point of the question. Realistically all those tools should be used in conjunction.
If you're only staying on trail than your navigational needs are minimal, but if you're doing off trail or backcountry travel covering large distances your navigational skillset needs to increase. I don't preach map and compass over GPS. In reality we will naturally use a GPS more, it's better at a *lot* of things. But proper navigation relies on using all your tools in your toolbelt. You *can* navigate purely with a map, purely with a compass, purely with a GPS. You're going to navigate best by using all 3 together. To scrap two of them and remove all redundancy to the system is extremely unwise.
Digital maps are awesome, I love having a tablet with high res quads of the whole gorge, it's a good alternative, but that's not a substitute for an actual paper map that doesn't require batteries.
I would honestly say the main problem with people currently is that they *pack* a map and compass because that's what they've been told to do, but they've never been taught how to use them, and never trained with them in a realistic situation.