Over the past 2 years, I've been wanting to get a GPS to supplement my winter backpacking rig. I mentioned in a previous post that I had an iPhone 5 and had coughed up $20 to buy Gaia GPS for said phone. I tested the app a couple of times on my train ride to work and found that even when we rode through absolutely dead spots (in terms of cell tower signal) the GPS functioned perfectly well and I could follow our track accurately on my phone. This was also true if I switched it to airplane mode. I further tested the phone/app on a couple of summer day hikes and the app functioned fine. So last winter and at the beginning of this winter I decided to test under conditions where I'd be more likely to really want it to work. The results are as follows:
1. Day hike up Pierce/Ike, temps just below zero. Phone in top of pack in Otter Box. Took phone out, snapped one photo, and phone would not turn on again due to cold (battery was at 100% when I left Highland Center). I didn't want to put it in my pocket for fear that the moist environment would kill it. Lesson: the phone needs to be kept warm. Verdict: fail.
2. Overnight around Cannon/Kinsmans. Put phone (in Otter Box) inside a plastic zipper bag this time so I wouldn't have to worry about moisture, and kept it in my pocket. Temps low twenties. Phone worked fine, but for reasons I don't understand, I could not zoom in to any reasonable level of detail on the map I'd downloaded using Gaia. It was just blurry; useless in terms of navigation. Verdict: fail.
3. Overnight through Carters and Moriah. Temps in teens, windy. Again kept phone in plastic bag in Otter Box and kept in pocket to keep it warm. Didn't turn it on at all the first day. On the second day, after leaving Imp to head towards Moriah, I tried to turn on the phone and could not get past the unlock screen - said it was for emergency use only, or some such thing. I simply could not unlock my phone. I don't know if this happens commonly when one is completely away from any cell signal - that it's impossible to use other functions on the phone. I've never had it happen to me before. I turned the phone off, then on again and still could not unlock it. When I got to Gorham later that day, it worked fine. I have no explanation. Verdict: fail.
I came into a small amount of money a month ago (read: Christmas) and decided to take the plunge and get myself a GPS. Since this would be used often in winter, I wanted something with buttons rather than a touch screen, and after reading many reviews (including here on VFTT) I bought the Garmin GPSMap 64s. It was $300. I got it out of the box and turned it on and there were no trail maps loaded. No problem, I'd read there were a variety of free maps available online. After reading through the scant product lit that came with the 64s and many, many useless reviews online, I came to the conclusion that additional maps must actually be purchased to make the unit useful. This realization came after spending many, many hours downloading all manner of mapping software, maps, conversion software and god knows what else, and also reading through all of the technical instructions related to said software. This was mentally exhausting. Having to buy additional maps made me sad, as I'd already spent a good chunk of change on the GPS unit. Oh well, late one night last week I plunked down another $100 to purchase maps of New England from Garmin. Boo. BUT, almost immediately after doing so, the maps loaded into Basecamp (Garmin mapping interface) and onto my GPS and I could zoom into all areas of the Whites and see lovely little trails winding through the mountains. Joy! I went to bed.
At the end of last week I spend a couple of hours here and there trying to acquaint myself with the GPS. I felt only marginally (at best) acquainted with the unit after this time - it is not a completely intuitive piece of machinery; don't let one DougPaul tell you otherwise!
Regardless, I threw it into the top of my pack and headed off for the Carters this past weekend. On Saturday it was pretty cold, I don't think it got above zero the entire day. But I turned it on at the trailhead, cleared previous tracks, clipped it to my pack and hoped for the best. I calibrated nothing (probably not a recommended practice). It's worth noting that I'm really, really good with map and compass. Like a freakin' prodigy. No joke. Anyway, off we went. Midway up Stony Brook trail, I unclipped the GPS from my pack and took a look. I was pleased to see our exact location on the trail on the screen, to be able to use the arrow marking our location as an electronic compass, and to be able to use all functions (zooming in and out, checking track statistics, etc.) without taking off my shell mittens. Cool. We continued on.
Before long (actually, it was a very, very long time...I was hiking with THE slowest participant I have every had on one of my trips ever. Wow.), we arrived at the cold, windy junction of Carter-Moriah Trail. The snow was DEEP and drifted, the trail sign was barely sticking up above the snow. It was impossible to tell exactly which direction the trail went. So I unclipped the Garmin from my pack and clipped it directly to my Wet Rib (small food sack that attaches to a pack near one's stomach). It was 0.7 miles to the junction with Imp shelter trail. I used the GPS constantly to see where we were, and I cross-checked that with a laminated copy of the relevant AMC map, which I had clipped to my shell pants at my right hip. Although my compass was around my neck, I never pulled it out. I used the electronic compass on the GPS. We plowed through waist and chest deep drifts for the next 1.5 hrs while the temp dipped below zero and the wind occasionally knocked us over. It was tough going. Occasionally, even though I could see we were on trail (sawed branches and such), the GPS would indicate we were 10 or so feet off trail. This really wasn't a problem. That level of accuracy was actually quite simple to work with. On we went. Sometimes I'd have to knock the chest-deep drifts down with my arms before I could make a step in my snow shoes. And so it went. Branches knocked into me, snow filled the pocket I had the Garmin in, I generally beat on the GPS getting it in and out of its little pocket, and poked and prodded with my mitted hands to get what I wanted. It worked great. Curiously, the access trail to Imp shelter was not marked on the map I'd bought for $100. However, using the AMC map I had clipped to my hip, I could see the features that allowed me to see where the access trail junction should be, and we found again that the trail sign was just barely sticking above the snow drifts. A quarter mile later (and more waist- and chest-deep drifts) and we were at the shelter. I turned the GPS off.
I ate a lot. I slept for a long time.
When we awoke, I think it was about 10 below. We cooked breakfast, pounded down some coffee, packed up and off we went. I turned on the GPS, and there we were, at the little box marked Imp shelter, almost full battery life left (I'd put in lithium disposable AA's). With the winds being what they were and our participants being what they were, we forewent Moriah or anything else other than going down. But even with the wind and cold it was a lovely trip down with occasional views of Madison and Adams.
Garmin GPSMap 64s verdict: win.
Hope this is helpful,
Brian
