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I come from a past life as a USAF navigator (back when navigators were actually used in aircraft), wherein I used a map (chart) on my desk in front of me with north always being up. That is how I have set the map display on my GPS units as I find it easier to orient the map in my brain to the...

In recent years, as a 20+year SAR team volunteer, we have seen increasing numbers of dementia related incidents with all kinds of SAR success rates. They often either wander away from their home or from a live-in care facility. Who should pay the SAR fine in those cases? The spouse or other...

If you are any where near central NH, then you might want to pay a visit to Limmer Boots. http://www.limmerboot.com/ They are long known for making boots customized to any feet, but they have in recent years made standard sizes off the shelf as well. I have had 2 pairs of standard size Limmers...

I have just returned home from multiple days on a search incident in the northern Adirondacks. DEC Forest Ranger radios did not reliably work in the particular area we were in, even with multiple repeater towers scattered throughout the region. Volunteer SAR team radios tuned to DEC FR...

What's next? To require carrying a PLB set to send out a track geolocation point every few minutes? I can see it coming down this slippery slope. I barely have a cell phone at all, an old style flip phone, it is not my constant companion, and I certainly am not tied to it in any manner.

So tell me why I can have the 60CSX continuously display the GPS compass for as much as 24 hours on one set of batteries?

Interesting that I did not see a compass function (with a real compass) in the above list as a tasker. I would never trust my navigation entirely to electronic devices. A quality compass is relatively immune to abuse and damage, is completely waterproof, it never runs out of batteries, and is my...

Absolutely not. As a volunteer and professional land navigation instructor (I am employed by NYS Homeland Security to teach land nav to law enforcement, and volunteer instruct for SAR and NYS outdoor Guides), I use a real compass for direction finding, and a GPS only as a supplemental...

I've always been very happy with my Garmin 60csx for many years. I detest that I later bought a 62. I hate the change in the display interface appearance and the way it mounts to handlebars and canoe thwarts, requiring use of zip cable ties each time you change where it mounts. The 60...

Deep in the backcountry one time while hiking solo far off trail, I found myself in the midst of the tallest stand of juicy delicious red raspberries like I had never seen before. While munching away, I discovered that I was walking on a previously trampled trail winding through the berry...

Maybe I'm just old school, but from my perspective (I do have a current NY guide's license myself, and am an instructor in an annual guide training program). But I believe part of a guide's duties is to interact with the client ( the "sport"), to point out items of interest encountered along...

There is quite a bit involved when establishing an incident command system (ICS) situation. You don't want to just throw a bunch of people out in the woods at night randomly searching and potentially contaminating the scene and fouling up any evidence that when properly done most likely leads to...

There are several negative aspects to a wild goose chase, such as the Whiteface Mtn. incident in February. https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/missing-skier Not only can it be extremely inconvenient for all searchers, professional and volunteer alike, it can take resources from normal...

The dynamics may have been different, but certainly high expense and the considerable effort were expended for substantially similar processes in both cases. No, NY does not charge for misguided, misinterpreted, foolish activity, or frivolous SAR incidents (yet).

Somehow I don't think NY law enforcement and SAR authorities are expected to check every hotel between here and Sacramento regarding the recent Whiteface incident. https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/missing-skier

I was part of a university "outing club" back in the day. The small group of us regulars focussed on cave exploration almost exclusively. We learned, taught, and practiced lots of vertical rope work, mapping, cave ecology and geology, and spent up to 24 continuous hours underground in certain...

I have been an REI member since 1970. It was different then, their annual catalog was a welcome information packet full of outdoor camping and climbing tips as well as information on the co-op financials and board member's writings of their expeditions. You could vote for the board. I would...

By the way, in my traditional land nav training course, use of GPS as a crutch is forbidden by students and myself during the field trek test portion. During a guide leader training trek, as certification for a summer leadership job, I failed one student "leader" for sneaking using a GPS. If you...

When on trail or not, I would never go on a trek by blindly "following the leader", and I teach my land nav students they should not either. Nothing worse than staring at the back of the boots of the person immediately in front of you for mile after mile. I go by: "if you are not the lead dog...

Work on your traditional navigation skills (map, compass and observational) and you won't ever reach for any otherwise unneeded external electronics for bail out. And, where ever you go, please do not leave a trail of colorful plastic flags as bread crumbs. Too many people do. I will only have...