Mapped route vs GPS track on the JMT, paper won by a mile

Last month I hiked the John Muir Trail from Tuolumne to Reds Meadow and relied on a downloaded GPS track on my phone. The battery died by day 3 near Donohue Pass, so I dug out the paper map I brought as a backup. Following the contour lines and creek crossings felt slower, but I only added 2 miles of wrong turns total. The GPS track had me chasing a bushwhack that didn't exist on the ground. Has anyone else ditched digital navigation for a folded map on a long stretch, or am I the only one who learned the hard way?

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derek6562d ago

Man, that story hits way too close to home. It's like the same thing with my car's GPS rerouting me down some sketchy dirt road to "save 3 minutes" while the old paper atlas just had me cruising the main highway. We've all gotten so hooked on the digital convenience that we forgot the simple stuff actually works when the fancy stuff craps out. Your 2 miles of wrong turns is basically a perfect score in my book, I bet that bushwhack detour cost you way more time than any paper reading did. Honestly, it's a good reminder that the "dumb" tools are usually the ones that never let you down when it really counts.