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I finally switched my backpacking route planning style after a failed trip in Colorado | Backpacking Routes - The Community Guide

robert248•2mo ago

I finally switched my backpacking route planning style after a failed trip in Colorado

Last month I was planning a 4 day trip in the San Juan Mountains near Durango. I had this habit of just using downloaded GPS tracks from random blogs and calling it good. But that route had me crossing a creek at 4pm that was way too high from afternoon snowmelt. I had to backtrack 3 miles back to camp soaking wet and cold. That night I talked to a guy at a campsite who showed me his paper maps with waypoints he marked himself after checking satellite imagery. He also pulled up recent trip reports from a forum just like this one. I was convinced right there. Now I spend 2 hours before any trip cross referencing at least 3 sources and I always bring a physical map as backup. Does anyone else run into issues trusting GPS tracks from strangers online?

3 comments

3 Comments

rileyl672mo ago

Feels like you're making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be.

drew8052mo ago

Yeah I saw a thing on youtube the other day from some guy who does GPS stuff professionally, and he was saying how even a couple feet off can land you in the middle of a creek bed if the maps are outdated lol. Like whoever updated the trail data probably just traced it from satellite images that were from a different season or something. So I don't think it's making a big deal out of nothing, because if you're relying on that track for navigation in bad weather or low visibility it could actually get you into some real trouble. Not saying its guaranteed to happen, but it's one of those things where you're fine until you're not.

adams.troy2mo ago

Man, is this really that big of a deal? I've used random GPS tracks for years and never had an issue (knock on wood), sounds like you just hit some bad luck with that creek.