On our trip to the Q last year, one of our two crews took a GPS unit along just for fun. They logged all of their way points so they could map their trip more accurately and calculate distances traveled when they got back.

As I understand it, GPS units speak in universal longitude and latitude language, so the data would be useful to anyone. To me the trick is getting accurate data. First, I think there is some variation in accuracy between GPS units; however, I think the worst of them would be good enough. Secondly, I would think we would want coordinates based on actual field measurments, not plotted off of a map. (You can get that information from the map yourself.) The problem in some cases seems to be inaccurately plotted portage trails on the published maps. I would think the most useful information would be to provide accurate coordinates for the start and end of portage trails that are not accurately shown on the map or have been removed from the maps, based on field coordinates from someone who actually found the portage.

Happy portage trail hunting...Doug

Posted by KsCanoeist on July 24, 2002 at 12:04
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