Hated the idea of paper maps, now I carry one on every trip

I spent 3 years swearing by GPS only, thought paper maps were for old timers who couldnt figure out tech. Then last October up in the Smokies my phone died at 2 PM and I had no backup, got turned around for 4 hours on the Ace Gap trail. A hiker from Alabama loaned me his folded map and showed me how to use a compass bearing, that got me out before dark. Now I bring a printed topo for every route over 8 miles, even if it just sits in my pack. Has anyone else switched back to paper after a close call, what map scale do you all prefer?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

joel_mason221mo ago

Man, a buddy of mine had almost the exact same thing happen on the Superior Hiking Trail two summers back. Phone hit 4 percent around mile 12 and he had zero service anyway, so he just sat down and ate lunch while he tried to remember the trail turns. He ended up walking an extra two miles the wrong way before a couple with a paper map pointed him back. Now he keeps a 1:24,000 topo folded in his hip pocket, says the bigger scale ones skip too many little creeks and side trails.

10

kimr331mo ago

Learned this the hard way with my car GPS too, weirdly enough. Started noticing that the second I stop relying on my own brain for directions, I just stop paying attention to where anything is at all. Think @joel_mason22 is onto something with the smaller scale map though, because those big picture ones really do smooth over all the little stuff that ends up mattering when you're actually standing there lost. It's the same reason I keep a paper backup of my grocery list now instead of just trusting my phone, dumb little things fail at the worst times.

1