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Talking to my nephew about the old John Muir Trail maps
He was planning a trip and just pulled up a perfect 3D flythrough on his phone... said he never even considered paper. I still have my worn-out set from my 2012 hike, all marked up with notes about water sources that are probably dry now. Makes you wonder if we miss something when the route is just a glowing line instead of something you have to really figure out.
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claire95814d ago
Honestly, what about the people who come after you? My old paper map has notes from the guy who owned it before me, little warnings about a tricky pass. That glowing line on a phone leaves no history for the next hiker. It's just a clean slate every time, like the trip never even happened for anyone else.
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taylor_mitchell8018d ago
Ever have your phone die miles from a trailhead? Paper doesn't run on batteries. Print a backup map and mark it up yourself, it forces you to learn the land. That glowing line makes you lazy, you stop paying real attention to the terrain. Next thing you know you're lost because you never really looked at the map in the first place.
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black.wesley18d ago
Hey @taylor_mitchell80, you can actually download maps to your phone for offline use though. Why not use both and have a real backup?
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