GPS and Comapss

In the last post I talked about my bushwhacking adventure on the side of Prospect Mt and the Berry Pond tract. As I said I calculated the true N bearing and followed it to the pond. I did drift a little to the west, but I hit the pond without any trouble. Now instead of figuring my heading from Barry pond to my van, I used the GPS to do that and then sighted my compass on a point that the GPS pointed at. When all was said and done I hit about 250 meters S of my car and I had to really on the GPS as I closed in. When I plotted my track on the map and looked at what I had done, my fist 100 meters were in a straight line as the woods were open, but that straight line if extended would had missed by 400 meters. That was the course set by the GPS.

Now what I think I observed was that the GPS is good at getting you to where you need to go, but you should not rely on it to set your compass bearing. I believe the GPS constantly updates and changes your course for you as you move. I noticed this when I started out for Berry Pond I check my compass sighting with the GPS and at first it was off then it settled down and was close. I will continue to use the GPS, but will set bearings independently of the GPS and rely on them when Bushwhacking. I think that is the best bet.

New Trail and Bushwhacking

I have not really been an outdoorsmen lately as work has taken a lot of my time. Finally, the catering events and major functions are over for a while and I am ready for some of doors fun. I did do a little catfishin' last week. Did ok, of course the big one got away...no really it did :-)

Yesterday I went geocaching at the Lake George Rec Park where I had been before. There was a new set of GC's planted that took me up to the summit of Prospect Mountain. A approach that I have never done. Also I looked for and found my first Hybrid Cache/letterbox. I would like to see letterboxers not be so adverse to the idea of using GPS coordinates in their clues, but at this time many letterboxers have a negative view towards this. I digress...

Anyway these geocaches where placed about 350 meters apart (Yes I said meters I am on a personal quest to go metric. And I was born and raised in the US) which I think are too close, however this placer hid the caches at strategic points that brought me up the mountain perfectly. The geocacher actually says that that is why they were placed there.

After learning the new trail, at the last Geocahe, I calculated my bearing and bushwhacked to Berry Pond a new acquisition by the Lake George Land Conservancy. I did pretty good for a 2.3 km hike through the bush. I hit the pond at about where I was trying to get to. I then, being lazy took a direction with the GPS and followed that bearing out to my car.

I will talk about that later this week. All and all a good day and I was able to work on my land navigation skills a bit.

Black Mountain 2009

This past Friday I went up Black Mountain on the East side of Lake George from Black Mountain Point. This is a favorite trail of mine as it is a nice little trainer for the High Peaks and it has some real nice views of Lake George. Also, since this trail is for the most part accessed via the lake, it is usually quiet. I was not disappointed. In fact the trail showed very little signs of recent travel. The trail is clear with only a couple of small obstacles. However, as pleasant as the woods were, they were well populated with black flies, that got out of hand a couple of times. One nice part of the day was that I had the summit all to myself, which is a first in recent years. Even the black flies left me alone up there. This trail and a lot on the east side of Lake George do not get a lot of use and are great places to get away. I usually see less people of these trails than I do on the high peaks trails in the Adirondacks.

I want to mention a couple of things about our boat trip up to Black Mountain Point. We saw an otter not 30 feet from our boat in Warner Bay. I saw a pair of them last fall in there, but I was surprised to see one during the busy season. They must be getting used to people. The other thing that I want to mention is my feelings as we made the turn at 14 mile island heading into the Narrows and looked into Shelving Rock Bay at the Knapp Estate. Even the houses that are not part of the Knapp Estate, like Tommy Hilfiger’s House fit into the Old Adirondack feel that little corner of the Lake has for me. I really enjoy looking at these new and old homes that take me back to how I imagine the glory days of the Adirondack were. Anyway this area just takes me back I guess.

Oh and I checked on both my letterboxes and they are fine.

Big Hollow Road letterboxing maintanence

I went up Big Hollow road in Lake George today. We locals call this road/trail the Backside of Prospect. What a nice day to be in the woods. I saw so much bird life it wasn't funny. At one time I had a goshawk jumping from limb to limb over my head for 500 feet. I also saw among other birds four different species of wood peckers... I really need to work on my bird identification.

I traveled up Big Hollow to check on my letterboxes that I have placed along the road and to find a pleura of Geocaches that have been hidden all over the place.

My Lb's survived the winter very well considering that they are in recycled containers. The one thing that concerned me was that all of them were either hidden in a slightly different location or they were left out in the open. The fourth Lb of my Prospect Mountain Environmental Series was left exposed in the rock wall that it was hidden in. I was lucky to not have them muggled. But the important thing is that they are all safe and ready for another season of letterboxing.

The geocaches were easy to find and were in non-discrip locations. The purpose of the caches I believe is to bring people up the road.

One thing to note. The beavers have replaced the dam at the second reservoir again and the pond is a pond again. Life is good.

A hiking tips and more...

When you are hiking a marked trail and you come upon a stack of sticks laying across the trail look around for a trail marker. There are times when a marked trail will be changed or a trail will follow an old tote road for a while and then turn and the tote road keeps going straight and people not paying attention will miss the turn on the marked trail. Trail maintainers will lay brush down across the trail to stop this from happening. There are a couple of these at Pilot Knob Ridge that I have installed, but every year people will step right over them and walk out somewhere where they shouldn't be. Remember to always keep an eye on the trail markers. If you don't see one for a bit stop and find the last one and look for the next marker before you continue.

Great day to be in the woods. Cool, sunny and just plain pleasant. I check on the Pilot Knob Moose Letterbox and it was dry and waiting for long hikers to find it.

The Adirondack Almanack is four years old this week.

The Adirondack Almanack is celebrating it's fourth anniversary this week.

This website has a wealth of information both current and historical regarding the Adirondack region. If you have never been to this site stop by this week and check it out.

http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/

Ideas to become mentally and physically prepared for a long Lb search

You may be one of those letterboxers who really would like to look for that Lb that is off the beaten path, but you are little nervous about going into the deep woods. In this blog entry I am going to give you some tips that will hopefully help you become a little more comfortable with the idea of going out and getting those letterboxes that are a couple of miles off-road. I want to use my letterbox at the Pilot Knob Ridge Preserve that is owned by the Lake George Land Conservancy as an example of how I would prepare of a trip in the woods looking for this Lb will take you. The total trip is about 4 miles and the beginning 0.75 mi is a little on the steep side, but the trails are well maintained and well marked. I know as I am a Volunteer Preserve Steward and I am on this piece of the Southeastern Adirondacks a couple times a month.

So I will answer some hypothetical statements I believe that people may ask themselves and then answer them.

I don’t feel comfortable going into the woods.

If you feel uncomfortable going into the woods, do not go alone, bring a friend. This applies to experienced hikers also. This is the number one rule when hiking in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, so you should not feel bad because you don’t want to go it alone.

Let someone at home know your itinerary. When you are expected back, making sure that you leave enough of a cushion to allow you to enjoy the unexpected. After that time has past that person will call the authorities and let them know where you are and how late you are and they will take it from there.

You have a partner, and someone at home is going to alert the authorities if you are late, now it may take time for the rangers to find you that is why when you are going into an area for the first time you will have a little Possibles kit with you. That will contain some waterproof matches, high energy food an emergency blanket, knife, some twine and water purification tablets. You will also have in you pack rain gear and some extra weather appropriate cloths. So that if you do stumble off the trail and you do become lost you may be uncomfortable and scared, and never are going to go back into the f$&king woods again, but you will have an adventure that you will tell your friends and family about when the handsome or actually now a days pretty ranger finds you and takes you out.

In other words and stated a little more briefly, you are prepared for the worse and that it in itself should give you comfort.

When I come to a steep section of the trail I hate it.

Here is the mind over matter thing. The beginning of the Pilot Knob Ridge trail has some steeper spots in it. The steepness of the trail coupled with your unfamiliarity with the length of the trail makes the hike up to the Gazebo seem a lot longer than it really is. The hike up to the clearing is only 0.75 mi long and will get your blood going and yes you may even work up a little sweat. Good! Your body needs to be pushed a little and if you are in good health a little exertion like this is what the doctor ordered, and for me literally ordered. When you come to a steep section that makes you think about turning around, do not think about the steepness, just take small steady steps and slowly chip away at the hill. Do not worry yourself one bit if the group is getting a little ahead of you and you are the caboose. We all have and will be there. They will stop for you and let catch up. A lot of people, who are in okay shape, but they only hike infrequently are the hurry up and wait type of hiker and they really want a slower person in the group to allow them time to suck wind while you chug away up the hill. I am grossly over simplifying this, but I have run into this enough times to mention it here.

Now if you really wish to do some long letterboxing that requires you to hike more than a mile and you a are reluctant because you are afraid you can not handle it physically, go for a 30 minute walk every night, more if you have time, but that will get your legs in enough shape to be able to handle any moderate hike at a slow to moderate pace.

I really want to look for a letterbox, and I am beginning to become comfortable on the trail, but I am a little reluctant to go to an unfamiliar location.

The letterbox clues are the beginning of understanding where you are going. Use the internet to search for trail descriptions. If a letterbox is hidden in the Adirondack region of New York State the Adirondack Mountain Club has detailed trail descriptions of hundreds of trails in books for sale or at the library and on-line for free. Pilot Knob Ridge is published in the ADK’s Eastern Section trail guide. By reading the trail descriptions you will have fewer surprises and know what to expect. You will know that this steep section does not last for ever, that there are sharp switchbacks in the trail that you will need to pay attention.

Now if the box you wish to hunt for has no trail description and the clue is not detailed, but you will not be put off, get a topographic map of the area and study the trail that you wish to look for the Lb on. Trust me this is not as hard as it sounds but understanding and map and compass will give you one more tool that you have that will allow you to enjoy the hunt for the box and the trail itself on your journey. Skill with map and compass takes time and you should practice using and reading these important tools. Have knowledge of how to use a map and compass will give you yet another layer of confidence.

I am not put off by hiking, but sometimes you have to go off the trail to look for the letterbox and I am worried that I may not find the trail again.

This is something that you should defiantly be cognizant of and is something that I have run into hunting and geocaching. Last year I was geocaching in an area that I was familiar with and have been on the trail that leads to the area of the geocache many times. I reached a bend in the trail and had to go about 300’ off the trail to locate the geocache. When I was done I headed out to the t rail and missed it, I had to use the GPS’s track back feature to relocate the trail. What if the GPS failed I would knew what to do to relocate the trail, but it would have been more difficult than it needed to be.

What happed and what should I have done? When In reached the point that I was going to leave the trail I should have looked at the direction that I was going to be going and take a bearing with a compass. Shoot a landmark like a unique boulder or tree. Also look for something near the trail that would be a defining landmark. Go to that point and keep going if you need to use your compass until you are where you need to go. Before you leave the point that you just sighted look back at your “back bearing to the trail so you know what to look for. You get the idea you will use the back bearing to get back to the trail.

It is easy to become excited when you are in close proximity to the treasure, but that is the time to slow down and take your time. This step will prevent you from getting lost.

Now with that said, use a map and know where the roads and lakes and streams are on the map for instance on Pilot Knob ridge, if you for some reason lost the trail on the orange trail you would go west as this will take you out to Pilot Knob road and Lake George, and from there you will be able to find your car.

All this information are just ideas to get you started. Start with easy trails that are very well marked and in fairly civilized area and them begin to go to more and more challenging hikes. If possible join a hiking group like the Adirondack Mountain Club and go with experienced hikers or maybe you have a friend that is an avid hiker who would love to take you along and show you some skills.

The Pilot Knob Moose Letterbox is a good box to go after if you are a little nervous, but really want to go for a hike in the woods. Good luck and let me know if there is anything more that you would like to know.