This is a screen shot of the iPhone app iHikeGPS. Once you download the map for your area, you don’t need a cell phone signal to track your hike. Of course, you should always carry a map and compass and know how to use them just in case.
How often are you getting lost these days?
If your experience is like mine, on-phone or in-car GPS has just about eliminated the chance of getting lost or even taking a wrong turn.
I have a horrible sense of direction. I used to get lost a lot. One very memorable time, I was in my early teens and hiking with my dad and I stepped off the trail to answer nature’s call. Just 15 meters off the trail in the densely forested Adirondacks, I became so turned around, I had to yell to find my father. Luckily, he was still within shouting distance. It was an important lesson about staying oriented in the wilderness, for which I fortunately did not have to pay a high price.
On another occasion In the German Alps in 1980, my friend Steve and I (foolishly) decided to climb up a 3,000-meter mountain with no compass, no map, and without following a trail. Nothing can compare to the relief I felt when, after bushwhacking through brush for a few hours, we stumbled on a path running from town to the summit.
Before GPS, I routinely went miles out of my way in a car before I noticed that the sun seemed to be setting in the east on that particular day. I also happened upon a number of wonderful sights that I would have missed if I had stayed exactly on course.
Those kinds of misadventures rarely happen anymore.
Last fall, my wife and I were hiking in Arches National Park and the trail we were following kinda disappeared. The map on my phone that showed exactly where we were and where the car was. It was easy to head right for it.
How will we find our way, if we always know where we are?
When was the last time you lost something? That still happens to me from time to time. But thanks to Tile trackers and Apple AirTags, I don’t lose my keys, my manbag, or umbrella. My Apple Watch can ping my phone to help me find where I set it down, and my phone notes the location of my car each time I park it. No more wandering around in parking lots looking at the license plates of dozens of gray Honda Civics. The ‘Find My’ app means I can keep track of not only my computer, my phone, and my iPad, but also my wife, my kids, and my parents! (with their permission, of course).
Yes, I misplaced my ear buds last week. I put them down in a place I never normally put them and had no memory of doing so. When they showed up a day later, I popped an AirTag in the case. I probably won’t lose them again. Anything with significant monetary or sentimental value can be tracked this way including people and pets!
Losing things can be irritating. It can be inconvenient. If they never turn up, it can be expensive replacing the lost items. But the annoyance of misplacing things might encourage one to be more careful about putting things away where they belong or at least mindful about where you are setting things down.
What will we keep safe, when there is nothing we can lose?
Getting lost can be scary. It can even be dangerous in the woods or at sea. At the very least it can be a waste of time and resources. But the possibility of getting lost requires one to be prepared, and actually getting lost may force one to call on resources you didn’t know you had. Or find a beautiful spot you didn’t know existed. Or stumble into adventure
In the 1970s when I was hiking with my dad at the end of a long day, I imagined a magic map that would show my position on it and how much further it was to get back to camp. Now I have such a magic map and it’s with me all the time. When I think about the miracles of modern life, GPS mappers and trackers are right up there with microwave ovens and plant-based burgers.
At the same time, my instincts tell me that these miracles of modernity can be double edged. Just as the convenience of the microwave has contributed to a general decline in the ability to prepare healthy homemade meals, so are the outdoor magazines and newspapers filled with stories about those who wander off into the wilderness with nothing but a cell phone for guidance, only to find that a lack of signal or a dead battery spells grave danger.
An obvious downside of these devices is that they rely on batteries and on cell signal - both of which can be unreliable. However, the seductiveness of these devices mean fewer hikers are carrying the tried and true map and compass. Fewer still know how to use them.
But beyond the risk of a dead battery at an inopportune time, I wonder if there isn’t an even more insidious danger to our technology.
When I moved to Rochester, N.Y. in 2015, GPS meant that I didn’t need a mental map of the city in my head. Five years later, I still didn’t know my way around as well as I should have.
Our culture has already to a large extent forgotten how to grow or catch our own food. We often live too far from a market to be able to even purchase food without a motor vehicle. We don’t know how to repair our bicycles, sharpen our knives, sew up tears in our clothing, or bake our own bread. We are reliant on technology to supply every need that we would once have had skills to provide for ourselves. If you found yourself on an Island like Tom Hanks character in Castaway, would you be able to start a fire? I’m pretty sure I couldn’t. And now we can no longer get from point A to point B unless Siri tells us each turn.
What will we fail to discover when we can’t get lost?