“I always print a Google map of the place I am going and use that along with the GPS. The GPS and I always get into disagreements about the route.”
Being an Army Brat, a Boy Scout and also a Vet, I learned very early what maps were all about. Before scouts, I learned to read maps while we were traveling from one base to another. That made mapping in scouts incredibly easy. I also learned how to use the sun and stars combined with the mapping skills. The Military applications only went to strengthen them.
GPS came along and I have never owned one of those little things you see on peoples dashboards. Being very computer literate, I have the Streets and Trips program on a small notebook that I keep in my truck that uses the USB GPS antenna for mostly location purposes in the program. As I can zoom in and out with ease, I can get to street level and also the big picture view. I still keep my lensatic compass in my computer case.
So, the best of both worlds. If I am looking for something in densely populated areas, I will use the Navigator in my cell phone for the voice directions so I can keep my eyes on the road.
I also learned to read roads.
You don’t have to be a tracker to tell a road hasn’t been traveled in however long it took for the tracks on it to be obliterated by weather or for that scrub to grow up in it.
In the desert, that takes even longer.
I have found my way in and out of places sans GPS, compass, and with an overcast sky simply by looking at a dirt/gravel road and determining which option was best and most recently traveled.
I wouldn’t care what the widget on the dashboard said, the trail tells me where people have been.