How I Navigate On a Thru-Hike

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to talk to you about how I navigate during the truth I have a lot of people ask me how do you know where you're going how do you not get lost and how do you know exactly where the trail is especially over a 2,000 mile or 3,000 mile trail now obviously I cannot speak for every single trail in the US and tell you exactly how you should navigate it I can't tell you some general tips and tools that I have used along the way after hiking over 7,000 miles of trail before I delve into what I specifically did for each trail the Appalachian Trail the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail I just want to kind of give an overview of what people typically use for like tools and different tips for backpacking or hacking in general so some of the tools that you'll see folks use might be guidebooks map and compass and with the technology we have these days either apps that use GPS or even potentially handheld GPS units now it is recommended that you have two forms of some kind of way to navigate that way if one fails like if you're using an app on your phone or handheld GPS or you know your maps get wet you have some form of backup so if you have a trail that you want to go hacking on or backpacking or through hack chances are there is going to be one or more of these tools that can help you on that trail so the Internet is your friend if you google almost any established trail that you want to hike there will be resources to help you with that trail most likely now the next thing that really comes in handy that I want to mention is on trails since I just really made that up but it's just it's kind of something that comes along with being out on a trail so there are things that you start to pick up on like for example blazes on a tree so that is a 2x6 rectangle and on the Appalachian Trail for example they are white there are certain ways to read blazes most of the time you're just going to see this blaze painted on a tree or sometimes even carved into it but more commonly these days pay and if you see just one rectangle usually that is telling you to remain straight if you see two rectangles that are stacked on top of each other and say one is offset to the right or left wherever that one is offset on top that is telling you where to go you might find other so-called confidence markers like the PCT blaze for example or the little CDT marker you know just something indicating what trail you are on and then hey you are still on the right path now these blazes might be found not only on trees but also on rocks or fence posts just anything that basically can be painted on so doing some research and checking online or again guidebooks and maps etc will help with some of that stuff as far as blazes go different colors can also mean different things so you want to find out for the trail you're on if there's any information about that so for example on the Appalachian Trail with those blazes blue blazes can indicate either a path to water or potentially even an alternate so again these things will be specific to whatever path or trail you decide to hack sometimes there might also be paint or flagging or just some kind of colorful indicator if the trail is being rerouted or you know new path is being cut or maybe there is a temporary detour again if something doesn't quite feel right it's it's good to kind of stop and take a breath and just kind of look around and see what indicators might be around telling you like hey the past does not continue that way it actually goes this way some other indicators of where the trail leads might be careened so big ol stacks of rocks these were especially helpful for me in the white mountains on the Appalachian Trail and actually on some of the other trails too when it's pretty wide open and there aren't very many trees to necessarily put a blaze or attach a marker to they're also helpful say if it snows and the white blazes or other markers might be covered up but you can still at least see you know unless there's a whole lot of snow the rock stacks protruding there can also be smaller Rock stacks it doesn't always have to be huge Cairns but learning to look for some of those indicators is very helpful especially if you are forwarding a river and you get to the other side and you're kind of looking for which way the trail might go or also if you've reached an intersection of some sort and there isn't a sign that clearly states which way the path that you want to be on is going I will say with Cairns you know be a little careful there are folks who like to stack rocks just because they think it looks pretty and then you know others say that it's graffiti whatever let's not get into that argument or controversy but anyhow with Cairns you know I would say use caution and make sure that it is actually indicating that the path goes this way and not just like oh I felt like building this decoration another thing to pay close attention to is if you find yourself stepping over on the trail like a log or some rocks that are you know in line right across the trail all of those things might indicate that you do not need to continue on that path because a lot of times you're just trucking on down the trail and you know the trail looks like a highway it's very well developed but then you'll find something like that laid across and that's where you need to stop and go okay something is blocking this path is it just like a blowdown or something that's like coincidental that it's there right now or is this something actually indicating do not go this way and that's a real easy way to get lost just to kind of go over the top of something like that and not even pay attention but again these are things that the more time you spend out there and the more times you get turned around I realize you're not on the right path anymore you'll start to kind of tune into some of those hints around you for well established trails it's usually not likely that you're gonna get so lost that you end up in some serious trouble but having a back-up plan like a personal locator beacon an in reach a spot device just some type of device that you can call for help if you need it and you end up truly lost and you know as a last resort because your navigation tools aren't working anymore or you know for whatever reason you found yourself in a band an example of this where it really could have been useful on the Appalachian Trail several years ago a lady named inchworm got lost she went to go use the bathroom and she had all of her gear with her she ended up disoriented couldn't find the trail she set up and she actually lived for several weeks before she finally succumbed to I guess exposure or less and passed away now you know everyone will tell you it is so hard to get lost on the eighteen and and it really is true but of course there are situations like that so if you're worried about something like that then you know it's it's a good idea to have again one of those devices like a personal locator beacon or some device where you can communicate with other people now let's go ahead and delve into what I specifically did to navigate each trail on each of my three hikes so for the Appalachian Trail like I mentioned it is like a highway and it is very well marked with white blazes which are the two by six rectangles white painted on the tree sometimes you'll see blue blazes which again might mean an alternate or a path to water it'll mean different things and the way that I was able to usually determine which it meant was I used a walls 80 guide and this is just a book that you can get either in printed form or in PDF copies and so you can't tell specifically where you are with GPS or anything like that obviously using you know paper printouts but it did give some mile markers along the way it would tell you what water sources are different things to look out for you know junctions and then it also had elevation profile in the guidebook and also town information which is you know helpful for navigating where to eat and where to stay and things like that once you go to town to resupply that is the only source of navigation that I used while on the 80 I felt very safe I did not have any other backups or anything like that but if you're gonna only have one source of navigation I know that's not recommended and I'm not recommending that's what you do but I will say of the three trails that I've done that the 80 is the safest one for that any of the times that I found myself turned around or you know lost although I really wasn't lost it was usually on another trail so I had just gotten off the trail onto a side trail that led somewhere else but either the blaze color or the marker or something like that helped me realize like hey you're not on 18 anymore so I just turned around back track the only other time that it got a little hairy for me on the 80 is when I was trying to not hack in the White Mountains at night so it's a wide-open area where I'm looking for big Cairns rock stacks and a lot of the terrain was rocky there anyway so it's a little difficult to do with a headlamp in the dark so if you're in an area where navigation might not be super easy it might not be the best place to not hack but some lessons we learn the hard way I had the 80 to do again I would definitely use the gut hook app for my main source of navigation and that's what I ended up using on the PCT which is what I'll tell you about now I think for the PCT the entire trail cost me about $50 and for a tool that you're using multiple multiple times a day every day for six months you know $50 really is not a bad press the gut hook app can be purchased in section so if you're only gonna do a certain section of a trail and you don't want to pay $50 for the whole shebang you can do that and it's a little bit cheaper in the gut hook app you can like I said see where you are exactly what direction you're pointing because it has a little arrow you can look at all sorts of different way points from places to camp at night to water sources and it also has a lot of town information and then below those waypoints other hackers can comment and give you know their thoughts on a certain campsite water source motel you know whatever it really is just a wealth of information that's added upon by different hackers each year and the wonderful thing about the gut hook app is it's available for so many different trails not even trails in the US as far as long distance trails go also for the PCT I started out using the half mile Maps now it's a pretty good tool that somebody just donated their time to so the guys name is half mile that's his trail name and he just sat down created these maps and put all of this effort just to help his fellow hikers so the maps are free online now they used to have a service where you could have them printed and mailed to you I think that there was some kind of copyright issue there I don't know that they're doing that anymore but I will put a link in the video description to all of these different tools I'm talking about today including the maps so if you want to check out these maps and print them yourself you can absolutely do that I said that I started with these maps because I found that I was using gut hook and I really just wasn't using anything else I didn't feel that it was necessary to have a map and compass I am NOT saying that you should not do that if that's what makes you feel comfortable absolutely do it some people carry them I would say the majority of thru-hikers do not but that doesn't mean that that's what you should do just because the majority of people don't I'm just telling you what it's actually like on the trail and that I did not feel like I needed it the PCT is also very well marked in most areas it's just as well traveled as the Appalachian Trail or appears to be anyway there are a lot of the reassurance markers any places that get a little hairy there usually are some kind of indicators like I mentioned before rocks tax or flagging and things like that the only area where the PCT got a little iffy for me was the Sierra Nevada and that's just because it was such a high snow year now I own the open where you could see you know packed snow it was pretty easy to follow so going up and down passes but when I would get in wooded areas and they were like these big mounds of snow it was real easy to get turned around in areas like that so that's where gut hook really helped more than I can say I did decide to carry a personal locator beacon on the PCT because I was more concerned with like rattlesnakes and and having some kind of misfortune of getting really lost in the Sierra Nevada so I did end up carrying that as you know a last resort but the only navigation source that I used on the PCT was gut hook now for the CDT I was so worried I was like this is gonna be like you know constant bushwhacking I had heard folks talk about you're always bushwhackin on the CDT and it really didn't turn out to be near as bad as I thought it was gonna be there are times where it is more difficult to fund the trail and it's interesting because you know on the 80 and the PCT you can usually definitely tell where the beaten path is but on the CDT you know it's not always the most beaten path that you take and there are times when you're on a trail and you're like has anyone actually come through here before or am I on like an animal path like am I on a deer trail right now and so I'll find myself checking got hook like a million times a day but once you have to double back so many times and you end up walking you know two more miles one out and one back then you were supposed to in a day you learned to kind of check gut hook anytime something doesn't feel right so I do think that starting with the eighties it was like the highway the PCT that had like some if he spots and then finally going to the CDT you know was a nice transition because the CDT certainly is easier to get lost on and another tool in gut hook that I noticed I utilized more on the CDT than the PCT was the different layers so you can do like an aerial photograph you can do topo maps as far as like the plan view so you can have all sorts of different layers for me that was helpful because sometimes if I was in an area where there was a clearing you know I could look at the aerial photograph and go okay this is kind of where we are or even when picking campsites for for sleeping so if it looked like on github that an area might be you know open because it had been burned well then I might can't before that because I don't prefer to camp in burn areas because the dead trees can fall especially if it's a windy night or something like that so that was a feature that I noticed I used a lot more on the CDT than I did on the PCT and go hook in addition to having gut hook I also had lay maps now I did have these lame apps on my phone you can download them as PDFs and print them out if you choose to have paper maps it's a person hacker his name is jonathan ley who just decided like i'm gonna be a nice person and put a lot of effort and work into these maps and then offer them for free so again i'll put a link to those if you want to learn more about those but i did not feel like it was worth the weight of printing them out so i had them the Vanessa app you just download the VINs app from the little store on your phone and then in the store in of Inza you can search for a lei or even some keywords like CDT and then the state to fund the different sections now what I did was for a certain stretch or two I would go ahead and download all of the maps and then you know when I got to the next town when I knew those maps were about to run out I delete the old maps and then download some more that way they weren't taking up so much storage on my phone but again if you want to print them out you certainly can so about 95% of the time I would say gut hook and maybe even more than 95% time but gut hook was my main avenue of navigating the Continental Divide rail now the lay maps would come in handy at times like if I was looking for an alternate or a shortcut maybe due to you know water looking for additional water sources because the typical ones were dry even for bad weather sometimes so instead of getting up on a ridge when there was going to be flattening and storms you know I could take a lower route by looking at lay Maps one instance of this on the CDT was when Erin left camp before Percona and he was trying to hurry up and get to town so he could edit a video and we knew that you know there was some potential bad weather rolling in and we decided Perkin I'd to check the lay maps and we took a lower route while Erin didn't have the lay maps on his phone so he took the normal CDT route in gut hook and ended up high on the ridge and he messaged me on the inReach was like hey are y'all getting snowed on and I was like no we actually ended up taking a lower out where we didn't have to make that climb and we were able to avoid the inclement weather if you will because the CDT is a little easier to get turned around on I not only had gut hook and then you know the lay maps just more or less as a source of alternates I also had my in reach and that had the maps it has topo maps and actually has the CDT in those maps then reach explore plus so I also had that in case you know my my phone was broken and I didn't have those other sources but again on the CDT I still did not have any actual printed maps and I did not use a compass so if you've noticed on ATP CT and CDT I did not talk about using printed paper maps and a compass I just never felt like I needed to I'm not saying that you should not I think whatever makes people comfortable with getting out on the trail and you know navigation especially is something that it's okay to have some redundancies so I will never tell somebody you know you're stupid for carrying a compass and a map or anything like that I think it's a good idea and it is a good thing to have as a backup but I will say if you're gonna carry a compass and some maps make sure you know how to use it so definitely you know learn that skill if you're gonna get out there because otherwise you know what's the point of it it's not something that you want to try to learn in the field while you're stressed out and you know you have this tool but now you don't know how to use it if you are going to use your phone as your main source of navigation so whether you have gut hook or some other app on your phone that you're using to locate where you are if you take off your pack and leave it by the trail to go to the restroom a lot of hikers do this so that folks that they're hacking around will know you know hey this person stopped they're probably using the restroom I am now ahead of them so anyway if you do that make sure you take your phone with you because you don't want to go and use the bathroom and have all your gear somewhere else and then you get disoriented and you're having a hard time getting back to the trail I'm speaking from experience on this and it was it was a little bit stressful so anyway just just a little tip or piece of advice you know if you leave your pack in your gear by the trail to go to the restroom make sure you take your navigation source with you and finally I think the main takeaway that I want to give as far as navigation goes on these trails or really any trail is to use your brain you know and be aware this is not just a hat rack right here I think it is the most important tool that you can have and use in the wilderness and you know that that is your brain so pay attention to your surroundings pay attention to those little subtle hints that you might not be on the right path or you know that the correct path goes this way and really trust your gut you know use your instincts if you feel like you're not on the right path take a second stop and double check because there's nothing that's deflating as having to do extra miles in a day that you weren't planning on doing especially if you're trying to get to a certain location by dark and again it always is a good idea to have some kind of personal locator beacon or device where you can contact somebody if you do get in some kind of trouble because your navigation fails well that's all I have for y'all today on what I did to navigate on my through hacks if y'all have any tips or tricks that have worked for you or you feel like I've left you know some information out or if you have other tools for some of the trails I mentioned today or databases of information in general please feel free to share any of that in the comments below thank y'all so much for watching and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 90,698

Rating: 4.9505649 out of 5

Keywords: hiking, bushwacking, traveling, backpacking, appalachian trail, pacific crest trail, continental divide trail

Id: cvLZB33AcdI

Length: 20min 40sec (1240 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 13 2019