Hiking and Using Technology…

20 years ago it was an altimeter watch and a camera.

Today it is an altimeter watch, inReach mini, iPhone, and if I am out for more than a week a battery bank.

The altimeter watch I use more as a timer (remind me to  drink and eat regularly) than watch or altimeter.  The inReach I started carrying for solo cross-country hikes and remote area hikes (it is piece of mind for my wife).  And the iPhone replaced the camera with the iPhone12 when image quality got decent.  I also use it in-lieu of a notepad for journaling, and for my 2021 JMT hike I used it for maps too.  (off-trail and remote areas I still take “paper” maps and a compass).   I can’t imagine using it for phone calls while out hiking, the inReach and email/text exchanges are already too much.  I want to be off the grid.

The iPhone as camera has lightened my load, and it is “swipe left” convenient that I take nearly 3x the photos as with the camera which increases the likelihood of getting at least one decent photo per outing.

Phone, kindle, and Inreach Mini for me. More than 4 days, I’ll add a lipstick charger for the phone.

My phone has replaced a camera, my kindle has replaced a book. Each night I power up the Inreach and send my wife a quick message. So I don’t feel any additional distraction compared to 25 years ago, although perhaps any camera does represent a bit of a distraction. However, I truly love having the photos and often look back and reflect on my trips. They give me a lot of pleasure.

I am often off-trail, so the ability to check position by GPS as a back-up to map/compass is an additional benefit of the phone. Saves me some anxiety and occasionally some time getting back on track. On something as well-marked, crowded, and established as the CT, I can’t imagine needing a GPS.

I know people who use their Inreach to check weather, and I tried that once or twice, but stopped bothering. What’s the point? The weather is going to be what it’s going to be, and I’m going to deal with it.

On one occasion, I saw a big plume of smoke at sunset and then ash on my pack in the morning, so it was pretty clear that a major fire had started near me and I used the Inreach to contact my wife and asked her to give me an update. Based on her response, I hiked out a day early, so that was probably a good use case.

Smoke plume at sunset:

Ash on pack in the morning:

Yeah, smoke plume at sunset and ash on your pack in the morning does suggest it’s time to move on. All without recourse to technology.

Today, we sometimes don’t believe what’s right there in front of our eyes until it’s confirmed by a device.

Yes, I understand that the fire could be on another ridge and headed in another direction from your route. IME, the next day’s hiking will tell the tale on its own. I’m perfectly capable of feeling wind direction and smelling smoke. Why carry extra stuff that only tells you what your own immediate experience already knows?

By the way, hiking in the Sierra over decades I’ve seen lots of those smoke plumes and made plans accordingly. I hate hiking in smoke.

To be fair, the fire turned out to be pretty far away and I would have been safe continuing. But the recommendation was to leave, and as you mentioned, the air quality was unpleasant the next day. Without the Inreach, I probably would have reached the same decision, but it was an example of a time where I appreciated some extra info.

The main reason I carry it is to check in with my wife each evening so she doesn’t worry.

And if I hadn’t been carrying my phone, I wouldn’t have those cool photos.

P.S. Actually, I’m kind of wishing that @jscott was here right now. We are getting a LOT of smoke from the Lowline fire, which is about 10 miles away. And I’d really like to know what to expect.  ;-)

Well, I need to backtrack a bit. I jsut remembered a trip where the rangers issuing my permit failed to mention a fire on my route (3 days away) that had closed the trail. as it was on the other side of a tall pass, I wouldn’t have seen it sufficiently to avoid it, or might not have. By chance I ran into a ranger while out who informed me of the closure, and I was able to change my itinerary. so having a phone would have helped in that situation.

I’m like you guys, concerned about the fires and smoke but there are times when it’s hard to totally avoid them. Backpacked around that several times but once we finished dinner and climbed out to the promontory at the end of the near ridge line and found a comfortable seat. We watched the bombers fight the wildfire a couple major ridges over and down a bit. They dropped load after load in the sunset. There was a bright explosion of light when a tree went up in flame. Usually a fire like that will burn for a month and just keep moving along. Couple years ago the whole range burned from west to east. They closed down everything until it rained regularly for a few days and put it out.
We got another pounding rain last night and things are starting to green up and bloom again. The change from everything looking dead to green explosion is always stunning and fast.

Dan, just came back from climbing Treasury mountain north of Crested Butte.  We did see the smoke plume from the Lowline fire north of Gunnison, but absolutely no smoke bothered us on our climb, or spoiled any of our views from the summit.  As an aside, if you recreate in the Crested Butte area, be aware that as of this year disbursed camping is verbotten–you can still do it but most do so in a designated site (there is a wooden post which is marked with a site number).  Camping is free, but just needs to be done in one of the designated sites.  A friend tells me they do patrol to ticket scofflaws, but we didn’t see any “patrols”.  More hurdles for us dirtbags….

Thanks, John, I hope you had a good day on Treasury, we hiked Teocalli. We are fortunate to have a place in CB and my wife is here most of the time. So TBH, we may have a slightly different perspective on the camping regulations.  :-)

Fortunately, the smoke doesn’t seem to be coming this way, and hopefully the rain last night will help knock it down.

@WISNER! said,

“Distraction seems to be a big concern regarding technology. So it seems we place a premium on being present, and yet we rarely recognize it as such, nor does our culture place much emphasis on the value of teaching it. There are infinite ways for a person to be distracted, and conversely, those people that cultivate presence are not easily led astray. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s about the stuff you carry. . .

Technology or not, a brain that hops around like a flea will always find something to chase.”

I think Craig is spot on.

I remember a time when USGS Topo Maps and base plate compasses were high tech. Let’s face it, both of these “old” tools are technology.

I have played around with older GPS units and cell phone apps. The newer technology just isn’t for me, for reasons that are not related to distraction. However, if one wants to use them and other new technology — go for it. It’s your choice.

My standard technology today includes paper topo maps, a military lensatic compass, and a headlamp. Sometimes I splurge and bring compact binoculars and/or a P&S camera. Sometimes the P&S is a distraction.

In 1971 I did a solo hike from Kernville to the Forks of the Kern, to Mt. Whitney, and then did the JMT using only National Forest Maps (IIRC the maps were something like 1:275,000), and a military lensatic compass (that I didn’t really need). The maps were free in those days and no wilderness permits to do Whitney or hike the JMT. There were few people up there in those times. However, a campfire permit was required.

Oh, and I didn’t have a backpacking stove — didn’t know they existed. My tent was a flat tarp and I didn’t have a sleeping pad or mattress — I didn’t “know better.”

I did bring a fishing rod and spinning reel. I was able to eat trout almost every day. Very high tech and enjoyable. Often fishing is not a distraction but a way to immerse one’s self in the environment.

Then I turned around and hiked back to Kernville taking as many alternate trails as possible.

I didn’t die or get lost. And I had a great time exploring that part of the Sierra Nevada, often not knowing exactly what the next day would bring me.

+1 @ Nick…

I am reminded of an observation Nir Eyal made in the book  Indistractable or maybe Hooked. We tend to blame externals (specifically technology) for issues that come from our hearts.  We touch our phones not due to some outside prompt, but because our hearts feel discomfort (bored is one variant) and we want relief.

The primary electronic technology I bring is an iPhone which I use for navigation, camera, bear (notes), and a voice memo which I use a lot to record thoughts. I have an electronic devotion I look at each morning and evening. I actually prefer a real camera with dials, a paper notebook with pen, a dedicated voice recorder with a stop/start button… but to save space and weight I settle for the inferior UI of the phone (which can temporarily pull me out of the moment). Maybe 5% of the day/nights I listened to music, a podcast, or  read an ebook for a hour or so. When with people I sometimes lookup information of a downloaded version of wikipedia if it could help resolve a discussion.  Once I have used the phone for the task at hand I put it away… I don’t get sucked into looking at it.

I generally have my phone in airplane mode unless I am in cell range and need to be coordinating with someone.  When I am on an extended solo trip in locations that few people (cross paths with less than 3 people / day) I bring an Garmin inReach to keep my family from worrying. I turn it on once a day to send a  “I am safe”, and would use it if I needed to be extracted.

I don’t find the GPS navigation a distraction… but it does narrow my experience. I stay on route (whatever route that is) rather than exploring. Having navigation is more efficient, but has removed some adventures (which involved a fair bit of back tracking, bushwacking).

My wife and I had an interesting use case for our Inreach this morning. We were near the end of a 5-day trip in the Weminuche Wilderness in SW Colorado (I plan to post a trip report when I get my act together), camping near the CDT only 6-7 miles from our vehicle. It had been a beautiful and smooth trip with perfect weather.

At about 2am, she called out to me, “Do you smell smoke?” and I told her that I had also been noticing the smell. When the sky lightened a bit, we saw that the entire Weminuche Pass valley below us was completely full of smoke and it was impossible to see anything. One or more fires had apparently started late the previous day or overnight, and we had no idea of their location. Heading north to our vehicle could have taken us right towards the fire … or not. We could have made a guess based on the prevailing winds, but they had been variable, and it would have been very uncertain.

So for the first time ever, I pressed my InReach SOS button, and the IERCC was able to look at the locations of reported fires, and even checked with the local dispatch to see if any new fires had been reported. Fortunately, the smoke was coming from “fires” to the southeast and we needed to go north. So we were fortunate. Given the outcome, the information was obviously not lifesaving, but incredibly helpful, and a good use of technology in my opinion,