Ramble On

Monday, June 14, 2010

Tech Watch Geek: Nearly Optimal

I have a few Shenandoah National Park trail reviews to put up - as I mentioned in a post last week I finally completed all of the "Easy Day Hikes" in the Gilbert book.  On the final day of my vacation, I went out to check the box on the last two hikes, and as I started the first one - the "Traces" trail, I saw an opportunity to take a quick altitude measurement and compare it to the NPS map at the trailhead - shown here - where the altitude was reported as 2,710 feet.

I took the short walk over to the little ampitheater - it was a cozy little outdoor place where they show movies and do ranger programs at the Matthews Arm campsites.  I took my reading at the stand where they usually put the projector.

As shown in the final photo, my watch read out 865 meters - roughly 2,682 feet.  The air pressure must have been optimal this time, because that is the closest reading I've had so far, only 29 feet, or 9 meters, off. 

I forgot to take this opportunity to set a reference altitude, so when I do the hike reviews for Matthews Arm and Bird's Nest Summit, I may not have a correction factor for those posts. 

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