tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6212146662615977668.post8519185980548193624..comments2023-10-29T03:54:51.744-04:00Comments on Hawksbill Cabin: GWNF Interpretive Trails: A Couple of Easy Day HikesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08941273197588371958noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6212146662615977668.post-43418589545792089662010-01-21T07:19:25.407-05:002010-01-21T07:19:25.407-05:00Virginia B&B/Victorian: My colleagues and I u...Virginia B&B/Victorian: My colleagues and I used the Scothorn Gap Trail as one of our practice hikes getting ready for Yosemite in 2005. I agree with you, it can be hard to find some of the trail markers there, and I bet we made the same mistake once or twice. <br /><br />The trail to Duncan Knob from the hollow can be a bit more straightforward...but I think Scothorn Gap is more interesting in general. <br /><br />The worst time for the bugs there is August. Uggh!<br /><br />Best,<br />JimAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08941273197588371958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6212146662615977668.post-56343778679551287162010-01-21T07:16:50.715-05:002010-01-21T07:16:50.715-05:00Bob,
That's interesting about the Garmin. Be...Bob,<br /><br />That's interesting about the Garmin. Before I got the Pathfinder I read about this problem a little, so I expect some fluctuations. That's why I'm taking "baby steps" - the title of the post today! Thanks for the comment!<br /><br />JimAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08941273197588371958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6212146662615977668.post-11089940226293900102010-01-21T06:06:25.921-05:002010-01-21T06:06:25.921-05:00I did the hike with friends from Scothorn Trail. V...I did the hike with friends from Scothorn Trail. Very good hike with favorable weather conditions after so much rain in June. We had a nice breeze most of the day which reserved the mosquitoes and horseflies at bay. Very wise to take a comprehend and a topo map, we missed the Massanutten trail by staying on the Scothorn Trail a little too long which ended up in a dead end marsh.<br /><br />Best Regards,Virginia bed and breakfast | Victorian inn bed and breakfast | Romantic bed and breakfastshttp://www.woodruffinns.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6212146662615977668.post-54330414652529078672010-01-20T07:56:38.263-05:002010-01-20T07:56:38.263-05:00Jim,
It will be interesting to find out how accur...Jim,<br /><br />It will be interesting to find out how accurate you find the altimeter on your new watch to be after you get totally familiar with it.<br /> <br />I am not sure if this is pertinet but I have done a lot of work with the altimeter on my Garmin etrex VISTA HCx and I find that even when I start the day adjusting the altimeter at a known USGS benchmark that within a very short time afterward my elevations can vary by plus or minus 50-100 feet for the exact same spots on the exact trail week to week. <br /><br />Even when I recalibrate my etrex at a couple of known elevations (Summit of Old Rag for example) I find that by the time I get down off the summit to a USGS benchmark near the fire road my readings can again be off by a plus or minus 50-100 feet. There are around 50 points of interest or blaze markers on the Old Rag circuit that I was trying to get accurate altitude readings of. I did try messing around with turning on and off the GPS satelite correction of altitude feature. It did change the behaviour of the altimeter but in the end whether the satellite altitude correction feature was on or off the accuracy of my altitude readings still seemed to drift by a plus or minus 50-100 feet over time. <br /><br />I am a GPS newbie and have just recently started to learn about grid reference/datum models and now realize that these could easily explain my accuracy variances.<br /><br />In order to try and get a fairly accurate reading of my 50 points of interest I took recordings over several ciruits. By putting all the readings in a spreadsheet and then both averaging the readings as well as using a topomap as a sanity check I got the best readings I could using the tools at my disposal. <br /><br />My Old Rag points of interest list is mostly for my personl use but (with the exception of any known elevations from the map or USGS benchmarks) I assume that my list could still be off by plus or minus 10-30 feet and I always assume my Garmin can be off by a plus or minus 50-100 feet at any given time.<br /><br />Of course professionals can get GPS gear that can measure altitude with an accuracy of plus or minus fractions of an inch. <br /><br />**********************<br /><br />It is a shame that all those interpretive signs were removed. It makes me wonder what the story behind their removal is?Bob Lookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08711623028263000283noreply@blogger.com