Using a GPS hand-held "GO TO/NAVIGATE" Function

[Grasshopper]

I am not a very technical savvy person and that is one reason I hesitated for so long to purchase a GPS hand-held unit until this past summer'08. My new hand-held Garmin 60CSx had a user manual that you needed to pick-up with two hands(not true of course, but you get my drift). This unit has menus in menus and has a tremendous amount of capability for the user willing to take the time to learn how to use it and then actually using it. I am never good at reading manuals, but with a well designed user friendly device I feel this unit is, I am fairly tolerant and persistant at pushing buttons until either I figure it out or eventully screw it up for ever. It was clear to me that learning how to use this unit and retaining that knowldege was not going to be like learning how to ride a bicycle, but for someone like me who does screw-up from time to time hiking in some remote areas of the wilderness, I could clearly see that this investment was going to be well worth the effort and frustrations for me to learn some of its "key" functions and offerings. I do believe one of the most time consuming things I had to deal with was just learning how to choose and set-up the numerous option GPS screens & screen headings to best accomodate my particular needs and interests. Once I accomplished this, by actually changing options back and forth while hiking to see real time what was happening, I then felt good that I now had it setup the way it would work best for me.

One of those "key" functions and offerings on my unit and I do believe also offered on most other GPS hand-held units is the "GO-TO" Function- Navigate FM/TO". I am no expert in trying to describe how this function works, but I had an occasion on an 11/16/08 group day hike(see my triplog), hiking after dark and off trail where this function came in might handy and probably saved us all (a group of 7) at least 2hrs of additional roaming where two in our group had some minor injury- one with a painful hip, and another with a sprained ankle. I believe all GPS units allow for setting & labeling specific waypoints at any point during your hike. I always set a GPS way point for every TH location I hike from/to and from every trail intersection with another trail. If I ever need to activate this GPS "GO TO" Function while hiking, I will now have waypoints set for my beginning TH and/or other key trail intersection points that I may need to navigate to. On this above noted 11/16/08 after dark 11hour day hike, we needed to quickly get back to a particular trail intersection that I knew from looking at my GPS map screen, we were approx .50 miles from, but because it was dark and we were off trail with only flashlights to navigate with, we needed to get there ASAP. I knew from a previous weeks hike that from this trail intersection it would be a clearly defined trail for the final .50 miles to our beginning TH and vehicles. I activated this "GO TO" navitation function on my GPS when at 6:30pm(30 minutes after dark) it was clear to me from looking at my map screen, that we were moving further away from our beginning TH waypoint location. In my GPS unit, to activate this function I simply activate the screen movement arrow in my map screen, then move this arrow to the map screen waypoint I want to go to. I then press enter on the GPS and it gives me a new screen with options.. I select the option "GO TO" and hit enter again. Now on my map screen shows a dark solid line that goes straight from where I now am(where my map screen triangle is located) directly to the waypoint I want to go to(ie, the shortest way there..a straight line route). Note: In my unit I have set up the screens so that the very next screen after my map screen is my compass screen. I now select this compass screen and the compass arrow is now directing me the correct direction to proceed hiking to arrive at this ending waypoint location. Of course you can't always proceed to this ending point in a straight line due to probably needing to buschwhack through difficult terrain and/or overgrowth. As an asset to help me navigate to this ending point, I have also set-up in my GPS "compass screen" the following four available screen headings that work well for me when having to use this "GO TO" function: OFF COURSE(measured in miles,feet), DIST to DEST(measured in miles,feet), ETA at DEST(hr and minute), HEADING(N,S,E,W,etc..). As you continue to follow the GPS compass screen arrow and hike as necessary based on the terrain, you can clearly see from actively viewing these above compasss screen heading (especially the OFF COURSE and DIST to DEST headings) and also once in a while going back to your map screen, to confirm IF you are proceeing in the correct direction to your ending destination waypoint. This worked well for us on this 11/16/08 day hike that turned into a night hike. I now feel more confident that I have added yet another proven day hiking navigation safety device(along with my maps and compass) and have made good progress learning how to use it effectively.

[nonot]

Nice job Hank, I think on mine it's called Navigate, rather than Go To.

Be careful completely relying on the electronic compass. It is nice to have but I've seen mine get confused on occasions, it's better to take a couple of readings in case you get one bad one in there.

[Jeffshadows]

Nice job Hank, I think on mine it's called Navigate, rather than Go To.

Be careful completely relying on the electronic compass. It is nice to have but I've seen mine get confused on occasions, it's better to take a couple of readings in case you get one bad one in there.

Good catch, I almost never use the one on my GPS...especially in canyons.