Skyline GPS data

[Tim Le]

The GPS track point data on Perry's Skyline website is an Excel file that needs to be processed and converted before it can be used on a GPS unit. If you don't want to deal with that, see this site for a GPX file: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=3209

[pdforeme]

I can not make sense of GPS visualizer, which is why i "resorted" to gpsbabel.

if you could show screenshots of your success w gps visualizer, that would help others....cuz gpsbabel is no fun to mess with

[Perry]

That's great that you posted that because I have just been telling people I don't know how. Dan and his friends made that file. If anybody emails me a GPX version, I can simply upload that for people to download directly and not have to go through that conversion process. cactus2clouds at yahoo

[Tim Le]

[pdforeme]

not sure how accurate; but nice site w/ gpx of various US hikes...this of c2c
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=3209

[GoPlayer]

not sure how accurate; but nice site w/ gpx of various US hikes...this of c2c
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=3209

Good find. It's a much smaller file (only 300 points) and tracks the trail reasonably well. I'd think close enough to find it anyway. At least that's for the parts where I can recognize a trail in GoogleEarth. It's also in fair agreement with the track from geocities.

Now it's time for me to go out there and record my own track

[AlanK]

It's a much smaller file (only 300 points) and tracks the trail reasonably well. I'd think close enough to find it anyway.

It's about 16 miles from Palm Springs to the summit of Mt. San Jacinto. The route in not intricate. Loading ones GPS with 5 waypoints per mile is already more than sufficient -- that would be a total of about 80. Given the nature of the route, by choosing with a bit of thought, I would happily settle for a quarter of that. (I am accepting, for the sake of argument, that one should use a GPS at all.) Tracks this short with hundreds -- or thousands! of waypoints are overkill and suggest too much attention to the electronics and not enough attention to route finding. Even in the dark. Route finding skills are a lot more important to develop than skill at following a small electronic widget. And I am a big fan of GPS!

[pdforeme]

alank...just to pick a fun fight....
<p>
At 4am on an unfamiliar trail, and one that has explicity bad directions (the skyline below the picnic tables, (museum route)...that has misleading painted arrow....shoot, i'd much rather have a ton of detail
<p>
Since the bits are free....i don't feel compelled to economize on the track/route i use.

that said, on a standard well mapped trail, yeah, a few waypoints are sufficient
<p>
Sort of on the same line. Last year i went up a familiar Mt Rainier route; that is, a day hike to Camp Muir. I had compass, topo, plus great 1 pager w/ key landmarks from Park Service. Then i added a friends GPS w/ 5 or so key waypoints. But on our descent (which is why i brought all this stuff)..the typical fog rolled in. The waypoints became worthless for a comfortable hike...that is, too much intermediate hills and valleys....so if you went on direct heading between waypoints you'd exert far more than if you simply followed the nice route you took in the morning when it was sunny.

Lucky for us the RMI guys put wands in the snowfields, so we just had to follow those.

Point being, for complicated routes, there's nothing like having a linear track if you will, to follow.

[AlanK]

pdforeme --Well, as long as the fight is all in fun...

Just to be clear -- I did not intend my comments as criticism of you. You have obviously been around and know what you're doing.

I concede that memory pretty much free (unless you are stuck with an old GPS), so incredibly detailed tracks cost nothing -- and weigh nothing. I just want to communicate that a few track points per mile is fine on a wide open route like C2C. I may have been a bit glib about the dark part. When I first did C2C in 2002, I had my GPS along with a few waypoints but never used it. I basically followed the rule "go up." I admit that there are more trails appearing ever 15 minutes these days on the lower reaches, so it is not as easy for the first timer as is was even a few years ago, especially in the dark.

"Go up" is a pretty good rule, though!!

[GoPlayer]

I'm not sure about the turn this discussion is taking ("fight", "criticism"), but since it started with a (slightly out of context) quote of my post I want to clarify: I was only trying to respond "not sure how accurate". That's why I quoted it in my post.

Sorry for the confusion.