Hills And Valleys

Day 148: For decades before the government ceased scrambling signals and made GPS technology available to the general public, I navigated the deep backcountry with a map and compass. I was often miles from the nearest trail, but I was never afraid of getting lost, even though as a general rule I hiked alone (i.e., at least 95% of the time). If there was a particular feature or landmark I wanted to visit, I would chart a route, noting the bearings from Point A to Point B to Point C on my map. Apart from the occasional 40' cliff lurking between 20' contour lines, it was a good system. And then came GPS. Well, if you've ever had your batteries go flat in that little hand-held unit when you were five miles in, you probably felt pretty helpless unless like me, you had that paper map and good old Suunto mirrored compass in your pack. Nowadays, high-resolution paper topographic maps have gone the way of the dinosaurs, but fortunately I have any I might need within my local range. This isn't one of them. This, dear readers, is an overlay on a rhubarb leaf. Gotcha!