Hot take: paper maps beat phones for off-trail navigation in the Sierra Nevada.

I used to rely on GPS for everything until I dropped my phone in a creek near Bishop last June and had to navigate 8 miles of cross-country travel with just a folded topo map, and I actually got to camp faster than my buddy with a working phone.

1 comments

1 Comment

grant4781h ago

Has anyone actually tried using a phone for serious cross-country navigation in the Sierra though? Look, I get the appeal of paper maps, they never run out of battery, but my buddy and I did the same thing last summer near the Palisades, and his phone with a downloaded topo saved us. He had Gaia GPS on airplane mode, and it took him straight to the pass while I was second guessing my map reading. The thing is, phones can be way more precise with your location, which matters a ton when you're trying to thread through cliffs and talus. You can also drop waypoints for where you found water or a good campsite, stuff you can't really do on a folded map. I think the real trick is just keeping your phone safe, like in a waterproof case or a dry bag, so you don't have that creek disaster you mentioned.