Water Lilies

This entry is dedicated to another item I find very beautiful - water lilies. These were all taken at the Viera Wetlands. Just double-click on a picture to see the screen size version. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Water Lilies - Click to Enlarge

Positive Attitude

While watching a program on the History Channel the other day, I heard these words of wisdom - People think of danger out in the woods as snakes, wild hogs, bears, falling, etc - these are dangers, but a real danger is a person's attitude, if you go on a hike with a negative attitude, the hike is doomed! I always hike with a positive attitude! I'm always aware of what is going on around me, but the main thing is the hike and enjoying every minute of it. So the moral of this entry is, don't worry - enjoy the hike and the great outdoors! One other thing, a friend told me the other day that her brother-in-law got two broken legs -- while loading groceries into his car in a parking lot. It seems a little old lady hit the gas instead of the brake and ran right into him. Now where is the most dangerous area - a trail or a parking lot?

Hunting and Hiking

I am a hiker, not a hunter - but I believe both activities should coexist in the outdoors. As you may have noticed by now, I have ventured into many areas. As I decide where to hike, I always look to see if any hunting is scheduled for the day I expect to be in an area. I do this for two reasons, one I do not want to disturb hunters and two I don’t want hunters to mistake me for something to shoot. I always carry something orange with me when I go out hiking in the winter, be it an orange hat or vest - just in case. I have come across a few hunters in my day, most all of them were very courteous and friendly. I’m sure they were not happy to see me, but they didn’t show it. I also have come across the remnants of bad hunters, piles of trash and beer cans - those are the ones that worry me. They may even be poachers, which I’m sure are the most dangerous people out there. I have found the remains of dead deer and hogs in the woods; I would suspect they were killed just for the fun of it. This is not the norm, like everyone else; the majority of hunters must pay for the sins of the minority!
I am asked many times about hiking and hunting - I wish there was an easy answer. I tell everyone to avoid hunters, just because they have guns. In most areas there are blocks of time when hunting is not allowed in an area, try and visit areas during that time period. If you do encounter a hunter, be friendly and move on as soon as possible. Remember that their license fees are helping to support many areas. That said; remember also to support your local hiking group to ensure that land remains open to both hikers and hunters.

You can see a calendar of hunting schedules I've created by clicking here (Hunting Schedule). You also can view this calendar from any browser, anytime by using the address - www.tinyurl.com/techunts

You also can view hunting documents supplied by the State of Florida by clicking here (Florida Hunting Information). You can go directly there at any time by using this address in your browser - http://myfwc.com/RECREATION/Hunt_WMABrochs.htm

Happy trails to all, hikers and hunters.......

My Favorite Tree - the Cypress

As anyone who has viewed any of my pictures will tell you, I take a lot of pictures of Cypress Trees. I see so much in these trees as I'm out and around in Florida. Not only are many of trees very unique in their own way, many of the "knees" are also works of art. I feel bad when I see cypress mulch in the stores, I can not imagine that there are enough trees out there to support the mulch industry. The Tosohatchee WMA has one of the largest cypress forest around. It is located mainly along James Creek. Some of the prettiest cypress trees can be found along the St Johns River between RT50 and RT528. That area has provided me with some wonderful pictures. Below are a few of the pictures of many that I have taken while out and around. Just double click on a picture to see the screen size version. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Cypress Trees and Trunk Sculptures - Click to Enlarge

How-To: Download GPS Tracks and Waypoints from WIKILOC

This document will help you to download tracks and waypoints from the WIKILOC website. It should also help you with other hiking websites that allow downloading. Once the data is downloaded and loaded to your handheld GPS unit it can be used to follow the same route as the original hiker. FYI - GPS units store tracks as track "points". Track points are recorded at predetermined intervals (time, distance or both). Each track point contains all the data about that recorded spot (time, Lat/Lon and other stuff). To display a track "path", the track points are a linked together with a line (the line does not actually exist, it is just for display). So, during this writeup I will mention "track" or "track points", they are both the same. Every unit has a certain number of track points it can store, 10,000 being a common number. One problem is that many GPS units (Garmin I know of) allow only 500 track points to be loaded per segment (my 60cx for example). This is a major problem because the 500 track point limit causes large hikes to be truncated. If you download a hike with say 2000 track points and then try to load that to your GPS, you will only windup with the first 500 track points of the 2000 (thus you will only get the first 25% of the original hike). One way to get around this is to break the 2000 track points into 4 groups of 500 (called track segments). FYI - the problem with those Garmin units with 500 track point segment limit is that they have two areas where track points are stored -

• Active Log Area - this is where the actual track points recorded by the GPS unit are stored - this area allows 10,000 track points to be stored (once the 10,000 limit is reached, recording either stops or it starts wrapping around (user setup)
• Saved Log Area - This is where the unit saves tracks requested by the user (menu function). It allows multiple segments, but each segment can consist of no more than 500 track points, also no date/time data is stored with the track points

Now some people advocate that you load the downloaded hike in the "Active Log Area" (this is done by creating a "fake" Active Log) - if you do this you will pollute the area used by the GPS unit to store actual active tracks, so this is not recommended. As I stated earlier, what I recommend is to store downloaded tracks in the "Saved Log Area", using the segment feature of WIKILOC downloading. The WIKILOC download function has been modified to give you a number of options to handle track points, this was done so that all GPSs can handle downloads. The problem for you is to find out what your GPS can handle and select the correct option. Here are the options available - (note: these options only apply if the download contains more than 500 track points)

• Original uploaded track points - select this if your unit has no problem with large track point files
• Simplified track points - This option actually takes the big track point file and tries to compress it into 500 points. I do not recommend this selection, but it does work if your unit is restricted to 500 track points
• Split into multiple segments - this option creates a bunch of small track point "segments" from the large track point file. I recommend this option if your unit is restricted to 500 point segments. The whole thing is given a unique Id, with each segment getting it's own unique number.

Here is a summary of the process using the software I recommend -

• Download the tracks and waypoints as a GPX file from WIKILOC
• Load the downloaded GPX file into "EasyGPS" program
• Send/upload the tracks and waypoints to your GPS unit

You must always download the data using the "GPX" format. GPX format (GPS Exchange Format) is a data format for the interchange of GPS data (waypoints, routes, and tracks) between applications and Web services on the Internet. Most application dealing with GPSs recognize and know how to work with "GPX" formatted files. You really don’t need to know anything about the file format, just select to use it when given the option. Rather that explaining how to do it with each GPS vendors software, I will have you use a very good free package to handle the GPS loading. The program I recommend is "EasyGPS". If you do not have it already, go to this website, download and install it. EasyGPS’s website is http://www.easygps.com/default.asp One thing nice about EasyGPS, it will look to see if your unit can handle a load greater than 500 track points. Thus using EasyGPS, if I try and load a file with over 500 track points to my 60cx it will not allow it. I also recommend that you have a work folder on your computer to hold the downloaded GPX File - example name: Downloaded GPX Files The first time you use EasyGPS you will have to tell it what kind of GPS your are using. A setup screen will be presented to you when you first try to send data to your GPS, Downloading from WIKILOC -

• Use Google Earth to find the hike you want to download or go to the Wikiloc website - you must get to the page with the "download" option - Screen Display (click on picture to enlarge)

• Click on "Download" - select GPX file format, check that you want tracks split and check "include images" Screen Display (click on picture to enlarge) Note: You will only see the "Options" if the download contains more than 500 track points - if no options, just select "GPX" and continue
• Click on "Download"
• Now select the folder you setup to hold these files
• Click on "Save"

Now when you are ready to load the data to your GPS - do this

• Start EasyGPS
• Select "Open" - from the menu or the toolbar
• Find the GPX file which has the tracks split up (Example: Hal Scott Track Split File.GPX) and open it
• You should now see the tracks map and also the waypoints listed on the left side Screen Display (click on picture to enlarge)
• You can right-click on any waypoint to delete it if you feel you don’t want it (for example - there is a waypoint for a pine tree and you don’t want it)
• Connect your GPS to your computer and turn it on (I normally make sure that my GPS is empty - reset it using menus)
• Now select "Send" from the menu or the toolbar
• A window should open with your GPS information in it (The first time you send data to your GPS you will have to define your GPS to EasyGPS)
• Select "OK" - the data should now be loaded to your GPS
• Disconnect your GPS from the computer
• Exit out of EasyGPS

The tracks and waypoints should now be loaded to your GPS. Check to insure everything is OK. I normally go to my "Map" screen and look for the tracks - I have to zoom out to find the area. You also should use the waypoint "find" function to determine in the waypoints got loaded OK. To use the loaded data, see How-To: Using Downloaded Tracks and Waypoints

How-To: Using Downloaded Tracks on the Trail

In order to use downloaded tracks and waypoints, of course you must have downloaded them. If you have not done it already, download the hike/trip you want to use - see the blog entry for that. One thing you must not do, that is follow the tracks exactly. In many cases the tracks uploaded are uploaded just as they came from the GPS unit. Thus the tracks might contain little detours off the main trail, maybe to take a picture of a flower in the woods. You want to use common sense as your following the downloaded tracks. If you see the tracks on the screen taking you off the trail, you should adjust to the trail until the screen tracks are corrected. Here is what you generally do -

• Get to the start of the tracks, could be a trailhead, parking lot or boat ramp You could use your GPS’s "find" function to get you there
• If your GPS is not already on, turn it on - wait for good satellite reception
• Find the tracks on the "Map" Screen
• Start the trip

As you move along, watch the screen to make sure the position pointer stays on the tracks. If you see yourself moving too far away from the loaded tracks, adjust your position to get back on track. You can only use the loaded tracks as a "reference", just to see where you are vs where you might want to be. Get use to using the "Map" function. I might go on another trail just because it looks better. I can always find my back to the main trail using the "map" and "find" functions. I recently tested this using one of my downloaded hikes. The loaded track displayed on my Garmin unit's screen in blue, the little "pointer" showed my position on the track. I just kept the pointer on the loaded track and everything worked fine.

My 60cx Tracks page with WIKILOC tracks in the "Saved Tracks" area

My 60cx map screen - see the tracks in black


Remember, when the hike is over and you have done any downloading of the data etc, that you delete the saved tracks, as they take up space in your unit's memory.

GPS Units Explained By Me

I get a lot of questions about GPS units, normally I just tell people to do more research using the Internet. I have decided to try and explain the units in my fashion. I still feel you can gleam a lot of information by doing some research, so do that also. A GPS unit is nothing but a computer which has a special chip in it which can receive and pass on satellite information to the GPS computer. The GPS computer uses the satellite data to determine the latitude/longitude (lat/long) where the GPS unit is. It would be nice if it could actually calculate the exact lat/long, but that is not possible. It gets as close as it can and uses that. There are two reasons why it can not calculate the exact lat/long - 1. The Defense Department does not allow manufacturers to do it - they say for national security 2. How good the unit is receiving satellite data - that mainly depends on the quality of the special chip in the unit and the type of antenna in the unit. You can not do anything about #1, but #2 lives by that old rule - the more you pay, the better the reception. Currently the buzz words are "high-sensitivity chip" and" external antenna". Garmin uses the "X" in their model numbers to reflect that the unit has a high-sensitivity chip. Sadly, there are cheaper versions of this chip being put in units, so you just don't know. What the high-sensitivity chips and external antennas provide is better reception in the woods and on cloudy days, thus better accuracy. If your using the unit for hiking, accuracy can be a little more lax then if your using the unit for say, GEOCaching. Some units have a feature called "WAAS" - it is designed to improve accuracy. Do a Google search on it if you want to know more about it. If your unit has the feature, turn it on - it does use more battery life, but not much. Now the fundamentals of all handheld GPS units

• Waypoints - locations or landmarks stored in your GPS for reference. All GPS units allow you to "mark" a position which you may want to return to or you may want to go to. A classical waypoint is the place you parked the car, so if necessary you can find your way back to it. Another waypoint might be a place on the trail you want to remember, say were you got water. Most units can store upwards of a 1000 waypoints, so use them. You can use the "find" function of your GPS to see any waypoints recorded in your unit. That is why it is very important to give new waypoints a logical label - like "parking". Thus if you had to get back to the parking area, you would be able to recognize the label in the waypoint list.
• Tracks - "breadcrumbs" recorded by the GPS unit of where you have been. Tracks are actually stored in the unit as "points". Each point is an individual database record containing all kinds of data about the spot that the recording was made - mainly the lat/long and time. Each point is like a waypoint, but it is recorded by the unit instead of you. Imagine if as you hiked along you had to push the "mark" button every 3 feet or so, well the unit is doing that for you - just storing the data in a different place. The track points are displayed as a line on maps, but that is just the software connecting the points (that is where the time comes into play).
• Statistical data - this referred to as "trip data". All kinds of information is stored about a trip - moving time, stopped time. average speed and much more.

The main problem with all the units I have been exposed to is they do not allow multiple trips to be stored in the GPS unit. They store all the data, but they do not allow you to store each trip's data separately. So, lets say you go on two hikes and don't reset the data between each trip - when you get home and download the data to the computer all the waypoints will be mixed together, the tracks will be separate (as long as you turned the unit off between each trip), but a little confusing. The "trip data" will reflect just one set of totals - so you will not know say the time of spent on each trip. Waypoints and tracks can be split out pretty easily, but trip data can not. The only way I know of to get around that is to write down the trip data after the first trip, then reset the trip data to prepare for the second trip - do not reset the waypoints and tracks until you have downloaded then to your computer. Of course, if you don't care about the historical value of the the waypoints and tracks, than you could reset them also before the second trip. I always save my trip data to my computer before resetting them. So, learn how your unit handles waypoints, tracks and trip data. It is not necessary to know that much about lat/long - just be aware that every spot on earth has a unique lat/long and it's your GPSs function to determine the current lat/long. As I mentioned the before, your GPS unit can be used to take you to a recorded waypoint. Lets say you get lost and want to get back to the parking area. Assuming you created a waypoint for parking and labeled it well - just use the "find" function to find it in the list of waypoints. Then select "goto" and the unit will point directly at the parking area. This is "as the crow flies", you are not a crow, so you must work you way back using trails, paths etc. You have to use common sense when using the "goto" function, don't' go into a "bushwhack" mode - use logic to get back to the parking area. A feature seldom used is called "trackback". This function actually tells you exactly how you got to a spot and how to back out of it if you are lost. Each unit handles this differently, so read your manual and become familiar with this function. FYI - GEOCaches are just waypoints to your GPS unit - they have an icon which is used by some units to handle them in a special way. So, my rules are

• Record a lot of waypoints
• Download and save your data
• Keep your unit clean - reset everything after every save or trip

Look at my other entries on GPS units for more information.