Entrust Your Wandering Paths to the Satellites Above -- Just Have the Right Gear With You

Not even the supremely mercurial summer heat of these long, climatically changing days is ruthless enough to deter those armed with daring and fearlessness (and a handy GPS tracking device) from trekking up and down the most adventurous climbs around. But for these souls, even when they're already taking along all the electronic gadgetry that can fit into their nicely compact hiking backpacks, it sure can't be too great of a bother to pile on the gear just a little bit more with a good, old-fashioned paper map. This is a precaution for those times when batteries die and refuse, with the strictest vehemence, to be reanimated by the force of solar-powered rechargers. Such are the ingratitudes of certain days.

Regardless of whether you decide to go the paper route, or the electronic screen one, you'll need to have a handle on the finer points of reading latitude and longitude coordinates -- out in nature, nary a trail sign is likely to smilingly gleam at your eyes for miles on end. So make the most of the satellite  tracking service you're lucky enough to have at your disposal, even in the rawest states of nature, by figuring out on-foot navigation strategies before you zip up that windbreaker that's to be your faithful companion for the next few hours or days.  

Although the car you used to get to the beginning of your trail is probably equipped with standard vehicle tracking, the industrial arts that give life to that singular apparatus  is unlikely to be very functional once it's physically separated from you -- alas, certain distances cannot be bridged. But still, some lucky stars are due some thanks and praise for the wonders that the Global Positioning System enables. It's no wonder that those with a taste for simple-mindedness liken the satellites that hover above the earth's atmosphere to mythological angels -- these metallic creations really do watch over people's steps and provide guidance in times of harsh affliction. And, as those with a penchant for enterprise -- not just sunny-day hiking -- know, GPS-ing is the way to extract profits from things like commercial fleet tracking.

Sam Walters is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.

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 Richard A. Manfredi has written about www.gpstrackit.com . Offers GSP tracking systems for use in vehicles, commercial fleet satellite tracking and management.