Just doing a little boondocking.

There are a lot of people who will blindly follow the GPS regardless of where it may say go. Elderly I can somewhat understand as they did not grow up in the techy environment. Others?????I had an older Garmin that did very good job of providing directions. However, once it tried to take me the back way into Great Sand Dunes NP. That is a 4 wheel only off road route over a mountain pass. Good thing I had been there on previous occasions and knew advance that was not the way to go. But makes me wonder if anyone was lead off on that route by the same misdirections.

Well i can assure you it doesn't only happen on the Left coast, and don't ask me how i know.:SNow my situation wasn't that bad but it came within a few inches of total disaster. The wife and i was on our way to a campground in the ozarks. I had the gps set to hard surface roads only but i soon learned not to trust that either. It had me turning on a gravel road and i thought no i shouldn't turn but i was commited so i went ahead and turned. So after turning and going a short distance it had me doing a very hard left angle turn up a very steep hill. I started the turn then my truck spun out and i said no way i'm not doing this. I then started backing and found myself within inches of going off in a steep ravine with the trailer :o Don't ask me how i got into that mess other than plain old stupidity :S. A longer story short we got out of that situation and now i'm really wondering if i should ever trust our gps again. :B

Quite a few years ago, when GPSs first became popular, DH and I were on a business trip in Socorro, NM. After dinner, we decided to go for a drive to watch the sunset. We saw a side road that went into BLM land and up onto a hill. So we went and enjoyed the sunset. We were kind of clueless as to how to get back so we used the GPS. 4 hours later, we found ourselves in a field of longhorn steer. It was pitch black, but we did manage to see a sign on a fence, "Entering New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Bombing Range." It took us another hour to get back to hard surface road (15 minutes to push through the cows alone)and back to the hotel. I have never trusted a GPS again and carry detailed paper maps of any area we travel.

I was checking mileages for our Colorado trip on Google Maps. It said from Lake City to Ouray was 30 miles. I knew it had to be more than that so I zoomed in to check and it routes you over the Alpine Loop which is a 4x4 offroad trail.

Why does this happen so often on the left coast?

Pogoil
Explorer
Oct 02, 2013
It happens here because we are not packed in like sardines like the other coast. Less crowds, open spaces, less stress and great places to camp with friendly people.

GPS. is a tool to be used with other tools. Rely solely on GPS. and you will be on an adventure.

Pogoil.
RVUSA
Explorer
Oct 02, 2013
skipro3 wrote:
I went on-line just now to check a route from Boise, ID to West Yellowstone MT.

Mapquest says:
I-84 E 386.67 miles
5 hrs 44 mins

Do the math;
You would have to average 67.3mph to do that run. REALLY?!???!!!
I don't think so!

Probably for a car?
MrWizard
Moderator
Oct 02, 2013
i don't have a GPS
i know how to read maps
i do use a couple of APPs on my smart phone to track mileage and location
but i use maps, paper and digital and do my own routing
wilber1
Explorer
Oct 02, 2013
Never, ever select the shortest distance option.
Ski_Pro_3
Explorer
Oct 02, 2013
I went on-line just now to check a route from Boise, ID to West Yellowstone MT.

Mapquest says:
I-84 E 386.67 miles
5 hrs 44 mins

Do the math;
You would have to average 67.3mph to do that run. REALLY?!???!!!
I don't think so!
GWolfe
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
I have wondered why when visiting friends out of state my GPS will take one route on the way out and a totally different route on the way back. I have taken both and the time difference is minimal.
amandasgramma
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
My friend's TomTom took us on Banfield freeway in Portland.......we need to make a right on 39th. We didn't realize they'd changed the name to Cesare Chavez Hwy...so we missed the off-ramp. The destination was 25th street......we kept going and going according to TomTom.....I looked ahead on the screen......it was going to take us to 82nd street to get us back to 25th!!!!!!!! But we didn't mind.......have you heard that English gentlman's voice that's TomTom????? WOW!
Jayco254
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
After using a Garmin for a while I went back to paper maps. I understand that there are a number of people lost in Death Valley among other places because they relied on a G.P.S.
deleted-2
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
You have to remember that a consumer GPS will always attempt to place your destination on the right hand side of the road as you approach.

My last TomTom allowed this to be disabled by direct routing.
Direct routing got me in trouble a few times tho...

I gave up on the GPS units.
agesilaus
Explorer III
Oct 01, 2013
I think the west has a lot more goat paths than we do in the east. Every time the GPS tried to send me down one was out west. Once in NM, once in Utah and once in CA. We actually followed the California one after looking at a paper map. I thought it was a short gravel road running from I-15 to Hwy 127. We weren't on that road tho and ended up hours later at the back door to Tecopa. Interesting drive tho, we barely beat sundown.

BK