SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/scout-gps-backup-map

You are navigating with a phone or GPS. What should you bring as a backup?

A physical map, plus an extra battery.

  1. A second phone charger cord only
  2. Nothing, GPS works everywhere
  3. A physical map and compass ✔

Why: Batteries die and signals drop. The Park Service says to bring a physical map as a backup and pack an extra battery for your phone, and know how to use a map and compass.

Huh, didn't know that: Navigation is the first of the 10 Essentials on the Park Service list.

The dad joke
My GPS lost signal and so did I.
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Sources

  1. National Park Service: Ten Essentials https://www.nps.gov/articles/10essentials.htm

Test yourself in the game

Outdoors & CampingOn a map and compass, what is magnetic declination?Outdoors & CampingA regular hiking compass needle points toward which north?Outdoors & CampingWhy might the declination printed on an old topo map be wrong today?

That's stuff everyone should know.