The Shakedown | New School of Navigation

In this edition, we asked Instagram followers: Are paper maps still worth carrying, or has digital navigation become the standard?

Here’s what you told us:

22% I carry both, paper as a back-up

44% Yes, paper is my go-to

34% Nope, paper went out like rotary phones

Follow us on Instagram and weigh in on the next Shakedown!

CDTC staff also weighed in on this issue:

Haley “Natty G” Gamertsfelder

CDTC Field Operations Coordinator

As one of the resident millennials of CDTC, I tend to prefer GPS and phone navigation to paper maps. While I have a stack of paper maps that I frequently consult when planning adventures, I believe too many people have paper maps that don’t actually know how to use them! Triangulation and navigation are a lost art.

Technology has helped us to be more connected to so many things, including the trails and trail communities that we love. Plus you can’t beat the real-time data and tracking that GPS apps offer. In FarOut- having the ability to check when my next water source was in the desert allowed me to camel up and prepare for the dry sections ahead. Getting the most up-to-date restrictions and accurate alternates are also crucial when on a long hike! While I think maps have an important place in the outdoors, I think folks who plan to use them should make sure they know how to use them before fully relying on them. Until then, your phone GPS is an awesome tool :)

CDTC Communications Manager

I love the look and feel of paper maps. I still spread them out before and during lunch breaks on hikes to get a lay of the land and study the topography. Paper maps provide more than a little window, and I love how maps encourage people to look up, rather than down. I was paper-only for years, during winter Hawk Owl surveys in Glacier and my Wilderness Ranger days in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. They don’t get low batteries, and they are less likely to be ruined when dropped in water or in the rain.

However, I was recently converted to at least having both a digital map app and my seemingly old-school paper navigation while guiding trips in The Bob. Apps have become so common that when I would pull out a paper map to answer questions, clients would nearly roll their eyes at me! Since paper maps make it a little more difficult to pinpoint the distance to the lunch spot down to the tenth of a mile, people sometimes disregard them. There are, admittedly, a lot of other great features to the apps, and I find myself using them frequently during my travels.

So now I carry both, but if I had to choose one: Paper all the way.