Benton MacKaye Trail Thru-Hikers' Guide

During some hikes this year I've been using my GPS to gather new data for the guidebooks and I've really gotten fond of carrying a GPS. On a couple of hikes where I didn't carry it because it was not needed, I missed having the convenience of multiple maps at multiple scales with the press of a button, and a track that lets me know just how much further it is to the next point.

This lead me to create a set of GPS files for the BMT hiker. These files were the tracks I gathered while collecting data for the BMT Thru-Hikers Guide© They are not perfect, and in my experiences with GPSs over the years no track is ever going to be 100% accurate because of weather, foliage, GPS signal, variations in the trail, etc. But these tracks are about as good as you can get. The waypoint files that accompany these tracks match up point to point with the data points in the BMT Thru-Hikers Guide© at over 90% accuracy, meaning if there is a water source listed in my guidebook, that the GPS waypoint will be there over 90% of the time. If there is a  ford you have to cross, a campsite you are coming up, a road you will be crossing - you guessed it: +90% chance it is a waypoint on the track.

My goal here is to provide a navigation aid to supplement the BMT Thru-Hikers Guide©. The guidebook still provides data that is not in the files here. But if you want to use a GPS rather than a map, or in addition to a map, this is a resource you will find highly useful.

As I said, these files are not perfect and are a work in progress. If you do hike the BMT and update a waypoint, by all means pass it onto me and we will get it better together.

Benton MacKaye Trail Guide © 2009-2018 Ernest Engman. All Rights Reserved.

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