Backpacking with Mobile Internet Devices

By Dale Taylor (Intel) (47 posts) on June 29, 2009 at 2:11 pm

I spent most of the last week backpacking in a very remote wilderness area where the only access is by hiking or horseback.  While on this backpacking trip it was very interesting to see how we used mobile technology and what kinds of devices the other hikers in my group had.  Knowing that weight was critical to accomplishing this hike what each person decided to carry along showed its value.

As you would expect, we had several GPS systems and used them to track our progress.  We also had maps as backup because you really do need to know how to get there and back safely.  The GPS systems were fun when comparing how far from home, the trailhead, base camp etc we were on summit hikes.  Only the newer generation of GPS systems were able to maintain consistent locks due to the rugged terrain, deep canyons and dense trees in places.

I brought along my iPhone wondering if I could use it from some peaks and perhaps hit a distant cell.  We were 25 miles from the nearest paved road at the trailhead and camped 4 miles in as a base for our daily hikes and explorations.  Here’s a pic with GPS info of myself and my dog at basecamp.

Backpacking with a MID
Backpacking with a MID 

One of the kids got altitude sickness on our adventure and his father opted to hike them out.  Subsequently the father was also injured in a fall so it was determined my son and I would hike them both out.  Since they had no transportation at the trailhead I used my phone to check for any type of connection.  At our base camp we were totally amazed to find that I could both send and receive text messages 10,000’ in the mountains when we were 30 miles from the nearest town and cell system.  It was marginal at best but by leaving the phone in a tree and telling it to retry it would eventually get through and we were able to setup a pickup for the injured party.

We could not make a call, but it was possible to get an “Edge” connection for short periods of time.  This also improved in the evening hours due to atmospheric conditions. 

Using mobile technology in this case enabled me and my son to safely deliver the injured in a timely fashion and helped us to return and enjoy our time in the wilderness.  Mobile devices enable so many more things than initially conceived when they are designed.  I can see many more wonderful uses for a MID in just such an environment.

One last thought… I considered updating Facebook with pictures during the hike but I opted to spend the time with my son instead.   I think there is a balance in life between technology and relationships; we can’t let the technology drive us apart.

Categories: Mobility

Comments (3)

June 29, 2009 7:56 PM PDT

Amanda Marvel (Intel)
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 Great story and glad to hear everyone remained safe! I just bought an iPhone and love hiking so I will keep this in mind. Did you really need the other devices or did the iPhone suffice for everything you needed?

So true on your last note too- keeping the balance can certainly be a struggle especially in the Silicon Valley, so it's up to us to set our own limits and boundaries.
June 30, 2009 8:35 AM PDT

Jeremy Saldate (Intel)
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 Nice story, Dale! I too am glad everyone returned safe, but I'd expect nothing less from you. :-)

I've been reading your posts since you started, and I have to say that this is one of my favorite posts so far... keep up the good work!

WRT the comment on using iPhone as a GPS device... I also have an iPhone, and think this could be easily accomplished if you had an app that included map data. It seems like the GPS signal should be available on the device regardless of whether you are in a service area, but you still need a map to indicate your position on earth. In the case of iPhone, this is currently downloaded from Google Maps, but with the amount of storage available on these devices, there should be no reason you couldn't use any (GPS-equipped) MID as a traditional GPS. I have no idea what the signal quality would be like in comparison to a standalone GPS device; might make an interesting future study...
June 30, 2009 11:01 AM PDT

Dale Taylor (Intel)
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 I used my iPhone for entertainment (listening to music) and for communication when necessary. For conservation of batteries I mostly kept it in airplane mode so that it wouldn't waste any power seeking a cell system. I wanted the batteries to last all 4 days which they did.

For navigation I prefer the dedicated GPS devices which also maintain track logs and internal maps. I would need an iPhone app that could download maps pre-event for it to work for me. I also dislike how the iPhone can't run a tracking app in the background which makes keeping a track-log of the event unlikely and not consistent enough to bother.

I can see many very useful MID apps for outdoor enthusiasts. A few include a journal, note recorder and voice recorder, the ability to place notes along with pics and comments about a location which could then be used to build a review of the hike at a later point. A key here would be embedded GPS info with all notes, pics, docs etc.

I also used my iPhone apps for things such as calculations we were making on the trail, estimated distances, converting from meters to feet and such.

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