Our snow has finally melted in Southwestern Pennsylvania and we have been having warm, sunny weather! One of the things I like to do is head to the woods with the dogs. They love it, and I must admit that I enjoy it too. It is good exercise for all of us.
I recently purchased a Motorola Droid to replace the Treo that I accidentally ran over with the van. I downloaded a free program called "My Tracks", and I used it for the first time today. What a cool little tool!
My Tracks is a program that records your GPS tracks and shows live statistics such as time, speed, distance and elevation while you are hiking, cycling, running or any other outdoor activity. Some people I know have used it while foxhunting, and others use it while riding their motorcycle or quad. I took it into the woods, and I was surprised that it picked up my GPS location within about 30 seconds and never lost track of me. It gives you the option to upload the "track" to the internet to share with friends or to keep the history on Google Maps. You can also keep the track record stored on your phone. You can name the track, what you were doing (hiking, walking, running, cycling, horseback riding, etc.), add a description, etc.
I got lost in this section of the woods several years ago with one of my Bandogs. With this tool, I was able to make sure that I was headed in the right direction when I turned around to head back. (It is very easy to get lost in the woods.) I got off course for a short distance, and noticed that I was going in the wrong direction from where I needed to go. I turned around, and then my track started to head towards the track I made when I wallked in.
The statistics told me how far I walked, how fast, the elevations and the elevation gain. Of course, the dogs went further and faster than I did since they run circles around me! It still gave me a good idea of how far we went so that I can track progress.
In case anyone is wondering, I walked about 2 miles today with an elevation gain of 641 feet. My maximum speed was 4.72 mph. This was our first walk in several months because of the heavy snowfall in February, so I wanted to make sure that we didn't go too far. I am considering buying a backpack for one of the dogs so that I can track the miles and speed they get doing the same track. I will just need to make sure that the backpack is waterproof!
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