What Can I Do With A GPS Receiver?

From USHikingtrails

USHikingtrails.com provides coordinates (Latitude and Longitude) for the trailheads and destinations of most of the hikes. These coordinates are used to generate the Google Maps provided on the site. (See the article "What Are GPS Coordinates?" for more details.) But when used with a GPS receiver, these coordinates can be used to add further fun, enjoyment and safety to your hiking experience: 

• The hikes include the coordinates of the hike trailhead. If you enter these coordinates into your GPS receiver before you drive to the trailhead, you can use the receiver to navigate to the trailhead, by telling you the distance and in what direction the trailhead is from your current position (in case the trailhead directions provided with each hike's detailed description are not clear). 
• Most hike descriptions on this web site include the coordinates of the final destination, or of a key point of interest along the trail. By entering these coordinates as a waypoint in your GPS (or by locating them on your map), as you hike you can see how close you are getting to your destination, and in what direction you are (or should be) traveling. You can then accurately answer the eternal question "When are we going to be there"?
• By continually recalculating its location, a GPS receiver can derive much more information than just location data. For example, a GPSr can compute the travel direction (compass heading) by comparing its current location to its previous location. Similarly it can keep track of travel distance, compute speed, record travel time and other valuable information.
• With a GPS receiver and a map with Latitude and Longitude coordinates, it's easy to get your actual location (i.e. your Latitude and Longitude) from your GPS, and determine where you are on the map. If you get lost or disoriented, you can use this information to determine the way back to the trail, or the direction and distance back to either the final destination or to the trailhead. Note that the GPS receiver should is used in conjunction with a topo map. It is not a replacement for a map!
• Most GPS receivers generate a "track", sort of like a breadcrumb trail displayed on the GPS, that documents the route you have taken. Although this is fun to look at after-the-fact, it is invaluable if you get lost, disoriented or find yourself on a dead-end route. Just follow the track by keeping an eye on your GPS display while you are walking to return to your starting point. If you are returning on your old track, the new (current) track should overlay the old one. If you get off course and veer from your old track, your route will show up on the display as a new track, not overlayed on the old one.
• If you need to send for help while on the trail (e.g. you or someone in your party is injured or becomes ill), you can provide the rescuers (or the messenger sent to notify the rescuers) with the coordinates of your exact location - potentially saving valuable time.
• You can participate in geocaching. Geocaching is an adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a GPS receiver. The basic idea is that individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache. For more information, visit http://www.geocaching.com.
• Find something interesting along the trail? How about a hot fishing hole? Create a waypoint in your GPS, so you can easily return to it on a future hike.
• Jot down the latitude and longitude of the photographs you take (or even better, create a waypoint in your GPS) to document their location. Or get a GPS-enabled camera, and it will handle this automatically.
• Set your clock or watch with it (GPS receivers obtain a very acccurate time signal from the GPS satellites).
• They are a great deal of fun to use.

For more information, see this article on How To Use Your New GPS Receiver on the REI web site.