Having a GPS device can mean the difference in getting stuck somewhere for a very long time. <\/strong>Make sure you have any kind of GPS device (a well-charged smartphone does well, these days.) and plenty of battery power. <\/p>\n\n\n\nA popular and powerful app called Alltrails is available which allows you to download backcountry trails onto your device so you don’t need an internet connection to get more detailed instructions on where to go when you’re in the wilderness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So What Even Is a GPS Watch?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Over the years (centuries to be precise), wearable watches have come a long way. The first devices that could be described as wristwatches date back as far as the 16th century, and most likely only a few members of the royal classes could be found wearing them. I guess you could call them the earliest of the early adopters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the 1800s, personal timepieces of various kinds were in widespread use, and they continued to become more and more accurate, intricate, and in many cases, beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of these early devices were powered by mechanical springs and gears that needed occasional winding in order to maintain their function. It wasn\u2019t until the 1950s that the first battery-powered watches appeared. The 1970s saw the arrival of the first digital watches, and the race for an ever-expanding range of capabilities for the watch ran parallel with the ever-expanding capabilities of the computer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast-forward to the present, and we have the GPS watch (sometimes referred to as a \u201csmartwatch\u201d). They will certainly give you the time of day, but they can deliver so much more. GPS stands for Global Positioning System, so these watches can keep track of your exact location on the planet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They can also be tuned to the rhythms of your body and can log such information as steps taken, heart rate, and calories burned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each type of watch will also work in conjunction with an app for your phone or computer, so you can keep track of any hikes you take. It will show the route you traveled, the overall distance, the elevation changes, and sometimes even the weather for that day. Just keep in mind, the royalty of the 16th century would be very jealous!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today\u2019s GPS watches can do so much more than just keep the time. They can track your location, your elevation, your route, and even your heart rate and the calories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":3,"label":"Hiking"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/guy-checking-gps-watch-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Peter","author_link":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/author\/outsidedecider\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":3,"name":"Hiking","slug":"hiking","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":55,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":3,"category_count":55,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Hiking","category_nicename":"hiking","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4880"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7846,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4880\/revisions\/7846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}