We all have different approaches and desires when we go into the wilderness. If you want to leave everything behind and get off the grid completely, go for it! Me? I know how to navigate with map and compass but I like to fish and travel fast to my destination so I use a gps. I also have a concerned wife at home, and am concerned about her and the rest of my family, and have a lot of other responsibilities because of which, it is good to be in touch.

I am also a bit OCD about planning and don't like to just wing it all the time. Meaning I like to have a plan on how far I'm going, which campsites are the best, and have a general idea how long it will take to get there.

It starts with a .gpx file. You can mark a route and waypoints with different software, and I won't name what I use. But I get a .gpx file of my route with all the campsites in the area on it, along with my planned route.

I then use the ExpertGPS program to eliminate all the campsites other than those on my route, then save the .gpx again. I download the .gpx to my Garmin 78 for navigation purposes, using ExpertGPS. I use the Garmin website to download that same .gpx to my InReach to use as backup.

I send and receive a few texts a day, and get weather reports, from the InReach, but otherwise it is turned off. It has no problem lasting 14 days on a charge.

I brink maybe 8 AA Lithium batteries and change them as needed on the 78, which is on anytime I'm traveling or fishing.

I bring no power pack or solar panels. If for some reason the 78 was to die, the InReach has the campsites and track on it as well.

And of course, I always bring the maps and compass and could always get myself along using only those.

Joe

***We all have different approaches and desires when we go into the wilderness. If you want to leave everything behind and get off the grid completely, go for it! Me? I know how to navigate with map and compass but I like to fish and travel fast to my destination so I use a gps. I also have a concerned wife at home, and am concerned about her and the rest of my family, and have a lot of other responsibilities because of which, it is good to be in touch.***

I'm with you there.

***I am also a bit OCD about planning and don't like to just wing it all the time. Meaning I like to have a plan on how far I'm going, which campsites are the best, and have a general idea how long it will take to get there.***

I'm eating this up...

***It starts with a .gpx file. You can mark a route and waypoints with different software, and I won't name what I use. But I get a .gpx file of my route with all the campsites in the area on it, along with my planned route.***

It was an investment for me that was well worth it. Quetico Etopo Maps and OziExplorer mapping software. I import the Etopo maps into Ozi and mark them up with waypoints of all the good campsites with description from another website as well as my personal experience. The low rated sites, that I may have to use in a pinch, get a simple red point. I mark every portage as well. Then I colour print them on legal sized paper. It takes a long time but it's one of those Quetico OCD indulgences I love to do in the off-season.

***I download the .gpx to my Garmin 78 for navigation purposes, using ExpertGPS. I use the Garmin website to download that same .gpx to my InReach to use as backup.***

I feel like I have a twin brother now...
My etrex30x is my goto GPS. But the inReach (also downloaded with the identical GPX file) comes as a backup and a communicator.

***I send and receive a few texts a day, and get weather reports, from the InReach, but otherwise it is turned off. It has no problem lasting 14 days on a charge.***

I took my son to Quetico for the first time last year. For the month of July I splurged on the unlimited texting plan as I knew he'd want to chat with his girlfriend. Never had one regret with that decision.

Unlike you, I left the inReach on while traveling in order to chronicle our route for a number friends following us from home. I had to charge it only once on a ten day trip.

***I brink maybe 8 AA Lithium batteries and change them as needed on the 78, which is on anytime I'm traveling or fishing.***

One thing I like about the etrex is that it is very economical on the batteries. I use lithium batteries too. Can't remember how many I used last year. Not more than four I believe. And I like the way you wrote "bring" with a K. Do you have a Polish grandmother?

Anyway, I like the cut of your J-stroke. Very good strategy!

This is pretty much how I will roll, also. We go back to many routes for the 2nd or 3rd time now, so copying previous tracks and waypoints from Basecamp to my 64st prior to a trip is a routine. Having those tracks in BC at home helps remind us of the time that things will take, and those times estimated during pre-planning done on another canoe site are usually a close match. Lately, I've taken to drawing some possible new tracks in BC and copying them to the gps, too, just for possibilities not yet traveled, or ones heard about here.

Compass strung around my neck, McKenzie maps in the case in front of me while paddling, BDB'd to the thwart. (These marked-up paper maps are always a hit for the group to peruse while lounging in camp, too.) GPS in a RAMMount, running pretty much any time I'm aboard, recording our memories to be saved in our growing Canoe Routes Diary.