As we walk through the hills around our home, we see the scene around us change every few minutes. Familiar landmarks move around, change perspective and shape, appear and disappear. Probably the most evident aspect of the scene around us is the horizon and the peaks that shape it. I took the panorama at right on yesterday morning’s walk, just to illustrate this phenomenon. The five most promienent peaks are labeled on the photo (click at right to bring up a large view).
Gaskill Peak and Lawson Peak are part of the mountains that surround Lawson Valley (where we live). They are visible on our entire mile-long hike, though their relative position changes quite dramatically. Viejas Mountain is also visible the entire time, but here you see much more of it than you would from our house (which is 400 or 500 feet lower in elevation). But Cajon Mountain and Cuyamaca Peak are not visible at all from our home. They appear, bit by bit, as we hike up the hill.
Before GPS, these clearly visible, well-defined peaks would have made wonderful landmarks to use with a compass, topographic map, and protractor to figure out exactly where you were. I’ve done this as an exercise, and it’s pretty easy to locate yourself with an accuracy of 50 feet or so — nearly as good as the GPS (without WAAS). But the old-fashioned way sure is a lot more work! The information that comes effortlessly from the GPS can only be duplicated with 5 or 10 minutes of concentrated work.
Meanwhile, we’ll just enjoy the shifting scenery on our walk…
