Don't trust GPS

[Inky_Wretch]

At about 6,000 feet in a narrow valley surrounded by bulbous, snowcapped mountains, this tiny northeastern Nevada town sits roughly two hours from anywhere, in the middle of nowhere.

It's that remoteness and grandeur that apparently drew Rita and Albert Chretien to the area around Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest as they made their way from Canada to Las Vegas. Albert Chretien has been missing in the wilderness since late March after the couple, guided by a new GPS, ventured off the highway onto muddy, washed-out forest service roads winding deep into the high country.

Rita Chretien was found Friday by a trio of hunters after spending seven weeks in the couple's van stuck in mud, surviving off trail mix, hard candy and water from a nearby stream. Her husband set out on foot to find help, hoping to make it to Mountain City. He hasn't been seen since.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_on_re_us/us_missing_canadian_couple

 

[Point of Order]

Seven weeks? My gosh. Thank God for those hunters.

Added:

Quotes don't get much better than this

"Them mountains are nasty, some of the gnarliest mountains you ever seen," said Bill Landon, one of only about 20 year-round residents in town. "The mud up there is something terrible. You sink up to your knees in it. When it rains back there, those roads turn to plum mush."

 

[Cosmo]

I've never gotten lost in the wilderness due to a GPS error, but to be fair, I lived out west for a long time and would never have allowed it to take me on one of the many rugged forest roads.

That said, my GPS failed me miserably two years ago when I drove from Virginia to Stony Brook on Long Island. I don't find myself driving through NYC very often, and I had to get from the Lincoln Tunnel to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and once I hit the city, the buildings blocked the satellite reception rendering the GPS useless. I nearly took out a pedi cab, but I eventually made it across.

 

[JackReacher]

I've never owned a GPS. Never had the need. Google maps does me just fine.

 

[bigpern23]

I love my GPS.

 

[expendable]

I have a GPS in my car, but my smartphone does a far, far better job.

 

[Brian]

I like to get myself lost in a lot of places in my car and meander my way out as a sort of hobby, including the heart of Appalachia.

But I don't **** around out west with sideroads or scenic routes. Way too desolate for my nerves.

 

[SoCalDude]

I don't use GPS, my wife does. She brought it along on our trip to Reno a few years ago. I knew how to get home, but we were using the GPS anyway, just to see how it worked. We're on 80 coming down from Tahoe (15 minutes, yeah, I know) to Sacramento to connect to the 5. Just as we were approaching the 5 interchange, the GPS still had us staying on the 80 for another 45 miles. I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out where the hell it's sending us. At the last second I bailed on the instructions and took the 5. I checked maps later and still couldn't figure out where Ms. Garmin wanted us to go.

 

[wicked]

once I hit the city, the buildings blocked the satellite reception rendering the GPS useless.

I love my GPS, but this happens way too often in cities.

 

[imjustagirl]

I use the navigation system (google maps I think) on my Droid. It's pretty badass.

 

[Dyno]

I stopped trusting GPS when some friends came to visit and we used theirs to find a Costco way out in the suburbs. I had a vague idea where it was but wanted to use the GPS so we wouldn't get totally lost. We were on the correct road when the GPS had us make double u-turns *twice* for absolutely no reason - 4 u-turns when all we needed to do was continue going straight.

 

[rmanfredi]

 

[Cosmo]

I use the navigation system (google maps I think) on my Droid. It's pretty badass.

I would too if I had a smartphone.

I don't, so I don't.

 

[qtlaw]

GPS is a tool but people forget that they have to use some common sense as well. Sorry about that guy who's missing, yes, but people just put all their faith in the GPS and that's wrong sometimes.

 

[imjustagirl]

I use the navigation system (google maps I think) on my Droid. It's pretty badass.

I would too if I had a smartphone.

I don't, so I don't.

I DON'T WANT YOUR LIFE!

 

[imjustagirl]

GPS is a tool but people forget that they have to use some common sense as well. Sorry about that guy who's missing, yes, but people just put all their faith in the GPS and that's wrong sometimes.

I have less than no sense of direction. Literally, if I turn right twice, I can't get home. No memory, no sense of direction, no basic knowledge about things like shadows and time of day and moss on trees and ****.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I'm now convinced UPS has the worst GPS in the nation based on tracking a package. So far it's gone from Los Angeles to Louisville to Ontario, Calif., in less than 24 hours.

How that route gets a package delivered to Redneckistan I'll never know. Maybe it'll be taken to Tahoe and put on a truck there?

 

[BYH]

Where were they going without ever knowing the way?

 

[Cosmo]

I use the navigation system (google maps I think) on my Droid. It's pretty badass.

I would too if I had a smartphone.

I don't, so I don't.

I DON'T WANT YOUR LIFE!

 

[wicked]

I'm now convinced UPS has the worst GPS in the nation based on tracking a package. So far it's gone from Los Angeles to Louisville to Ontario, Calif., in less than 24 hours.

How that route gets a package delivered to Redneckistan I'll never know. Maybe it'll be taken to Tahoe and put on a truck there?

They send all air packages through Louisville, and FedEx does the same in Memphis.