instamapper

Where We Are

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

If you’re reading this on our website you might have noticed something new!

We’ve temporarily added a map to the top of the site courtesy of Instamapper which allows us to share with everyone where we are at the moment.  We thought it might be neat for family and friends to see our progress.

Right now it doesn’t show anything, (intentionally) but starting at the airport tomorrow morning we’ll check in once a day or so (where we have cellphone reception).  This should give everyone a good idea on what we’re doing and where.

And for those who don’t already know, the trip we’re talking about this time is our great Pacific Northwest Adventure.  We fly out tomorrow morning bright and early, and we won’t be back for 3 weeks!

Don’t worry (I know you were…) we’ll be updating from the road.

The next time we talk, we’ll be on (or near) the west coast!

Till then… Adieu

Algonquin and Wright Peak

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

algonquin-summit

We’re on a roll.  With the long weekend last week we headed up to camp and hit another of the 46 High Peaks.  This time around our goal was Algonquin Peak, but like many of the High Peaks, hiking Algonquin gets you close to several others.  We made our attempt at those as well.

Starting out up Algonquin we were once again in the rain, but we knew it was going to break before noon and that we’d have great weather at the summit(s) and after.  Sure enough about halfway up the weather turned and we got our first glimpse of blue sky.  Unfortunately this was just before we made it into the clouds.  That’s right, we were above the cloud cover.  Although the hike was exhilarating and we experienced some fine views on the way up, we ate lunch at the top in the clouds and without a view.

wright-summit

After a short stay on the top we started our descent so we could begin our climb up Wright Peak.  About halfway down to the Y in the trail the cloud coverage broke and the sky opened up.  It was beautiful.  One of the best views from any mountain we’ve climbed.  Since we didn’t know how long the view would last, we just sat and enjoyed it for a while.  Then as it seemed like it would last we continued the hike.

After summiting Wright Peak, the view and the weather only got better.  We had 360 degree beautiful clear sky the rest of the day.  Wright peak is a hard rock summit with views in all directions.  You can see many of the other 46 from the top and we were able to pick out our next goal, Mount Colden.

We did miss Iriquois Peak, a 3rd peak just a short hike (through a valley) past Algonquin, but we were already tired and concerned we might not be able to complete Wright so we left it off this time around.

The hike down was equally pleasant.  What an amazing day/hike!


GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=88194205658677607&width=500&height=350&type=roadmap

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Two Discoveries

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

turning-point-boardwalkI made two discoveries today.  Well really, my friend Mike made one discovery yesterday (which I realized today) and I made another one today.  I’m going to use my discovery today to illustrate Mike’s from Yesterday.  If you’re less inclined to a little geekery skip to the map below.

GPS Tracking isn’t all that new, there are many devices to do this, and every mobile GPS unit that I know has the ability.  The iPhone doesn’t, or at least not natively.  Mike and I were exploring an area of Rochester today which I’d never heard of or seen before today.  Because of this I thought it would be neat to track where we were and how far we went etc.  Also because I tend to take a lot of photos I figured I could use the GPS tracking information to geo-tag my pictures.

My criteria for GPS tracking was that it could use my iPhone, that it was free, and that it could track my coordinates over time.  This isn’t a lot, I know, I was trying to be flexible.  I did a little searching in the iTunes app store and came up with InstaMapper.

InstaMapper fit the bill perfectly.  Not only is instamapper free, but it pushes the data direct to a website (which requiers an account that is also free) allowing you to export it in any format you wish.  It also interfaces directly with Google Maps letting you see all your waypoint data on a very nice Google Maps interface.

Overall I’m impressed.  My only complaint is that the the waypoint data is not cached locally to send later if you don’t have a connection.  While this isn’t a problem around Rochester, this will be a problem if I were to try to use this application in a more rural area such as the Adirondacks.  Of course, there is another downfall to the iPhone app version, and that is the app has to be running in the foreground for your waypoints to get tracked.  This is a limitation of the iPhone however; and in my opinion can’t detract from the value of the application itself.  The app is available for iPhone, Blackberry, Android & Motorola iDEN(whatever that is) at this point.

The following is the GPS waypoint map created and embedded using InstaMapper’s tools of our trek today.

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=17792608895854370827&width=500&height=350&type=roadmap

This is all in a park called Turning Point Park.  It’s quite nice and apparently they’ve spent a large chunk of change in the past few years putting in the 4,000ft boardwalk.  I’m awefully happy with whoever spent all the effort to push for the new boardwalk, it made the entire experience vary enjoyable and the park would be all but useless without it.

I will be visiting again.