Anyone using a GPS?

Regarding small roads, we have a portion of the Medicine Bow National Forest about 15 minutes east of where we live (Laramie) which was a military training area during WW2. It is criss-crossed with old road tracks that have been officially closed and abandoned by the forest service when they took over. Many of these, along with the official "numbered" National Forest Service roads, show up on the MapSource/Garmin US Topo software which I use a lot. This is particularly convenient, since the old abandoned roads are wonderful hiking trails, and it adds interest to come upon gun emplacement pits deep in the outback.

Actually, the problem is not with the old small roads (which are usually shown), but rather with new road changes that often do not appear. About 10 or 15 years ago, the Happy Jack road from Laramie to Cheyenne through the National Forest was re-routed and made into an all weather State Highway. (The prior road was a narrow gravel one to a small local ski area, a State Park. and on to Cheyenne.) Anyway, the MapSource Topo maps still do not show the re-routing, but just give the old road placement. I guess that I am echoeing what Larry said, that it takes a few updates of the software before changes find their way into the maps.

As to my geological background, -- no, my background is not hard rock. I graduated from the Colorado School of Mines (class of 1953) in Petroleum Geology and went to work for Shell Oil in Houston. Shell put me to work in the newly developing offshore oil area and told me to become an "Ocean Engineer". I went on to get a Master's degree in Mathematics (Univ. Houston, night school) and a PhD. in Statistics (UC Berkely). Ultimately, I ended up as a University Professor, specializing in geomathematics and environmental geostatistics. Although I retired from university teaching about 5 years ago, I still do quite a bit of consulting in ocean wave and coastal storm risk methodology.

Back to the GPS topic, I think that you will enjoy using it. Garmin puts out a VHS video providing instruction for just about every model they sell. The videos are an excellent introduction to all the features built into the GPS and are a "good buy".

Incidently, the forest service roads in the "Pole Mountain" portion of the Medicine Bow National Forest (all shown on the MapSource Topo maps) permit disseminated camping anywhere within 100 feet of an officially "numbered" road. This provides a vast and uncrowded camping area for those TM Owners that like to "boondock".

Best Wishes,
WyomingRockHound