New Tech - Old Tech...What The Heck!

I guess (?) the time is right for me to make the jump..to take the step..to move forward into the 21st century. 

One of my fishing strategies for the upcoming spring season is to do some exploring. To find some not often used water, perhaps off The Stud Mill Road in Hancock / Washington Counties or even north of Moosehead Lake. 

I dabbled in this a little last fall when in fact I did travel a portion of The Stud Mill armed only with my trusty Maine Gazetteer. But even though the lure of an unseen trout stream beckoned , I found myself not straying very far at all off the beaten path. You see I'm not real good at remembering the turns I make on logging roads and my fear of losing track of those turns and not being able to find my way out got the better of me. 

I have a basic understanding of using a compass, mainly on the foggy waters of Penobscot Bay, but no understanding of all using a GPS, except for the kind that is stuck to the inside of your car windshield. You know, the kind of GPS that talks to you in a reassuring and calm manner, counting down the distance to the next right or left turn. No, the kind of GPS that I'm going to try to learn is the handheld GPS with all it's squiggly lines, way points, flags, altitudes, contours, scrolling screens, buttons on all its sides and..bread crumb trails...my life line or, perhaps using a better term, my hope line. Like Hansel and Gretel I hope to be able to follow these electronic crumbs back to familiar ground.  In fact, I'm already well on my way to mastering it as I am now confident in my ability to turn it on and off.

As a back up of course I will be taking along some old tech..my compass. I guess if I can figure out in which direction The Atlantic Ocean lies, I can eventually reach it's rock bound shoreline rather than that of Lake Ontario.

I have a few months to get this new technology (at least to me) locked , or maybe semi-latched, into my command and control center. I have a feeling I'm going to need those months.