Smartphones heading some Gatineau Park hikers astray

Gatineau Park hikers who rest on their cellphones for directions are removing mislaid when the technology fails, a trend that’s worrying guides and park staff.

“It’s a flourishing problem,” pronounced Nathalie Gauthier of Great Canadian Trails, a forest debate company.

“I consider that people forget that their phones have limitations.” 

Poor reception, emptied batteries and old-fashioned route information have led trekkers down a wrong path, Gauthier said. Adding to a risk is a fact that a mobile apps frequency embody sum about severe formidable terrain.

Rachel Paquette, right, recommends hikers squeeze a map and ask park workers for information before streamer out on a trails. (Sandra Abma/CBC News)

Paper maps better

Staff with a National Capital Commission could not yield numbers, though indicated it’s something they’re saying some-more and more. 

“We inspire people to have a paper chronicle of the Gatineau Park route map,” pronounced Rachel Paquette, a park’s module officer for inlet interpretation.

Since dungeon use in some tools of a park is still spotty, Paquette advises hikers to stop in during a caller centre to collect adult a map and obtain detailed information from park workers about trail problem and continue conditions. 

She pronounced a paper map will come in accessible if something goes wrong. 

“All of a remarkable if your GPS isn’t working, you might get lost. Once we get mislaid it’s a lot harder for us to find you,” pronounced Paquette.

“It will also be a lot harder for we to tell us where we are.”

Along a paths of Gatineau Park Monday, hikers admitted to relying on their phones alone for directions.

“I roughly forsaken my phone in a lake earlier, ” laughed Oumou Camara, who pronounced her dungeon had mislaid service. “It would have been accessible to have a paper map.”

Article source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/hiking-gatineau-park-gps-cellphone-lost-1.4792260?cmp=rss