Paid to Hike

Paid to Hike? Are You Kidding Me!?

Our job is to hike. Hike over mountains, across meadows and streams, over downed trees, from cairn to cairn and blaze to blaze. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have well built trail, other times the hike resembles a bushwhacked scavenger hunt. We are mapping the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. The project is sponsored by the Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA), The US Forest Service and SCC. The need for this project stems from a discontinuity of trail data. Our mission is to collect a base line for the trail and to inventory trail structures, hydrologic features and, natural phenomenon along the trail.

Jerry Brown is the lead for this project, with years of seismic and GPS-based surveying experience he has also been the mapper for the Colorado Trail. Jerry ensures the GPS equipment is run correctly, the data collected is of the highest quality, all the data is secure, and that Danica and I are collecting correct and quality data. The interesting thing about our project is we functioning at the very cutting edge of GPS technology. Each day we collect hundreds of points (one point every second while we hike) that constitute a line, within this line we nest features that describe trail structures, hydrologic features and natural phenomena we cross while on the trail. Jerry operates two GPS units and is responsible for the detailed cataloging of features. Danica and I run one unit that serves as the backup unit. We collect a backup line and do a basic cataloging of features on the trail. Our main responsibility is to photograph and take detailed field notes of every feature that is collected in the GPS units. These photo and notes will provide the backbone of an official guide book for the trail.

Once the line and feature have been collected, it is necessary to post process and filter the data based on the positional precision and accuracy. This is done by downloading a CORS station file from a government website, this file corrects/readjusts the positional data we have collected to increase each point’s precision and accuracy. Once this is done the data can filtered according to the quality of each point and can be exported as shape files of differing quality. Because there are three GPS units, there are three lines; each of these lines will be separated into ‘good quality’, ‘fair quality’, and ‘poor quality’ data. Then a ‘master line/data set’ will be created using the ‘good quality’ data from each unit. A shape file can then be created to be used in various GIS applications. The pictures taken are attached to their latitude/longitude and time taken, and through this, can be coded to each feature nested in the ‘master line/data set’. This provides a visual reference of each feature that can be accessed and viewed with the ‘master line/data set’. When completed, the data will provide a high quality database, enabling the CDTA and Forest Service to better address work needs and issues along the trail. The line data will also be accessible to the general public through the Forest Service.

This summer the goal is to collect data for 200 miles of trail in New Mexico, and for the entire trail through Colorado up to the Wyoming Border.

Chris Hawes

Southwest Conservation Corps

CDT Mapping Crew Member

This sign greets hikers at Troublesome Pass, indicating the funding for this section of the trail was provided by Great Outdoors Colorado.

The official confidence marker of the CDT