Camping Altimeters

Video Transcript

"Some people use an altimeter to help them navigate. And altimeter is basically a barometer that is used to determine your altitude. How high you are up in the mountains. On the map, the contour lines give you an idea of elevation. Basically what you're doing is as you're walking along a trail you will find a point on the trail and set your altimeter. Say we start out here at Little Rock Knob. It says its 4,918 feet. So I take this and set it about that high and as I walk along and go up and down in elevation the air pressure will change. It will basically go down as you go higher up in altitude and knowing that it allows the altimeter to estimate how high up you are. So as you go along and cross another point you can look at your altimeter. I'm this high. And know that you're crossing that point on the trail. One thing you need to know about altimeters though. Because they're using barometers they're sensitive to weather changes. So if you have a weather system come in that's going to affect your altimeter. So you do have to keep setting it with known points quite often to keep it updated. If you have any questions give your local outfitter a holler."