>>544084Not just about where you are, but where you're going, and if you're on the right track.
And not so much in the summer/dirt-season, but in the winter it's really easy to get turned around. Like really easy. Like ride half an hour and expect to run across the main trail, then consult the GPS/map and realize we're now an hour+ away from where we want to be.
>Be me, riding with a big-ish group a few years ago>Buddy showing off his brand new GPS in the parking lot>Go ride, good day>Later in the evening, pop out of the trees into a meadow/lake (couldn't really tell with 10ft of snow on top of whatever it was)>Another group there, say hi>A few guys from our group take off>Other group starts to go the other way>Ride ~15 minutes, stop to regroup>headcount, missing 2, husband and wife>Both good riders, know the area well>wait 10mins>try and get them on the radio, no response>"They know the area, I need to get going because $REASONS, they might have gone west and caught the other trail around">Take our time back to the trucks>Arrive back at the trucks>Still no buddy/wife, they're not there>About half the crew loads up and gets going>Rest of us are refueling and getting ready to head back innawoods>Here they are>buddy's pissed>wife's trying to calm him>buddy put too much faith in his GPS, ended up following the other group north, then splitting off from them once he realized he's with the wrong group>Kept following GPS, thinking he was heading south>Wife takes compass out and says "We need to go this way", blah blah blah, she ends up just going whether he goes or not>He wisely followed 