How I 'Pre-Scout' a Trail in Google Earth

[+Lostboy1966]

In the spirit of Year Of The Hide, I thought I'd share how I do my initial research on an area I want to place some Hides in. Some might find it silly, but it's SOP before I take my bad-knee-having self on the trails.

First, I take a screen grab from the area I am interested in on the GC site.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Lostboy1966
Typo

[+Lostboy1966]

Then I fire up Google Earth Pro (free) and zoom to the same area.

[+Lostboy1966]

Using the Overlay feature, I paste the GC map into Google Earth, and adjust size/position until it matches.

[+Lostboy1966]

Opacity can then be adjusted, giving an image of the GC icons and trail maps just visible on the map.

[+Lostboy1966]

Once positioned, the overlay is ready to use with Google Earth tools.

[+Lostboy1966]

I then crank the Elevation view up to maximum. It helps plan where the hilly areas are.

[+Lostboy1966]

Using the Measure tool in Google Earth, I can then roughly lay out my distance from nearby caches to confirm an area I want to scout meets the minimum distance requirements.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Lostboy1966
Typo

[+Lostboy1966]

From there, I can lay out more areas where a container might fit in along the route.

[+Lostboy1966]

Same pins, but rotated. You can see how you get a feel for where the hillier areas are.

[+Lostboy1966]

I can them rename the pins and load them into my Garmin before hitting the trail to find actual hide spots. I think this method saves me 'wandering around' time when on the trail, because I already know the approximate locations of where I want my containers, and the approximate distance to the next open location.

[+Lostboy1966]

13 minutes ago, HoochDog said:

Thanks for sharing.
 

I have done the opposite of this. I explore first. Try to find great locations. Take photos of the spot, with notes, and a gps reading. 
 

Afterwards, I punch the coordinates into google maps/earth and then prioritize which spots deserve a cache worthy of blanketing out the nearby area. 
 

-The “wandering around” exploring is a fun part of the process. 
-This can take multiple trips. 

Pre-arthritis, I had the same method!

[+Lostboy1966]

18 minutes ago, HoochDog said:

I hear you. Sorry for the phantom post. I deleted my original comment because I didn’t want you to think I was being critical. It was a nice write up and I think online tools are helpful no matter how you go about it.  Also, I think your scenario looks to be targeting remote areas where mine was in a cache dense area where good space is hard to find. 

No worries. In my area wooded space that allows Hides is scarce, so I try to pre-plan areas for best distribution when I have a container series in mind. Just sharing some of my techniques for the amusement of the community. For my next post: Why I Hate Micros!

Peace.