10 GPS Mistakes Hikers Make That Could Cost Their Lives (And How to Avoid Them)

In today’s tech-driven world, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking your smartphone can do everything—especially when it comes to navigation. But when you’re deep in the wilderness, relying solely on a smartphone for GPS can be a dangerously flawed strategy. Yet countless hikers do it every year, often without realizing just how quickly things can go wrong.

Let’s start with the obvious: battery life. Even the most advanced smartphone is still just a pocket-sized computer with limited power. GPS apps are notorious for draining battery fast, especially if you’re using constant tracking, downloading maps on the fly, or keeping the screen brightness high in sunny conditions. Add cold weather into the mix, and your fully charged phone might die hours earlier than expected.

Next comes the issue of signal reliability. Most smartphone GPS systems rely on assisted GPS (A-GPS), which uses cell towers and Wi-Fi to boost accuracy and lock onto satellites quickly. That works well in cities—but not on a remote alpine ridgeline, or deep in a forest valley with no service. When your phone struggles to connect to satellites alone, delays, inaccuracies, or complete GPS failure can occur.

And then there’s durability. Smartphones aren’t designed for the beating they can take in the wild. One drop on rocky terrain, a splash during a creek crossing, or even condensation from sudden weather changes can render your device useless—especially if it’s not properly waterproofed or protected in a rugged case.

So what’s the alternative?

Serious hikers, rescue teams, and experienced adventurers know that a dedicated handheld GPS unit is the gold standard for backcountry navigation. Unlike smartphones, these devices are purpose-built for the wild: they have longer battery lives (often with replaceable batteries), high-sensitivity receivers, and weatherproof bodies. Most importantly, they’re designed to operate even when you're off the grid, under dense canopy, or surrounded by cliffs.

Still, this doesn’t mean abandoning your smartphone entirely. In fact, combining both can be a smart move—using your phone for quick map checks and offline apps like Gaia or AllTrails, while relying on a handheld GPS as your primary tool for tracking, navigating, and marking critical waypoints.

How to avoid this mistake:

• Don’t hike into remote areas with only your phone for navigation.
• Invest in a dedicated GPS unit, like the Garmin 22X or 65S, and learn how to use it before you need it.
• Always carry backup power—extra batteries or a portable charger—and know how to manage your battery usage wisely.
• Store digital maps offline and keep physical maps in your pack as a fail-safe.

In the backcountry, technology should enhance your safety—not become your single point of failure.

Not Understanding How GPS Actually Works

It’s one thing to carry a GPS device. It’s another thing entirely to understand how it works—and that’s where many hikers stumble. Just like giving a compass to someone who’s never navigated by map, a GPS unit is only as useful as the person operating it. Not knowing the fundamentals behind how GPS works is like trying to drive a car without understanding what the pedals do.

Let’s strip it back to basics: GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It’s not just a feature—it’s a network of over 30 satellites orbiting the Earth. When you turn on your GPS device, it’s searching for signals from those satellites. Once it locks onto at least four of them, it uses a method called trilateration to calculate your exact position on the globe. The more satellites it connects with, and the better their position in the sky, the more accurate your location data will be.

Here’s the problem: most people don’t think about what’s happening behind the scenes. They assume the device “just works,” and never stop to ask how long it takes to lock onto satellites, why the signal sometimes lags, or what affects accuracy. For example, GPS signals can bounce off cliffs, be blocked by dense tree cover, or even be skewed by poor satellite geometry. Without knowing this, a hiker might misinterpret their location, trust an outdated reading, or make critical decisions based on faulty assumptions.

This lack of understanding can lead to real-world consequences. Imagine a situation where your GPS tells you you're on the trail—but you're actually 200 meters off-course, heading into dangerous terrain. Or your device shows you stopped moving, when in fact it’s lost satellite lock due to heavy weather or canopy cover. If you don’t know how to interpret signal strength or satellite data, you could be blindly following a ghost signal.

How to avoid this mistake:

• Learn the basic science behind GPS before heading into remote areas. It’s not complicated—but it is essential.
• Understand how satellite lock, trilateration, and Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) work. These are the fundamentals that determine how accurate your GPS readings are.
• Practice using your GPS in varied environments (dense forest, open ridgelines, urban fringe) to see how it behaves.
• Pay attention to your device’s satellite page—it tells you how many satellites you’re locked onto and the strength of the signal.

Most importantly, don’t just trust the dot on the screen. Ask yourself: where did this information come from? How confident is the device? Could the reading be off?

When you understand how GPS really works, you stop being just a user—and become a navigator.

Trusting Your GPS Blindly Without Cross-Checking

Here’s a hard truth for every hiker: your GPS is not infallible. It’s a tool—powerful, yes, but still prone to error. And one of the most dangerous mistakes hikers make is placing blind trust in that little digital screen, even when something doesn’t feel right. Overconfidence in technology can be just as lethal as not using it at all.

It happens more often than you’d think. A hiker follows a route displayed on their GPS, but the trail has shifted over the years due to erosion or land closures. Or they assume their marked waypoint is still safe, not realizing that it was entered incorrectly or that the coordinates drifted. And instead of pausing to question the device, they keep pushing forward, led by digital breadcrumbs that are no longer accurate.

Even worse, hikers sometimes misread what the GPS is telling them. A common example? Mistaking the current heading line for the direction they should go—only to find themselves hiking in circles or backtracking unnecessarily. Or they blindly follow a preloaded route without checking for terrain changes, trail conditions, or updated maps.

So, what’s the fix? The smartest navigators don’t rely on GPS alone. They combine it with traditional tools—maps, compasses, and common sense. It’s called redundancy, and it’s a golden rule in wilderness navigation. If your GPS tells you something, ask yourself: Does this make sense based on what I see around me? Does the land match the screen?

Here’s how to avoid this critical mistake:

• Always carry a paper map and compass, and know how to use them. A GPS should complement your navigation plan, not replace it.
• Cross-check frequently: Look at terrain features like rivers, ridgelines, or clearings and make sure they match what your GPS shows.
• Practice situational awareness. Don’t bury your head in the screen. Use your eyes and brain just as much as your device.
• Check and double-check your waypoints—especially when entering coordinates manually. A single wrong digit can send you kilometres off-course.
• If you're following a preloaded track or someone else's GPX file, make sure you trust the source. Trails change, errors happen.

Think of your GPS as a teammate, not a leader. It gives you information, but it’s up to you to interpret that information in context. Trusting your GPS blindly can be as dangerous as hiking without it. Real navigation requires thinking, checking, and sometimes, turning around.

Failing to Practice Before Hitting the Trail

One of the most overlooked (yet most costly) GPS mistakes hikers make happens before they ever leave the house: not practicing with their GPS. This might seem minor—how hard can it be to press a few buttons and follow the map, right? But the wilderness has a way of turning "I’ll figure it out when I get there" into a very real emergency.

The truth is, most GPS units—especially handheld models like the Garmin 22X or 65S—are packed with features. They offer way more than just showing your current location. Waypoints, route planning, track logs, map overlays, compass calibration, satellite acquisition, data field customization... the list goes on. But if you’re unfamiliar with these features, trying to learn them for the first time in the middle of a foggy ridgeline is a recipe for disaster.

Inexperience leads to fumbling with menus, draining battery life while you figure out how to mark a waypoint, or worse—accidentally deleting your entire route. Many hikers don’t realize they’re in over their head until they’re already off-track, exhausted, and losing daylight.

Practicing before the hike isn’t optional—it’s essential.

Here’s how to get GPS-ready before your boots hit the dirt:

• Spend time at home learning your GPS model inside and out. Understand how to mark and name waypoints, how to backtrack, and how to change map settings or coordinate formats.
• Take your GPS for a walk around your neighbourhood or local park. Practice using it in an environment where you won’t get lost. Try marking your house as a waypoint, navigating a short route, and testing the trip computer and compass.
• Simulate problems. What would you do if your route vanished? How would you find your way with only your GPS’s map screen and current coordinates?
• Practice uploading and downloading GPX files. Get used to syncing routes from software like Garmin Explorer. Test them on your device and make sure you understand how to follow them in real-time.
• Know how to troubleshoot. Learn how to recalibrate the compass, how to do a soft reset, and how to check for satellite lock. These are the things you don’t want to learn in the middle of a storm.

Most importantly, build confidence with your device. That confidence becomes clarity when the pressure’s on. The hikers who stay safe aren't always the ones with the fanciest gear—they’re the ones who practiced. They make GPS use second nature before it becomes a survival tool.

When things go wrong in the wild—and they do—it’s not your GPS that saves you. It’s how well you know how to use it.