Discovery Trails News of special interest to users of GPS devices:

The latest GPS technologies are being used by teens on the Discovery Trails treks to locate important segments of the historic California and Oregon Trails. More exciting still, the teens are working with Trails experts and GPS technicians to develop additional applications of the GPS technology. We hope soon to have a talking device that can tell walkers not only where the trail is but also what historical events took place there and what the geography is like.

Portions of the historic trails have been marked with GPS by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management as a part of their mission to preserve the trails and make them accessible.

The GPS data has been made available to the Discovery Trails Program for use on our summer treks. Each summer GPS specialists join our wagon train for several days, bringing with them a hand-held Trekker Breeze for each teen pioneer. In 2009 teachers from Leader Dogs for the Blind loaded the Trail coordinates into the Trekker Breeze. In 2010 technicians from Humanware will help the teens load the audio interpretation that tells the history of trail sites.