Navigate to Keystone State Park for GPS tour
Outdoor enthusiasts who are curious about GPS technology can combine those interests Saturday when Keystone State Park offers its first "Winter GPS Park Tour."
Participants will be taught to use Global Positioning Systems to explore the Derry Township park in a different way, environmental education specialist Pam McQuistian said.
"We have about a dozen GPS units available. And some people may have received them as Christmas presents," she said.
Organizers of the Westmoreland County Junior Conservation School, held at the park each summer, are loaning the navigational units for the event, McQuistian said.
From mapping motorists' destinations in unfamiliar territory to navigating locations for pilots in boats and airplanes, GPS units have become widely used. The GPS has become a commonplace tool to narrow a precise location, whether it's a good fishing spot or the distance from a golfer to the trap .
In recreation, it's beginning to bypass the use of maps, compasses or landmarks for hikers, bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts.
According to the Web site www.gps.gov, paper maps often are outdated, and compasses and landmarks may not provide the precise information someone needs to avoid getting lost.
Those who are unfamiliar with the park may not realize the property was once the site of the Keystone Coal and Coke Co. Or that the James A. Kell Visitor Center was originally a stone lodge meeting place and vacation home for company executives.
On Saturday, tour participants will set their GPS coordinates to locate the springhouse that served as the lodge's water source.
They also will seek out a bat box. "I don't want to give it away too much," McQuistian said. "We will punch in coordinates and follow them to the sites."
The program is an effort to interest tech-savvy children and teens and offer an opportunity for family members of all ages to spend an afternoon checking out animal habitats and historic sites.
"It's basically to learn about the history of the park and how to use GPS units," McQuistian said. "It's a fun history."
Christine Novak, spokeswoman for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the program will "combine technology and the great outdoors."
"It's very similar to geocaching events," Novak said. "We have a lot of those at our parks."
McQuistian expects a Boy Scout troop to join Saturday's tour. "They can find out there is fun stuff to do on the trail, even in the wintertime," she said.
Saturday's program is scheduled for 1-3 p.m. Participants should dress warmly, take a drink and a snack, and register by calling 724-668-2566 or e-mailing kpnature@nb.net.
