I am going hiking need gps help?

As others have pointed out, you definitely need a backup system in case your batteries fail. Having good physical topographical maps is great as a backup to your gps device maps. Along the way, make notes of places where you can get to a main road or help if needed. Then, if you do get lost, you can know exactly where to exit your trail safely and quickly.

Like others have said, it kind of depends on your area. In the Grasslands of the Midwest you might reasonably be able to navigate from point to point. Try that in the mountains, and you could find yourself having to back-track for days. Map or GPS, both take some time and skill to understand. Especially on a GPS, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between steep and impossibly steep! And even if you get to understand the topography, there are vegetation types that simply can not be penetrated without a D-6 Caterpillar tractor in front of you. When I hike a new area, trail or not, I like to mark locations on my GPS that will help me get out. Nearby roads, towns, campgrounds. Things like trails or logging roads I may have to put in by hand. Then as I hike, I mark waypoints for vehicle location, good water sources, maybe even campsites if particularly nice. I will seldom run the GPS as I hike. I always have a couple paper maps of my hike area, often printed from my GPS software. One stays home as my travel plan, the other is in my pack in case of GPS loss (I did drown one once, supposedly waterproof too!).

You should learn how to use a topo map and compass because when the batteries in your GPS run out you are going to be lost and probably die alone in the wildernes.

you may find some very good free topo maps that you can download into your gps with the mapsource interface. it all depends on what state you live in. other than that you need to understand the different pages in your gps. how to use the track and route feature. how to find waypoints and enter waypoints. read the manual. at least the quick start guide. i do agree that you should also carry a map and compass and consider the gps as a backup to your map. there are also programs like national geographic TOPO! state series which will allow you to plan a route and place waypoints which you can then download into your gps. it's about $50 per state. worth it though instead of constantly buying quads.

By now you should be sensing a theme to the answers. A GPS is one of many tools used for navigation. The thing that ties them all together and makes them useful is your knowledge of the area and how to work the tools. Knowledge of an area can come from personal experience or from maps. But personal experience has its limits and under stressful conditions might fail you. So a map of the area you intend to operate in is highly recommended, certainly as a planning tool, but also as a backup navigational tool if your GPS fails on the trail. Knowledge of how to work the tools is also important. Understanding magnetic declination, how to match compass bearings to a map, how to read the landscape and match up landmarks and features (topology) with a topographical map, how to avoid obstacles by checking elevation changes, all these skills are acquired with training and practice. What I would do is use MyTopo.com or Google Maps in Terrain View to print out some topographical maps of the area you plan to explore, and a bit around it. Then sit down with the maps and Google Earth (or Google Maps in Satellite View) to find specific destinations you want to visit, perhaps mountain tops or river valleys, lakes, ponds, gorges, fire towers, abandoned villages or buildings, mines or caves (obviously, appropriate caution needs to be observed at all times); whatever interests you. Keep things short and nearby to start with until you gain knowledge through practice. Using elevation as your guide, plot a short day hike (about 2 miles each way) using waypoints at logical turning points (based on elevation, obstacles and landmarks). Once you're happy with your route on paper, transfer the coordinates to your GPS for each waypoint. Now you will have your GPS setup for your route and a paper map and compass for verification and backup. Leave a copy of your planned route at home in case you get lost or injured, then go out and hit the countryside.

To put this in focus, the G.PS. is the back up system. To use a G.P.S. with the back country software/maps you have to know how to read a topographic map anyway.. It does not matter what software you use, there are always errors. In a car you just make a u-turn and no big deal, in the back country it can be a very big deal. A paper map gives you a much larger view of the area and route finding is much easier. That being said, buy a lot of life insurance, take your G.P.S. that you don't know how to use and wander off into the woods. People like you are the ones that give the search and rescue people something to do.