I also have a very nifty gadget about half the size of a pack of cigarettes. Weighs 105 grams with battery which will last 2 hours.

It's a digicam, still cam, MP3 player and voice recorder. On the trail one can make voice notes. Hell, speeches. Cost a bit over $100 and works like a champ.

Uses SD chips. The very small ones come with an adapter which allows them to be used in the SD slot.

If one wanted to they could load the map, a huge lot of audio, and take voice notes on the same chip. In reality I think that a person would have one chip stay in the GPS, and several chips for the video and audio. A 1GB SD chip will hold about 4 hours of high-quality video, and 4 hours is a lot. Great for the trail.

I don't like the battery the digicam + uses, so will have another one which has a 5 megapixel CCD before my trip next summer, the PCT from the CA - OR border to Whitney and out through Whitney Portal and Lone Pine. If I can't have friends meet me at Whitney I may just keep going south to civilization and take the train home.

Arf