Jerry Brown, CTF volunteer trail surveyor beginning in 1999 and 2000, surveys The Colorado Trail.
Before 1999 and 2000, CT maps had all been hand drawn. With the advent of GPS, key CTF volunteers embarked on an ambitious, first GPS survey to map the CT with much better accuracy. The route was in the backcountry, though, and not a normal survey project. A plea for expert help was placed in the Tread Lines newsletter and professional surveyor and CT Completer, Jerry Brown, responded. A collaborative effort began. Jerry figured out the survey equipment for this unusual backcountry trip. With support from other CTF volunteers, he traveled the CT, biking and hiking, recording professional grade survey data all the way. (We think the CT was the first long distance trail to be mapped with survey-grade GPS, far superior to any consumer grade equipment at the time. What made it particularly valuable was the Trimble survey unit’s ability to log all the available satellite data at any given instant and then enable one to utilize software and post-process the information to select only the best data points.) The GPS trail survey project greatly helped improve the CT guides, benefitting trail travelers, and the improved maps contributed a lot to the organization’s trail stewardship operations.
See: 1999 Tread Lines newsletter article about the trail survey project